Centering the rack

[HRG]

Right, the rack is back in, I think it's centred but the wheel is at about 45 degrees. It can't be that far out thanks to the drilled flat in the spline can it?

Last time it was set with an unequal amount of thread visible at the rod ends, now I've got 15mm of thread visible on each tie rod so do I just reposition the wheel rather than try to adjust it on the splines?

I've probably already answered my own question, haven't I?

Does the wheel come off easily?

[Seasider]

What a




Sorry i'm to busy sorting out LM 2009 stickerage to even think about it





Perhaps you're better suited to one of these....








HTH

[HRG]

Don't bloody start you or I'll sling my broken exhaust band clamp at your head

That's another story!

I'm assuming someone has fitted the wheel pissed at some point as there isn't much room to misalign it on the splines.

[Ballistic Banana]

Mines a bit of center too, I did try and take the Steering wheel of once but gave up as i thought i was going to brake it.

BB

[Ballistic Banana]

Seasider said:

Suits you sir

[Colin RedGriff]

In my experience removing steering wheels is a right pain getting them off without damaging them seems to be down to luck.

Mine is a bit off centre after the body lift. I seperated the steering column at the lower UJ and that (on my car at least) doesn't have a flat on it. I obviously haven't put it back the way it was so that will be another job to do.....



As I know this joint wil come apart relatively easily I'll be trying to centre my wheel by playing with this bit.

[Seasider]

Ballistic Banana said:

Seasider said:

Suits you sir

Dont start baldy

Rob, wont they centre it all up when you get your straight lines/fat bastid offside set up done


Big y-piece clamp ? i have a spare if needed urgently I think they are an aviation clamp...

[HRG]

I've got a clamp arriving in the morning...

Is the steering wheel really that bad to get off? I've got a slide hammer

[Ballistic Banana]

Its not hard to get to were everything is un-done, its just then sliding it off..easier said than done..I spent about ten minutes trying rms ached Steering wheel looked like it was about to bend and brake..so i stopped

BB

[Barreti]

Steering wheel is a PITA to get off.
My original is in the cupboard, with a bend in the top arc where I resorted to a 3 arm puller.
Stinking arse or a job.

Unbolt the steering link rod at the top and bottom UJ's, slide the rod up into the top UJ and pop it out of the bottom one. Realign. Bob is your thingy.

ps. forgot, undo and remove the bolt from the bottom UJ where they connect to the rack, so the UJ can be shoved down.

Soz.

Edited by Barreti on Wednesday 22 April 23:36

[HRG]

Looks like it's time to see how much I can move it in the arch then

[yellowgriff]

Tilt your head to one side 45 degrees ALLS fixed cant see the problem DARRRRRRRRR

[Loubaruch]

Almost impossible to get the steering wheel off without causing damage unless you use a special tool, as the splines generally rust to the shaft:

http://bertram-hill.co.uk/grif.aspx

Easily made if you have access to a workshop, or get someone to knock one up for you

Edited by Loubaruch on Wednesday 22 April 23:27

[HRG]

I saw that. Jack it off or revisit the splines I reckon.

[HRG]

I just put my two legged puller on the boss and it popped straight off. Wouldn't even think about budging by hand, the wheel was bending.

With the right tool the wheel comes off in two mins flat

[spend]

Have you set the UJ's at the correct angle, I always set them in X not + with steering centred. Very essential to get these things perfect

[HRG]

The UJ's end up where they end up. The splines are flatted to accept the locking bolt so you can't get them more than a spline out. The only place to adjust it is the larger flat on the pinion shaft.

Sod this, I'm off to "check it's all working properly"

[GreenV8S]

HRG said:

The UJ's end up where they end up. The splines are flatted to accept the locking bolt so you can't get them more than a spline out. The only place to adjust it is the larger flat on the pinion shaft.

That's strange, I would expect to find a groove allowing the locking bolt to fit with the splines in any orientation.

Given the two UJs there are four places where the orientation of the steering wheel versus the rack can be corrected. I wouldn't consider trying to do it at the wheel itself. Obviously each splined joint only enables you to adjust it by one spline at a time. This gives you quite a coarse adjustment and you may not be able to get the alignment spot on. Where different joints have different numbers of splines, they give you different angles per spline so you may find that adjusting at a different spline can get you to a better result. Rather than endless amounts of trial and error it's worth just counting the number of splines at each joint to work out the number of degrees per spline, center the rack and see how many degrees the wheel is out, the adjust the joint that gets you the closest to the degree change you want. The last little bit is corrected on the track rod end adjusters.

[HRG]

Nope, it's the same as a motorbike kickstart. I suppose it's failsafe, if the splines give up the ghost you'd still be able to steer to some degree.

[Barkychoc]

Isn't it the case that the rotation through a single UJ isn't linear rotation in to rotation out - so they have to be fitted in pairs to cancel out this effect?
The 2 UJ's also need to be in line otherwise the cancelling effect doesn't work does it?

Or am I talking friday evening tosh?