Hi chatters, I have had my tyres replaced as they were as hard as wood. Replaced with yokohamas which seem a lot quieter and give a softer ride. Bad news is my R/Hand rack end is worn is there a known replacement part out there somewhere. Has anyone had any experience that they can pass on to me?
If you arer not in a hurry, id remove it and take to a local suspension/steering specialist and have them match it up. I reckon you can score them for around $40 each. I chased up some for a US Fchatter for his 550, were about $80 for the pair from memory. He gave me the length and the thread pitch on both ends and I found him some and sent them out.
Thanks pap and schmick I have it booked in to a power steering place on Monday morn they have heaps of rack ends plus if they do not have the right size they have blanks they can make to size so fingers crossed it is one of the shelf. The Yokohama s drives are great. I am not willing to try too hard until the rack is done plus the alignment then it's off to mt glorious. Will keep you posted.
Ok so I have now had my Mondial T to the steering specialist. He has measured the rack ends. One has already been replaced and is good as new ... lhs, the only thing is that this lhs rack end was made from a blank and by doing this there is no shaped spanner nut for adjustment so you need to use a vice grip to adjust properly for alignment. This means that there will be scratches on the rack shaft which is no big deal but it is better to have an adjustment nut. This being the aim the steering fellow has come up with the following solution. 1. replace the tie rod end which is an imperial thread with a same size ford laser tie rod end that is metric. 2 This opens up a whole plethora of rack end choices which now will fit so now we can buy an off the shelf rack end at about $40 plus a new tie rod at $40 about 30mins labour and all is good again, then off to the wheel alignment fellow. The other option is to make a new rack end from a blank which entails some machining that would cost more than the solution above and next time the whole process has to happen again so I am making it a lot easier for the next owner. By the way the tyres are great, so much quieter than the Eagle f1,s and so much softer and better in the wet as well. Yokohama s drives seem pretty good so far.
Sounds good mate. But did the mechanic think of putting some alloy "jaws" or rag/cardboard over the rack end so he didnt scratch it as he was adjusting it? I know it doesnt matter, but some people take pride in their work. Interesting scenario. Id say to have one made would cost A LOT more than the $100 for both parts available at Repco. Your call mate. If you go the cheaper alternative, please note it down somewhere as to what is/was fitted so the next owner doesnt run into any issues down the track chasing genuine parts for it. At my work, I keep things original when possible. Other dont and opt to take the quick an easy way out which makes it hard for the next guy who has to order parts and see's that something has been modified that no one knows anything about. Makes it REAL hard. Thanks for sharing and good luck!
Well I could buy the $148 rack end from the USof A spend $30 bucks having it sent out here and wait a week or so. I would still have to fit it and have the worry of whether it actually fitted when it arrived as sometimes different racks may be used at different times so rather than taking a chance I think this solution is good. I always keep all my receipts any way so the next owner will have the info as you suggest. I do not want to drive too far without a suitable wheel alignment as tread wear once sarted unevenly can continue that way. As it stands my drivers side wheel will move left to right about 1/2 an inch. I wondered why on Ipswich road it tended to track a little where there were trucks hollows in the bitumen.
Fairy nuff, but I would have thought if you ordered a rack end for YOUR model they would send the right part and it would fit first time, everytime. Do what you gotta do.
Thanks Maurice but they don,t seem to mention the rack arm/ends which go from the steering rack to the tie rod, this is the park the 42 GBPound rubber boot covers... 42pounds, must be made of a special material from mars.. its about a $5 item don't you love being ripped off.
Well here is the finished product all installed, both rack ends checked and both good now total bill $200 which was good as we did a couple of little bits and pieces whilst in the air. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
