I'm looking for anyone who has rebuilt their Cam Gears rack and an share a little wisdom. How do you separate these two rings below? They seem to be Peened together but it isn't like the thread I saw on a previous rebuild. Thanks! Image Unavailable, Please Login
No sure if you could have that milled out or drill press. Might be worth having it tapped and replaced with a headless Allen head screw. ? .
That's kind of what I was thinking but I want to make sure before I screw it up. That's something I haven't seen before so I'm going to make certain before I proceed. Both sides are identical.
Been going through this with Rob Garven this past weekend. Buy the new bushing from any of the Pantera Supply houses. Bobby Byers at Pantera ProFormance has them. Here are my rebuild pics showing the procedure and tools. I'll find Mike Drew's (Pantera Club expert rack rebuilder) tutorial at Pantera Place website and post it later. You'll need to find ZERO weight grease. https://secure.flickr.com/photos/moseley_ferrari/sets/72157602899521527/ For those who still think the solid bushing causes the rack to become a bound up air pump, YOU'RE WRONG. Get over it and find another wive's tale to harp on. Got pictures and a couple hundred racks that prove it. Rick
Thanks for the great info. I've read the pantera tutorial several times and have memorized your photos. Maybe I'm misinterpreting the info but my lock rings don't match the ones in your flicker gallery or the images on the pantera tutorial. I'm stumped. Did Cam Gears have different lock rings thru production? Mine is off an '83.
Not that I'm aware of. Through online resumes, I tracked down an ex-CamGears/TRW employee many years ago... He didn't work on the rack but he put me in touch with an engineer who worked on these racks for 20+ years. We exchanged many emails I don't remember anything about alternate inner joints. I have recently heard that someone in the Pacific Northwest is doing some sort of "update" but I really don't know any more about it. This just "looks" like some one drilled and pinned the junction. What does the other side look like? Rick
OK, just got some pics from Rob, looks like the same bozo who worked on his rack did yours... same staked set screw. This would be great for a space probe where you never will see the thing again and need to know it won't come loose... but on a car??!?!? A Ferrari?!?!? I'd suggest you use a flap-wheel to take down the area over the set-screw. Once you get down below the stake marks, hand file to expose the flats of the set screw and can get an allen wrench in there. I'll bet he lock-tighted the set-screw, so you may have to see if it will spin, if not heat will kill the locktight. If you can get the set-screw out, carefully and slowly (with lots of oil) spin that collar off the end of the rack. Once off, you will need to chase those threads so you are going to need to find out what the size and pitch of those threads on the rack are and find a die to clean them up.
I don't think all the racks have the slot feature machined away in them as you shared in your pics Rick ... I'm going to double check on one that I have apart right now. I've seen the set screw method and I've seen another method IIRC where someone machined a slot thru both nuts and relied on the burr or something to lock them together .
Ouch! Just my luck. I'm hoping and extractor might work. It's really got some deep stake marks so I'm afraid it won't be that easy. Hopefully I'm wrong. I also need to chase down the ring wrench as well. Grainger had it but they wanted $50 for it and I'd need two. It seemed so simple I was just going to do it myself and add the Superformance quick rack option but now I'm not so sure. By the time I factor in the tools and parts it might just be the same as having the local Fchat pro rebuild it. For the time involved I can't decide if I should just order the Superformance complete rack to drop in as a backup while I figure this one out. I really wanted to try the quick rack. Might be in over my head and have to send it out.
Here's a pic of one. I machined the set screw out of there and put another one in a different location on re-assy ... definitely not a pretty site and it was a PITA. So much of a PITA that recently when it came to do something for the rack in 308#2 I decided to just buy one from some internet parts place for $250. I decided to put it 308#1 which I autocross for some "testing" . It's been a couple of months, two autocrosses and I am very happy. Visible upgrades are there are flats on the shafts to adjust tie rods and an external preload adjustment which has to be shimmed on the stock rack. Might even have a three year warranty IIRC ... I didn't see a made in China sticker on it either much to my surprise ... or made in Mexico ... carsteering.com ... no affiliation blah blah. I really wanted to take the thing apart and check out the quality ... the preload was a bit too tight but it was easy to adjust. I'll keep the old one around and do a quick ratio rack or something with it some day ... gotta have that in one of the mules . Just sharing ... cheers Image Unavailable, Please Login
Check with Rob Garven on this list. He just bought them and I think he had a better price somewhere else. If you are going to build a track day car, the quick rack can be a nice upgrade. I've driven both on the street and can tell you the quick rack and city driving is no Joy. Others may disagree but I'm passed my Steering by ArmStrong days. Rick
Thanks for the info! I appreciate your input on the quick rack. I've had a couple people tell me the same and I'm starting to think its not such a good idea for a daily driver.
