| Author | Message | ||
     Bill Coburn (203.51.26.121) |
I recently serviced a 1985 very low mileage Spirit which among other problems had split concertina boots on the steering rack. The factory had a lot of trouble with this bit of equipment particularly with leakage. Overhauling the units appears relatively straight forward but it was clear to be that I needed the best of setups to carry out the task. I sent it to a specialist who re-booted the unit and reported that as far a he could see there was no leakage. This saved the owner some hundreds of dollars. A few hundred kilometers later the whole unit started to leak, at the centre mount and particularly at the valving and input shaft. It was inconvenient to the owner and myself to remove the unit again and a very experienced friend suggested using transmission seal rejuvenator in the system to hold off the inevitable. I called the specialist who almost came through the phone at me strongly advising against the additive. Some muttering, more bleeding knuckles and out came the rack again and off to the specialist. Bad news, seems someone prior to the present ownership had indeed put the additive in the system. This had the effect as designed of swelling the seals and initially stopping the leaks. Unfortunately the stuff keeps softening until the seals resemble stiff jelly. Given working pressures exceeding 1400 psi it was a wonder that we did not have a catastrophic failure. But we did not get off lightly, the input shaft seal had softened and distorted and was forced so hard onto the shaft, the latter was scored which required machining. Still not out of the woods!! There are seals in the pump which would also be affected by the additive so the pump had to go down and be overhauled. More to come. The rubber low pressure hoses (four in all) all had to be replaced as well as the high pressure supply hose from the pump to the rack. The grill had to be removed to replace the cooler hoses and the fixed pipes thoroughly flushed along with the heat exchanger. Quite an expensive and time consuming task you would agree. Thinking the specialist may be exaggerating the rubber hose problem, I split one that I had removed and found that the lining was not only soft but bits of rubber could easily be scraped off with a knife. Had I not replaced the pipes these would have gone through the system eventually and probably blocked the valving necessitating yet another complete overhaul and flush. | ||
| Bentley Unregistered guest Posted From: 195.92.168.166 |
The steering racks and brake calipers are made by the one company in the Midlands of the UK. Racks are available as a re-manufactured unit by the original makers with a 2 year or 24000 mile warranty for £216. sterling for the rack and £28 for the front calipers.All the seperate parts are available also without the 1000 % RR mark up. | ||
| Richard Treacy Prolific User Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 33 Registered: 4-2003 |
A month ago I replaced my 1987 Turbo R rack with a later series rack, which required a conversion kit and a new lower column (my lower column and universal joint were in perfect condition: for sale !! also a brand new UR23270 rubber also for sale, all suit all R-R SSII and SZs to chassis 24496). The newer type does not allow incorrect spline connections, but after I fitted it the steering wheel was 1 cm off centre after getting it all roughly right. My point here is that final steering wheel centring should be adjusted at the track rods once the rack is centred and the steering wheel is fitted correctly to suit. It should not be done by the steering wheel splines, otherwise the steering locks may be out of range. The adjustment is carried out as follows once the toe-in is correct (the factory specified toe-in is 12' +/- 5', which my Sine tables and wheel dimensions tell me equate to 2.5mm +/- 1mm). To turn the road wheels to the right (ie to correct it if the steering wheel is turned to the right while driving straight ahead), turn the track adjusters, equally, both clockwise looking from the right hand side (ie loosen the 17mm clamp nuts and turn both track adjusters with a 22mm open-ended spanner towards the rear of the car from beneath). One full turn on both adjusters equates to a 3 cm shift at the steering wheel rim with a standard 3.25 steering rack for straight ahead driving. That is, if your steering wheel is pointing 1 cm to the right when driving straight ahead, rotate both track adjusters 1/3 turn clockwise looking from the right hand side of the car. Toe-in is increased by turning the right hand adjuster clockwise and the left hand adjuster anticlockwise. I set my toe-in using a tape measure, then drove to a wheel aligner. It was spot on, and the man could not bring himself to charge me. Oh, and how could I possibly go the original manufacturer for a replacement rack ? The original manufacturer's track (pardon the pun) record is hardly acceptable, and I have heard of 20% warranty claims in the first year from other suppliers who have dared to tackle this Archilles heel (it was sold as a heal to poor steering) of our cars. If the original suppliers really have "cracked it" in the meantime why don't they let on ? My last replacement rack leaked a drip every time I parked after 9 months, stupidly did not demand a warranty replacement as my knuckles still hurt, but was fed up after 2 more years. I paid far more than £216 for my newest, plus the kit and column, in the UK, but the warranty and reputation are far more convincing. | ||
| Richard Treacy Prolific User Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 34 Registered: 4-2003 |
CORRECTION TO TOE-IN ADJUSTMENT due to brain warp. A month ago I replaced my 1987 Turbo R rack with a later series rack, which required a conversion kit and a new lower column (my near new 5000km lower column and universal joint were in perfect condition: for sale !! also a brand new UR23270 rubber also for sale, all suit all R-R SSII and SZs to chassis 24496). The newer type does not allow incorrect spline connections, but after I fitted it the steering wheel was 1 cm off centre after getting it all roughly right. My point here is that final steering wheel centring should be adjusted at the track rods once the rack is centred and the steering wheel is fitted correctly to suit. It should not be done by the steering wheel splines, otherwise the steering locks may be out of range. The adjustment is carried out as follows once the toe-in is correct (the factory specified toe-in is 12' +/- 5', which my Sine tables and wheel dimensions tell me equate to 2.5mm +/- 1mm). To turn the road wheels to the right (ie to correct it if the steering wheel is turned to the right while driving straight ahead), turn the track adjusters, equally, both clockwise looking from the right hand side (ie loosen the 17mm clamp nuts and turn both track adjusters with a 22mm open-ended spanner towards the rear of the car from beneath). One full turn on both adjusters equates to a 3 cm shift at the steering wheel rim with a standard 3.25 steering rack for straight ahead driving. That is, if your steering wheel is pointing 1 cm to the right when driving straight ahead, rotate both track adjusters 1/3 turn clockwise looking from the right hand side of the car. Toe-in is increased by turning the LEFT hand adjuster clockwise and the RIGHT hand adjuster anticlockwise viewed from the right hand side of the car. I set my toe-in using a tape measure, then drove to a wheel aligner. It was spot on, and the man could not bring himself to charge me. Oh, and how could I possibly go the original manufacturer for a replacement rack ? The original manufacturer's track (pardon the pun) record is hardly acceptable, and I have heard of 20% warranty claims in the first year from other suppliers who have dared to tackle this Archilles heel (it was sold as a heal to poor steering) of our cars. If the original suppliers really have "cracked it" in the meantime why don't they let on ? My last replacement rack leaked a drip every time I parked after 9 months, stupidly did not demand a warranty replacement as my knuckles still hurt, but was fed up after 2 more years. I paid far more than £216 for my newest, plus the kit and column, in the UK, but the warranty and reputation are far more convincing. |
