removing/replacing steering rack (toe)

[ade]

Right, as part of my rebuild I'm fitting a "new" (reconditioned) steering rack. Ive new track rod ends and lower ball joints fitted.

However untiul the new rack comes Ive to refitted my old rack with the new end on but the toeing all over the place.

Can someone give me a quick pointer for lining it up (just sp Io can roll the fecker in and out the garage in a straight line) coz its wandering all over the place at the mo?

or is it a simple case of following haynes manual (whic I;ve not read but know theres a section re toe settings)

Sorry - I'm lazy - just looking for others experiences.

And the cars not being driven anywhere...

[Dave.]

whats toeng? it sounds like a problem i had with mine if i think it is what it is

[R1CH]

Just adjust it on the track rod end, i done mine by eye when i first stuck it together ... was only 1degree out when i got it checked !

Rich

[mikey14sr]

All I've ever done is set the steering straight, then adjusted the rod-ends untill the wheels look straight, managed to get it bang-on last time!
And when the new rack comes, measure the exposed thread length before you swap then to it.

There's also a dimension in the haynes for centering the rack up.

[novacabrio]

look directly down over the wheels you can get them almost inline easy enough as Rich says

[hybridturbo]

Where can you get re conditioned steering racks? or what garages could i take one to around the north east if possible?

[novacabrio]

Try Andrew page they will suply one not hard to fit if you have an idea what to do

[mikey14sr]

They're fairly cheap too, think I only paid ?25 for mine. Most decent motor factors will stock them or be able to order one.

[Mike]

Just adjust it on the track rod end, i done mine by eye when i first stuck it together ... was only 1degree out when i got it checked !

Rich

yeah same here, think mine was only a few degrees out too

[Stanley]

I did mine by eye too.

Look down the side of the car with one wheel dead straight, the adjust the opposite wheel accordingly until it has the same profile on the other side

[hybridturbo]

Try Andrew page they will suply one not hard to fit if you have an idea what to do

Cheers, i will give them a ring tomorrow, easy enough on axel stands in a drive way?

[Mike]

yes, remove both front wheels aswell

its just a little tight to get hand in to remove rack retaining bolts, and the theres a rubber/foam seal thingy where the rack joins the column, thats a bit of a biatch!!

[hybridturbo]

Thanks i will have a blast :)

[mikey14sr]

Hardest nut to get is the lower one on the passenger side rack mount, not much space between the rack and the gearbox, ;)

[novacabrio]

where in newcastle are you???

[hybridturbo]

Whitley bay, white nova gte was at the last local meet

[Robo]

the trick ti this is, use your old track rod ends, there is a bolt just stacken it but don't remove it, fit the new ones upto a point where the old one where then re-tighten the locking bolts, if you wheel were stright to start then it should be stright when you finish

[craig green]

In my WIP thread in 'projects' Ive just swapped racks & I measured accross the centres of the rod ends so I could refit the new ones approximately right. Theres a pic of the length on the tape measure.

Take a look.

[hybridturbo]

Thanks for that :D