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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - steering rack

Hi all I was checking lever arms oil level and I noticed I have about 3/4inch of steering rack splines showing ...car drives ok and everything is tight,would this be normal please?


P Higgins

The splined shaft from the rack has a groove in which the clamping bolt on the end of the steering column sits in when correctly connected.

It looks as though you need to take out the bolt and move the column towards the rack such that the clamping bolt engages with that groove.

Don't ask me how I know.
Tony Wood

As the bolt is there and tight it is unlikely that it would not be correctly aligned in the groove though they do work loose. When loose, you can feel a fore and aft slack at the steering wheel. On a pre-'72 car the splines that are showing are usually covered by a sealing collar made of some sort of plastic or nylon material.
GuyW

Just check the bolt--
The bolt is supposed to have a solid shank section in the middle and then the thread-
I've seen incorrect bolts fitted in there that have thread all the way up the bolt
If it has a fully threaded bolt the threads can line up with the splines and the bolt only has to be a tiny bit loose and it will ride up the spline and come apart
willy
William Revit

That looks about the same gap as my '73 car with Triumph type steering rack, about 1/2" gap.

Just so happens I have a bolt in my very limited stock of spares, don't ask why.


Nigel Atkins

Thanks for all your replies everyone I will get it up on stands and check every thing is good
P Higgins

This thread was discussed between 18/10/2017 and 23/10/2017

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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