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MG MGB Technical - MGB Steering rack disassembly and inspection

I disassembled my spare steering rack to see what is inside and if it can be serviced as a DIY
project. My findings are yes it can be done providing certain parts are not too worn, some parts
are not available and will make the rack non repairable. Several years ago I had a midget rack
from a parts car my son had. When I opened it up it was rusty inside, all the oil was long gone
so it was junk. My MGB spare was in much better condition other than an oil leak.

The following steps are the disassembly steps I used, reference numbers were taken from the
steering gear components drawing in the shop manual, The Haynes manual also has a drawing.
Assume steering rack has been removed from the car and tie rod ends 30 and rack seals 27
have been removed.

1. Remove pinion end cover 18 by removing bolts 20 and washers 21. Remove end cover and
gasket 19.

2. Remove yoke cover plate 10 by removing bolts 11 and washers 12. Remove cover gasket 9
and shims 8. Lift out yoke 5, spring 7 and damper pad 6.

3. Before removing the pinion 13 remove the paint and file down any burrs on the pinion shaft to
prevent damage to the pinion bushing 2. The pinion shaft can now be removed by pushing it out
toward the front of the rack housing. The bearing 15 will probably be good unless the rack had
no oil. At this time you can examine the pinion for tooth wear. There will be a wear pattern so
you are looking for broken teeth, wear ridges you can feel and any other wear or damage that
may affect smooth operation. If you can see it but not feel it it should be ok. Pinions are listed
in Moss or VB catalogs as NA.

4. Slide the rack 4 toward the curb side of the housing and clamp the rack in a vise with some
wood blocks between the vise jaws and the rack. Prise up the indentations on the locknut 26.
If you have a spanner with hook use it to unlock the ballhousing locknut 26. I used a punch and
hammer to break it loose. Unscrew the ballhousing 25 and remove tie rod 22, ball seat 23 and
spring 24. You can now pull the rack out from the pinion end of the housing. Remove the other
tie rod 22. Examine the steering rack 4, you are looking for damaged teeth. The rack is listed
in Moss and VB as NA

5. Remove the seal 3 from the rack housing 1. Examine the pinion bushing 2 for wear or damage.
The bushing is another item listed as NA, however it shouldn't waer a lot because the pinion
bearing 15 takes the big load from the pinion.

6. The final item to examine is the rack housing bushing 75. Tolerances are not listed for the
bushings. However parts that are obviously very loose should be replaced. If you can make it
rattle or clunk when you tug on the rack or pinion shaft they are probably too loose. Moss or
VB should have the housing bushings.

7. Assembly is as they say, reverse the steps. One note on assembly: The rack should be
adjusted as outlined in the shop manual by selecting shims to obtain the correct clearnace.

Happy Steering, Clifton

Photos are in my Yahoo photo account
http://photos.yahoo.com/flash1929
Click on the "My Photos Album" for 10 photos showing steering rack components.

Clifton Gordon

Not trying to start a oil vs. grease battle here, but just wanted to add the following. I got my car in the late 1980's. It's a 73B. I never have had any problems with the steering what so ever. I had the tie rods and boots replaced in 95 and can not remember if I added oil at all. After a recent thorough service and reading archives here I decided to open up the rack and see what was going on. I did it with the radiator in the car. After I opened the end cap and exposed the gears and looked in the top where you pour the oil I found the rack to be filled with very old grease. Cleaned it out and filled with 90 wt oil as being an engineer I can understand that oil will lubricate the ends better, ect.. But I have to admit, after ~75K of no servicing from when I got the car, it was abused before I got it so god knows what happened previously, the rack has absolutely no wear. There is no play in the rack at all. Just thought I'd add this for those owners who don't do there own maintainance. I was astounded. Obviously grease must be ok, not saying correct, for the rack without having the worry about oil leakage.
J Arthurs

A pal of mine who looks after ancient Armstong Siddeleys was only making a point about this a few weeks ago.

He was adamant that oil was the best because grease fails to get to the parts oil does, and had led to parts of the steering collapsing.

Your experience seems to contradict this however.
Alex

and looked in the top where you pour the oil... -
question is I would dearly like to know how to top up the oil in my 73 factory v8 rack, any ideas or does it have to be removed first?

cheers

Nigel
n.griffiths

I've just replaced one gaiter on each of my factory V8 and roadster and refilled the racks (in-situ) using an oil gun poked through the big end of the new gaiter before fastening it with a nylon tie.
Paul Hunt

Clifton - thanks for the info & great photos. I appreciate the extra work in sharing this.
David

This thread was discussed between 02/07/2002 and 06/07/2002

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.