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MG MGB Technical - Moss greased steering rack

I'm overhauling my front end (tie rods, king pins, shocks,springs, bushings, etc.) and noticed that Moss is advertising new steering racks that are greased and don't need oil. This sounds nice because I have had an experience in the past with the rubber boots (seals) cracking and losing oil. I intended to change the seals anyway but the price of the steering rack isn't bad. I'd like to know if anyone has had any experience with these units. Any comments?
Ted Mack

Greased racks have been around several years. I purchased a used rack and other parts from a 77 several years ago. The rack had a worn right bushing (left hand drive rack). I disassembled the rack and it had lots of grease inside but no grease was in the rubber boot, the bush was also dry. The rack was good inside but the right bush was worn out due to no lubrication.

If you purchase one I would recommend removing the rubber boots and if it's dry apply grease to insure the bush gets lubricated.

Clifton
Clifton Gordon

I bought one of these probably 6-7 years ago. This one was made in Argentina. At that time there were no instructions from Moss regarding leaving the grease in. Figuring the supplier made a mistake I decided to go with oil.

I dug as much grease as I could by taking off the friction damper cover. Flushed out with some light oil then filled with 90 wt through the cover. Reassembled and has been fine since. Will need new boots this summer.

The one I got has no seal on the steering shaft but I haven't seen much leakage out there. The one trouble I see with greased racks is the rack doesn't get hot enough to let some of the grease flow around inside. So, if a piece was marginally greased at the factory it might wear out more quickly than if oil lubed.

That said, I think most cars used greased racks with no problems.

Robert McCoy

I have one of the Argentinian racks on my MGB. When I filled it with EP90 oil through the outer part of the rubber gaiter, the steering was much lighter. So if that is the one that is not supposed to need oil, I would oil it anyway.

Tore
Tore

I have one of these. The steering ratio on both rubber bumper and chrome bumper varieties, is the same. It is the chrome bumper ratio, which suits me because that's exactly what I was looking for. There was an issue with quality control with Argentinian steering racks with some people complaining that the rack was too stiff. With mine, I found I could turn the shaft by hand though its range(with a bit of effort)on the shop counter, and once installed with steering wheel in place was no problem at all. The different ratio might also have contributed to the 'stiffness" issue people complained about. The Chrome bumper ratio goes about 2.8 turns lock to lock and the rubber bumper ratio is about 3.6 turns (which means shuffling the wheel in corners). The gaiters on the new rack were a bit shorter than usual by about one corrugation. I just swapped them for new (separate part) when I applied lots of extra grease.
I'm happy with the outcome.
peter

This thread was discussed between 22/05/2009 and 23/05/2009

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