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MG MGB Technical - New (repro) Steering rack

My 1963 RHD B has a very worn steering rack that really needs replacing.
Any Aussies out there that have any experience with replacement steering racks available in Australia? Eg quality, and your satisfaction (or not) with them?

John
John Minchin

The new replacement racks, on the market today, are manufactured in Argentina and have earned a pretty good reputation. The only major difference between the original and the new production items is that the original racks were lubricated with 90W gear oil, while the new racks come packed with grease as a lubricant. Occasionally, when new, they tend to be a bit tight, but adjusting the damper pad cures this problem. RAY
rjm RAY

I don't know if this is the same for Bs but ...

my Argentina rack for my midget was not an exact copy and this made the installation more difficult and time consuming than it should have been

the rack seemed very tight before fitting and quite tight when first used but without any adjustment it eased itself up nicely

the steering rack gaiters cracked in less than 6 months - an MoT failure now

my new TRE boots also cracked and as I forgot to put any further protection on the rack or TREs they also rusted up really well within that 6 months




Nigel Atkins

John, are you sure your rack needs replacing? My MGB has covered over 250,000 miles. My rack was getting, understandably, a little rattly.
I had it rebuilt by a business not far from me, recommended by my local mechanic. This was done about 6 months ago, and it wasn't especially expensive. It seems as good as new, and hopefully ready for the next 250,000 miles.
I'd assume there'd be places closer to home for you that would do the same than in Richmond NSW where mine was done, but if all else failed, it couldn't be too expensive to courier the rack to Richmond and back from Tasmania.
I've become very wary of reproduction parts as almost invariably they don't match the quality of the originals and cause endless irritation and frustration. I'd always aim to refurbish an original component wherever possible.
T Aczel

Hi All
I would have thought that a reshim would be possible and add years of life to a rack.
The only other thing to ware are the rack bearings which I don't think are a spare part, I did referb a Spitfire rack years ago and it wasn't too difficult to work on (out of the car obviously)

Graham
GJ Barker

You can also get wear in the rack-bar and the pinion.

Reshimming might not help there.
Dave O'Neill2

Indeed, you can reshim to take out slop in the straight-ahead position, only to have it binding to either side. I can't see anything other than replacing pinion and/or rack correcting that. However in my Mini days it was common for the bush on the other side to wear, and cause a rattle, which was an MOT failure. That was replaceable.
Paul Hunt

I agree. Reshimming didn't solve my issues. It just made it tighter in the straight ahead position, too tight in fact. And I still had a rattle in the rack.
T Aczel

This thread was discussed between 17/01/2014 and 26/01/2014

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