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MG MGB Technical - Racki & Pinion Leak

I have a leak where the steering column enters the rack and pinion. I purchased the new oil seal. Any advice on the proper way to replace this and how hard is it to do this "seemingly" small project? Thanks.
Robert Bard

Robert, i changed mine not so long back but i had my rack out on the bench,i have never tryed to fit a pinion seal with the rack in situ,so i cant say if it can be done, but it only takes minuits to remove the rack anyway, its only a matter of removing the old seal,clean up the pinion and refit the new seal, you dont need any special tools for this job, when i did mine i drained the rack as it was on the bench, then refilled it with 1/3 pt of EP 90, A.T
andy tilney

If you can pull pinion shaft out of the U-joint I think it could be changed with the rack in place. But that may take more time than removing the rack assembly from the car. It's ususlly difficult to get the shaft out of the U-joint. With the rack in place you would have to remove the pinion after removing the damper under the top cover and removing the damper cover.

If you have the rack on the bench you should be able to remove the seal without removing the shaft. You have to be sure there are no burrs, rust or bumps on the shaft that may damage the replacement seal. The photo shows a rack with the pinion and shaft removed.

Clifton


Clifton Gordon

Something else to consider....

If oil is leaking out of the seal, what is the chance that water and grit is leaking in. That was certainly the case when I refurbed mine. The water accumulated in the bottom of the rack/pinion housing and pretty much destroyed the ball bearing there. The grit destroyed the bronze bushing that is just below the oil seal. Had to replace oil seal, ball bearing and bronze bushing. Well worth the effort however.
G Oakes

Before you remove the pinion shaft from the universal joint mark both so you can easily align the splines afterwards. This makes positioning the steering wheel easier on reassembly.
Ian Buckley

On both my cars the rack shaft has a notch for the UJ clamp bolt, so it can only go back together in one position. You just offer-up the shaft to the UJ so that the slot in the UJ is in the middle of the notch, i.e. there are already 'marks'. This also ensures that you won't disturb the relationship between the steering wheel and the straight-ahead steering position - unless you do anything with the rack rods and ends, of course.

By contrast the column shaft has a groove all the way round for the upper UJ clamp bolt. It *is* worth marking column shaft and UJ if you part these splines, otherwise you have to reset the wheel and the indicator/turn signal cancelling cam - and this latter can't be done on the earlier shafts with the screwed in peg as opposed to the later sliding clip.
Paul Hunt

I replaced that seal without removing the rack. I removed both top and bottom covers then undid the UJ and slid the lower column out through the bottom. replacing the seal simple - and then the fun started! When you replace the lower shaft it's no good lining up the notches before you slide it home because it twists on the way in. So you may have to try a few times before you get it right. It's worth replacing the plunger while you have it apart, and don't forget to use thread sealer on the lower cover bolts or they will leak. Having said all that it's fairly straightforward.
Miles Banister

i can see no reason to remove the pinion just to replace the seal, if you have water ingress,yes then i would strip the rack, when i did mine it took less than one hour to remove the rack drain it renew the seal, refill it with oil and refit the rack. A.T
andy tilney

Ah yes. If you remove the shaft from the rack then you will have fun getting the wheel alignment back as it was, just like for the distributor drive gear.
Paul Hunt

This thread was discussed between 14/12/2008 and 16/12/2008

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