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MG TD TF 1500 - Steering Rack Assembly

Anyone find a good article on tear down, repair and assembly of an TD steering rack? I would like to adjust the rack such that The steering wheel is straight when driving down the street. All external adjustments have failed to accomplish this.
Ralph Cacace

Ralph - If the tie rods on both sides are equal in length (adjust them by screwing the in and out of the tie rod ends), then the rack will be centered. If the steering wheel is not straight at that point, pull it off and reposition it so that it is straight. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Hi David,

The TD-TF steering wheel is keyed to the shaft in one position, so unlike MGA etc, in theory, all the centering has to be done through the tie rods, as you have described. This is being written on the basis of memory but I think I'm right!

In the case of Ralph's car it may be that a PO has not correctly lined up the lower steering shaft correctly, using the 'arrow' etc, which might well confuse matters even more!

Cheers, John.
J C Mitchell

Hi again David,

What I meant to say was that the steering wheel 'top end shaft' is keyed to the main column in one position. Removing the steering wheel from this shaft can be very difficult without the correct puller and damage can result. Better in my view to go down the tedious tie rod route, making sure of course that parallel toe-in is maintained. Operatives at garages or steering/tyre centres will almost certainly not be aware of these complications!

Cheers, John.
J C Mitchell

The steering wheel is keyed but only to the upper short telescoping shaft, which is splined. This can be removed with the steering wheel attached and turned to engage the splines at a different orientation. There is separate internal key to keep it from normally coming all the way out of the column.
Straighten the front wheels, loosen the steering wheel adjustment clamp and pull the wheel toward the driver. Under the chrome spring cover on the drivers is a long key, which you will have to depress inside the column with a long thin blade of some type. This will allow the wheel to come out of the steering column with a short shaft of about 10 inches attached. Rotate to the desired position and reengage the spline teeth.

Clear as mud ?

Dallas
D C Congleton

Dallas, good idea, but you can only move it one or two splines due to the groove in the shaft. The tripod flange fitting on the pinion shaft (the part the inner column bolts on to under the generator) is fitted to the pinion with fine, infinitely adjustable splines and is held on to the pinion by the big nut. You have to remove the 3 nuts/bolts, and pull the inner column up to see the nut. Don't know if it can be removed in place or not. You have to have the outer tie rod ends adjusted so close to equal thread on each one with toe set correctly first. George
George Butz

PS- if you find you are still off just a touch after tie rod adjustment and moving the splined shaft as far as you can, you can file one edge of the oblong sshaft retaining key down giving you one more spline of adjustment. Don't ask me how I know, but this works. George
George Butz

George,

Your reference to only being able to adjust by one or two splines rings true, and filing one edge of the key will as you say give more scope. I suspect there are many of our cars out there without the key at all, since with the clamp done up tight I cannot visualise the steering wheel/top shaft ever being pulled back and out!

Personally I leave the key in and untouched, but I quite understand why others prefer not to go down the longwinded tie rod adjustment route, with the added possibility of losing the tracking. MG didn't make it easy for us did they!

Despite my earlier comments re MGAs, having now looked at the relevant spares list, they too had a similar arrangement on the adjustable columns, but these were not standard, resulting perhaps in the fixed columns being more common. Memory fades but I think my MGAs had fixed columns, or at least steering wheels that seperated from the the top splines easily!

Cheers, John.
J C Mitchell

Over 30 years ago I removed the offending steering column key, as John Mitchell has mentioned, to make it easier to remove the steering wheel and upper shaft from my TD. This then makes it much easier to work under the dash or top up the brake fluid. In that time, with the clamp bolt properly tightened, the steering wheel (and upper shaft) has never come out by accident. Think of the weight saving as well!
Roger Wilson

This thread was discussed between 03/11/2008 and 04/11/2008

MG TD TF 1500 index

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