I need to take my steering rack apart to send off to the machine shop for shortening. However I cannot figure out how to take it apart. It looks like the rack stope unscrew from the whole mess. It also looks like there is a small pin pressed into the stop as a safety measure.

I'm looking for any insight or tips on how to take this apart. Any help is appreciated

--Chris
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Haynes say...

quote:

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1. Clean the exterior of the steering gear with paraffin and wipe dry.

2. Mount the steering gear in a soft jawed vice, then remove and discard the clips and slide the rubber gaiters off the tie-rods.

3. Move the rack fully to the left and grip the rack in the vice. Ensure that jaw protectors are used.

4. If the original tie-rods are fitted use a pipe wrench to unscrew the ball joint from the rack and remove the tie-rod. If service replacement tie-rods are fitted use a spanner on the machined flats.

5. Remove the right-hand tie-rod in the same way.

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Chris_R:

Thanks for the reply. The tie rods ends are all off. I suppose I need to drill the pin out. Once it is out, do the steering stops just unscrew?

--Thanks, Chris

Chris, do you use ADSL? If so U2U me your email address and I'll send you a little something.

Yo Chris,
if it's anything like my rack (and it does look a little different) the end thing and the "locknut" thing do just unscrew once the pin has been drilled out. It's one of those jobs where the 2nd one is a peice of cake after much soul searching and pondering on the first one!
I guess it's time to give up on the parts I sent - I wonder where they are now! I just used normal mail & they disappeared. It's annoying for me, I could have thrown them away without giving the post office £16, but worse for Chris because it'll cost him a load to replicate the work.

"feck arse" [Father Jack]

Bob

PS re the other thread - if you want to see the bump steer with book geometry, tape a laser pointer to a front wheel & articulate your suspension - it's appalling!

With Chris Renny's help (thanks!) I tore into the rack last night. I got it apart, but could not get the guts removed. It's like the pinion is binding the inerbits and stopping it from sliding out. What did you do to get your's apart?

I now understand exactly what you did to shorten it. You took the internal bit, cut 3.5" off off the passenger side and rethreaded it. You then cut 3.5" off the case, sleeved it and welded it back up. If this is how it works, I'm in better shape than I thought. I budgeted $150 for the machining. I think it will be much less than this.

...Now if I can just get the internal bit out!

--Thanks, Chris

Chris,

Surely there's someone in NA who's shortened a Miata rack. Maybe Keith Tanner?

U2Uing you an addy of a guy who shortened a RX-7 rack, in case they're similar.

Pete

Hi Chris,
I was trying to remember what held the pinion in on my rack - it was a couple of bolts, about M8 or 5/16 size - the cover plate and a couple of shims then came off & the pinion just slid out. Course its all easier with the preload gubbins removed from the other side (another plate with shims for me - you have a threaded thing from memory). Your westie one looks different to my mk2 one in a number of respects so I guess it pays to be careful, also your machining will place the TRE ball joint at a different height so I reckon it's probably worth you doing the laser thing to determine the optimum rack height for bump steer on your car, and determining how much to hack off the rack too. I took 3.5 off the rack and 3 off the body and didn't worry over much about fore/aft location (I reckon bump steer's a bigger issue than ackermann) . Taking less off the body limits lock and keeps the mountings 7" apart, which still feels sturdy enough. Doing the laser setup thing you will need an adjustable track rod extender about 4" long (for escort rack - westie one may already have extended track rods)(other builders note this is all for mx5 uprights not sierra or cortina ones)
When you build the rack mounts remember the pinion has to end up pointing approximately where the steering wheel will be!! this is why the rack mounts look like they're at a daft angle.
Long post - sorry if a lot of it's obvious!
Cheers
Bob