[DeTomaso] steering rack question

Justin Greisberg justingreisberg at hotmail.com
Tue Jun 15 19:54:40 EDT 2010


Engine assembly lube (used during prep of a new engine) is a lightweight grease, and I happen to have a bit of it hanging around.  The rack seems to be seeping a little bit from a bunch of different spots, and after buying the wrong bellows from a vendor, I paid wilkinson for the right ones (just another example of doing it twice!).  however, given the persistence of gravity, everything is a little moist at all possible orifices of the rack -- desirable in some situations in life, but not this one...

 

Given the fact that I completely painted the undersurface of the car, it is a bummer to see the heavy lube getting everything dirty, and a nice spot has built up on the floor under the car, making me wonder how much is really in there anyway.  the rack was essentially dry when I rebuilt it, so I wonder how much lube these things ever had after the first couple years...  I think I will try to pull off the bellows with the rack in the car and lube the rack and ends and see how it goes.  I bet i can get a lotof lube on the rack from the driver side by turning the wheels all the way to the left, and then lubing the rack and moving it back and forth on the pinion.  i'll let you know.  taking the tie rod ends out of the front spindles is a bummer when everything is nicely painted, but I am prepared to do this job again if needed...
 


From: MikeLDrew at aol.com
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:51:07 -0400
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] steering rack question
To: justingreisberg at hotmail.com; detomaso at realbig.com


In a message dated 6/14/10 5 17 55, justingreisberg at hotmail.com writes:



anyway, big question is what to do?  I think I might just take off one of the rubber bellows while in the car, and turn wheel all the way to one side to expose part of the rack,  then lube up rack with thin engine assembly lube, then rotate wheel back and forth a bunch to get lube on the pinion gear and rest of rack.  And just dump the rest of the fluid out before it gets all over my nicely restored frame.  any thoughts?  I would love not to have to remove rack again, even though I have become an expert at doing everything twice on the car.  (those who follow my exploits might recall the 4 times I had to take the cylinder head off the block in the car)


>>>You really can't properly lube the rack with grease without removing it from the car and fully dismantling it.  Fortunately it's not too difficult, especially in light of the fact that you've done the job recently.

If you install new boots (Wilkinson is now selling new factory-style boots quite cheaply) with proper-sized hose clamps, you might be able to get it to seal.  You'll also have to work to keep fluid from seeping past all the various other places where it likes to leak out (pinion seal, pinion cover, etc. etc.)

Back in the 1970s, racks were lubricated with differential oil, but times have changed.  The current manufacturer of the rack does not use oil; they use a very light grease.  Years ago, Rick Moseley contacted the TRW tech department (TRW bought Cam Gears UK, the company that made our original racks) and they advised against using oil, and instead advised using grease.

But not any old grease will do.  Jack published an article on grease in the most recent POCA newsletter, and the section dealing with steering rack lubrication did contain one accurate and important statement--you can do more harm than good by just sticking axle bearing grease in there.  The manufacturer wants 0-weight grease, which is extremely difficult to come by except in 55-gallon drums.  

They recommended CRC engine assembly lube, which is 0-1/2 weight.  It's available in 2.75 oz (too small, not enough methinks) and 10 oz tubes; the larger tubes are under ten bucks.  It's a lithium 12 hydroxy stearate-based grease which adheres to metal surfaces.  Here's a photo from the CRC website:

http://www.crcindustries.com/catalog/images/Lubricant%20and%20Penetrant/SL3331.jpg

Just pulling an accordian boot off one end and squirting some of this stuff in there is wishful thinking in the extreme.  You have to fully dismantle the rack, and ensure a thorough coating of the rack and pinion gears, both upper and lower bearings, the surface where the rack passes through the bushing, and also the union of both tie rods and the rack itself.  Don't be shy about pouring it on; you can under-lubricate the system but it would be virtually impossible to over-lubricate it.

The problem with using oil instead of grease is that the tie rods normally hang down when the car is at rest; all the oil drains from the rack and just pools in the boots, leaving the rack largely unprotected, particularly the upper bearing.  The grease does an excellent job of staying put and doing the job it's supposed to do, which is almost assuredly why the manufacturer switched away from oil many years ago.

Mike

 		 	   		  
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