[DeTomaso] Steering rack disasters....

Thu May 17 21:54:09 EDT 2012

Hey Mike. Have you guys ever refurbished one of the funky "sardine can"
Renault racks from a Mangusta? Mine's getting a bit "juicy".

Daryl

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 8:12 PM, <MikeLDrew at aol.com> wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> Lori and I have been busy working on Pantera steering racks this week.
> I've probably rebuilt 125+ by now, and Lori has done a half-dozen or so
> and is
> very oddly getting really into it!
>
> A fellow ran into some rack troubles and contacted me for help, and I
> suggested that he just ship his rack to us.   I'm glad he did!
>
> His troubles first became known to him when he backed out of his driveway,
> and his passenger tie rod BROKE!   Not the tie rod end--the tie rod itself!
>  Just snapped clean in two!!!!
>
> I'd never heard of that happening before and before he just bought a new
> tie rod, I thought it prudent to get to the source of the problem.
>
> It turns out that a prior owner of his car had rebuilt the rack with a new
> bushing, and that fellow was a SAVAGE.   There simply is no other word for
> it.
>
> But I get ahead of myself.   My first investigation was centered around the
> broken tie rod.   The bit that remained (it broke off almost flush with the
> rack, opposite from the tie rod end) was so stiff that I couldn't move it.
>  I then tried the other end--and it was so stiff I couldn't move it either!
>
> The savage had removed both tie rods during the rebuild process (you only
> need to remove the passenger side), and when he put them back, he failed to
> pay attention to the prior position of the locking ring etc. and he made
> them
> way, WAY too tight!   The rack was completely bound up solid!   It would
> take enormous force to be able to move these tie rods...and then he drove
> the
> car like that for who knows how long.
>
> Oh, this genius also failed to lube the rack properly.   Rather than using
> 90-weight gear oil, as they originally used, or 0-weight grease, as the new
> racks currently use (and which the manufacturer recommends highly over
> 90-weight oil, which is a desperately antiquated lubricant for this
> purpose,
> according to them), he used some sort of wheel bearing grease, only traces
> of
> which remained (it was blue).
>
> So, this guy really did a number on this rack.   But I was horrified when I
> got the rack apart and took a close look at it!   Here's a comparison
> between the rack in question (on the top) and another high-mileage used
> rack
> which I describe below:
>
> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=36277
>
> And here's a close-up:
>
> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=36281
>
> Simply put, this rack is TOTALLY WRECKED.   There's simply no reasonable
> way to repair the damage that this idiot caused due to complete mechanical
> foolishness.
>
> I felt terrible for the fellow who sent me the rack, as he had bought the
> car and knew nothing of any of this work that had gone before.   I had to
> send him the photos and ask what he wanted to do.  We had a second rack
> that we
> were rebuilding for somebody else, at the same time, which would then
> potentially be available for sale, but that one was slightly bent on one
> end
> because the car it came from had been in a front-end wreck.
>
> I also had purchased one of the brand new factory racks from Roland a few
> years ago, which it turns out I never needed to use, so I had that
> available
> for sale.   Those things are enormously expensive now:
>
> http://www.panterapartsusa.com/cgi-bin/detail.cgi?prod_id=03031A
>
> But fortunately they were quite a bit less when I bought mine.   He elected
> to just buy the new one, and I sold it to him for the same amount that I
> had paid for it.
>
> That still left the other one.   This one had also been rebuilt by an
> unknown former owner, but the person who did it (who also had some savage
> tendancies) used one of the larger-style bushings, which is designed to
> augment,
> rather than replace the stock bushing.   I have found this style of
> bushing to
> be rather problematic, as they often seem to be a bit undersize on the
> inside diameter, leading to binding.   Amazingly, the guy who installed
> this
> bushing first removed the old one that it is supposed to butt up against,
> and
> just stuck the new one into the rack freely.   Oh, he did drill and tap a
> hole for the set screw, but he drilled the hole in the wrong place so the
> set
> screw was nowhere near the new bushings--and he didn't screw it in far
> enough
> to touch it even if it was near the new bushing!   So all the set screw was
> doing was plugging the hole he had drilled???
>
> The original set screw was still in place, but since the old bushing had
> been removed and the new bushing was too large to fit where the old one had
> gone, it wasn't touching anything either.
>
> We took the whole thing apart (the tie rods had not been properly
> re-attached to the rack and they almost spun off in my hands with no tools
> needed to
> remove them--YIKES!) and fortunately, for no good reason, I have about a
> half-dozen stock, worn-out rack bushings to choose from.   Oddly, the
> set-screw
> hole is in a different place in each one of them, so it took some doing but
> fortunately we found one whose hole lined up perfectly with the stock set
> screw in the rack housing.   So we installed that worn-out bushing just to
> serve as a shoulder for the aftermarket bushing to rest against as it's
> intended, then re-installed the aftermarket bushing, taking great pains to
> drill a
> proper set screw hole and secure it properly.   The bushing was a bit tight
> against the rack and it didn't move smoothly enough for my tastes, so we
> then used a brake hone to slightly enlarge the bushing, and also used
> extremely fine sandpaper and emery cloth to clean up the rack and ensure
> that they
> played nicely together.
>
> Since I knew the car had been in a front-end wreck I was very careful to
> check the rack itself.   Initially it seemed okay, but upon closer
> inspection
> I could see that it had a slight banana-thing happening in the last six
> inches on the driver's side.
>
> Not trusting myself to that degree, I took it to my local machine shop to
> have them straighten it.   It was only very slightly bent on the
> driver-side
> (teeth) end, and it took less than one minute for the machinist to make it
> absolutely perfectly straight again.   Fortunately the material isn't
> especially brittle, and instead is a bit soft and pliable.
>
> So, with that sorted out, we got that rack put back together this
> afternoon, and now it's perfect.   It took substantially more work than
> they normally
> do, but on the other hand, it saved him $40 because we were able to re-use
> the aftermarket bushing that had already been installed.   This weekend we
> will deliver it to the owner for him to install it in his car, and then
> he'll
> pull the one that's in his car out and we'll rebuild THAT one for him, and
> that one will then be available for purchase.
>
> Oh, and another guy is bringing his car to our house Saturday for yet
> another rack rebuild session. :>)
>
> Anyway, my ultimate point is to exercise due care if you choose to rebuild
> your own steering rack.   It's a relatively simple job that takes a few
> hours, but requires some special tools if it's to be done in a sensitive
> manner
> (both of these racks had been savaged with pipe wrenches), and if you fail
> to use the proper lubricant (either 90-weight oil or 0-weight grease),
> over-tighten or under-tighten various bits and pieces, you can create more
> harm
> than good.
>
> My standing offer still stands--if anybody wants their steering rack
> rebuilt for free, you can always send it to us.   It might take a week or
> two for
> us to get to it, but when you get it back it'll be gooder than new, and all
> I ask is that you pay for the new bushing ($40) and the return shipping.
> The vendors will do the same job for $375 or so.
>
> I think we represent a better deal. :>)
>
> Cheers!
>
> Mike
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