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Post by eddypeck on Mar 19, 2015 13:14:24 GMT 1
On my 1993 BMW e30, the last MOT has play in the steering rack as an advisory. When I had one years ago a garage shimmed one to get it through an MOT at the time. Just wondering if this is an adequate fix and how do I go about it?
ta,
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Post by chippie on Mar 19, 2015 13:46:37 GMT 1
From memory when I were a lad,I shimmed the rack on my Mini.......there were two areas where shimming could be done to eliminate any play.
One adjustment was to shim the rack itself, there was a slipper pad that bears on the rack itself that can be shimmed, then there's the actuall steering shaft that engages with the rack, that could be shimmed for correct endlfloat......
It was easier to remove the rack from the car, because I think the correct preload was measured using a spring balance like what fishermen use for weighing fish.....the rack preload is checked by attaching the scales to one of the tie rods and pulling, if the preload was correct it should take X lbs force to move the rack.....
Preload for the shaft was set using feeler gauges.....
Can't help specifically with your Beemer, but the techniques may help.....
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Post by Karl on Mar 19, 2015 14:24:52 GMT 1
Never heard of shimming steering rack
This won't even be possible on the vast majority of racks
I'd expect its wear in the track arms/ball joint
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Post by eddypeck on Mar 19, 2015 14:55:13 GMT 1
How I know about this is back in 2002?(ish - I only remember this date because I'd just moved house). My old e30 failed on the steering rack, not sure on the issue but I fitted a recon rack from Eurocar parts. The 'supposidly' recon rack failed also !?!?!? .
Obviosuly I was not happy as drive way rack swap was not an easy task, Euro car part offered to exchange it but I refused to do the work as it was a big enough ball ached the first time round. So since the garage I'd taken it for the MOT was local to ECP and one of their customers between them they did a deal any ECP paid the labour, pretty sure they didn't change the rack again though, they shimmed it in situ. And I remember hanging around while they did it so couldn't have taken that long to do.
It's not play in the TRE, they're fine.
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Post by dooroy on Mar 19, 2015 15:00:20 GMT 1
The problem would be that when you eliminate play in one position you can have tight spots in other positions.
It would be a very time consuming 'operation' - assuming you could get suitable shims etc and if you end up with tight spots not very pleasant e.g steering not inclined to self centre etc .
I think , but am open to correction , that it was only when rack and pinion steering was introduced first that racks could be 'adjusted '.
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Post by rhyds on Mar 19, 2015 15:07:16 GMT 1
Personally, unless steering racks are expensive or very hard to find, I'd strongly recommend getting a decent (not ECP) replacement rack.
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Post by chippie on Mar 19, 2015 15:30:18 GMT 1
Never heard of shimming steering rack This won't even be possible on the vast majority of racks I'd expect its wear in the track arms/ball joint You may well be right Karl.....  How times have changed....Guess I'm a dinosaur.....  Just out of curiosity then, hands up anyone having shimmed top or bottom ball joints on a Mini? |
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Post by Joepublic on Mar 19, 2015 15:31:38 GMT 1
If you look at your Haynes manual for your MK2 it shows you how to do it, its a grub screw, it also explains how to check the adjustment isn't too much to create tight spots when the steering wheel is moved by a single finger from lock to lock and a road test where to ensure the steering still self centres.
I did my MK2 and it was fine afterwards, non PAS was a 10mm socket and a turn of a few degrees only, PAS MK2s use a large allen key to adjust it.
I suspect you BMW may have the same set up?
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Post by Joepublic on Mar 19, 2015 15:57:43 GMT 1
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remmington
Apprentice
Owns Spark Eroder
Posts: 4,963
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Post by remmington on Mar 19, 2015 16:55:02 GMT 1
Shim? Not a chance!
They are adjustable! But if you go too tight, you will loose the self centring effect!
Oh... Europooh are shite!
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Post by eddypeck on Mar 19, 2015 18:00:35 GMT 1
Ok, thanks all for the comments. Looks like I have a bit of reading up to do on the weekend to see if there's any way to adjust it. .With regards to replacing it, the e30 rack has an epic 4 full turns lock to lock. A popular mod is to fit a z3 or e36 rack. z3 is 2.5 turns I think, but the problem with z3 is they're all getting on a bit now too. There's a couple variants of e36 racks some are 3 turns but the sport one (the one to have) is 2.7 turns. So ideally I'd like to do this mod..  However it requireds a custom UJ, modified PAS pipes and spacers on the mounting points  there's a guy that sells the conversion kit but it comes in at £180.... then I need to find a good rack - so looking at about £250 all in. .
The cheaper options, is I swap the rack out of the 'other one' I currently have on my drive way   I'm breaking this, it has 25k less miles than the keeper.... although I don't fancy swapping the rack more than once and chance are I'd have to do it again in a couple of years. hmmmm... choices. Adjusting sounds hopeful - fingers crossed. |
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Post by sorted on Mar 19, 2015 20:50:24 GMT 1
You really need to establish where the play is before doing more, the adjustments referred to above will take play out of the pinion (input shaft) but will not help if the play is with the inner track rod joints inside the gators. You can though buy the track control arms for most racks to deal with this.
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Post by valhalla on Mar 19, 2015 23:01:11 GMT 1
Last months Practical Classics did an article on stripping steering racks and getting the play adjusted out of them. It was based around the earlier designs with a collet affair sprung-loaded against the back of the rack (adjacent to the pinion) which could be biased heavier and lighter spring-loads, and with a locking collar to keep everything in place once the adjustmet had occurred.
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Post by studabear on Mar 19, 2015 23:15:59 GMT 1
Ok, thanks all for the comments. Looks like I have a bit of reading up to do on the weekend to see if there's any way to adjust it. .With regards to replacing it, the e30 rack has an epic 4 full turns lock to lock. A popular mod is to fit a z3 or e36 rack. z3 is 2.5 turns I think, but the problem with z3 is they're all getting on a bit now too. There's a couple variants of e36 racks some are 3 turns but the sport one (the one to have) is 2.7 turns. So ideally I'd like to do this mod.. However it requireds a custom UJ, modified PAS pipes and spacers on the mounting points there's a guy that sells the conversion kit but it comes in at £180.... then I need to find a good rack - so looking at about £250 all in. .
The cheaper options, is I swap the rack out of the 'other one' I currently have on my drive way I'm breaking this, it has 25k less miles than the keeper.... although I don't fancy swapping the rack more than once and chance are I'd have to do it again in a couple of years. hmmmm... choices. Adjusting sounds hopeful - fingers crossed. Please tell me that car is not just supported in bricks/blocks? |
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Post by valhalla on Mar 19, 2015 23:53:27 GMT 1
Please tell me that car is not just supported in bricks/blocks? No, there's a vacuum cleaner tube holding the bonnet up. Bet his missus has been looking for that...... |
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there's a guy that sells the conversion kit but it comes in at £180.... then I need to find a good rack - so looking at about £250 all in.
