Vibration, possible steering issues
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 10,572
Likes: 1,027
From: Oman
I suspect that what happens is the mounts last a long time but over the years the rubber starts to break down, they possibly get contaminated with leaked ATF and at some point they literally fall apart rapidly allowing the rack to slop around. The wheels have a resonant speed depending on diameter and if one hits a pot hole or a disturbance at that speed the system gets excited and that's the wobble.
For those that have ridden motorcycles such phenomena are much more noticeable and modern machines have hydraulic steering dampers. My 1957 650 BSA twin had a big **** on top of the steering hub and one had to tighten it down for speeds over 60 mph- leave it tight after slowing down and the bike would weave all over the place, forget to tighten it up when going for it and a tank slapper could happen- not very nice at ton plus speeds!
Nordschleife Master
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 5,943
Likes: 322
From: Kaukauna Wisconsin
Hi Jeff,
No, not really. It is a R&R of a steering rack, which is an endeavor, but not as big as a MM change.
Unless someone has a short cut of replacing the bushings while the steering rack is still attached to the car, the easiest would be to remove it and press out the old bushings and press in the new ones.
Your shop could do it and while there can also make sure all the rest of the front steering stuff is good as well check the balance of the wheels.
HTH.
No, not really. It is a R&R of a steering rack, which is an endeavor, but not as big as a MM change.
Unless someone has a short cut of replacing the bushings while the steering rack is still attached to the car, the easiest would be to remove it and press out the old bushings and press in the new ones.
Your shop could do it and while there can also make sure all the rest of the front steering stuff is good as well check the balance of the wheels.
HTH.
I did it.
I used a cold chisel and hammer to lift up the edges of the old (rubber & metal) bushings. They 'fold' over the edge of the hole. I had to beat on them enough to get one side to fit through the hole. That was the hardest part.
Once the old ones were out, I just used the bolt & nut that held the rack in place to draw the new derlin ones into place.
Not exactly a 'piece of cake', but not terribly difficult.
There was a pretty nice write up about it, but I couldn't find it with a quick search.
Thread Starter
Rennlist Member
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,559
Likes: 65
From: South Florida
I'm liking the sound of this, although my fear is I would get halfway done and then be really stuck. I will look for that writeup though...
Getting the bushings out with the rack still hanging by the tie rods is quite 'doable'.
I did it.
I used a cold chisel and hammer to lift up the edges of the old (rubber & metal) bushings. They 'fold' over the edge of the hole. I had to beat on them enough to get one side to fit through the hole. That was the hardest part.
Once the old ones were out, I just used the bolt & nut that held the rack in place to draw the new derlin ones into place.
Not exactly a 'piece of cake', but not terribly difficult.
There was a pretty nice write up about it, but I couldn't find it with a quick search.
I did it.
I used a cold chisel and hammer to lift up the edges of the old (rubber & metal) bushings. They 'fold' over the edge of the hole. I had to beat on them enough to get one side to fit through the hole. That was the hardest part.
Once the old ones were out, I just used the bolt & nut that held the rack in place to draw the new derlin ones into place.
Not exactly a 'piece of cake', but not terribly difficult.
There was a pretty nice write up about it, but I couldn't find it with a quick search.
Thread Starter
Rennlist Member
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,559
Likes: 65
From: South Florida
OK, with the help of a friend's QuickJack and some tools, I dove in and replaced my rack bushings. I did this with the rack in the car, and used the Delrin bushings I got from Roger.
Some observations:
By FAR, the hardest part of this job (for me) was blocking the bolt heads on top of the crossmember when removing the four 17mm nuts. I tried the allen wrench trick (sliding an appropriately-sized wrench between the bolt head and cross member lip to block the bolt from turning) and a number of other tools. Eventually, I got three of them off, but the one with the least room was the driver's side rear one (?) which I ended up going to the store and getting a box wrench with an offset, which allowed me to hold it after some fiddling. This was useful in replacement as well, although that was still a PITA job. I'm not sure if I needed to, but I unbolted the sway bar and dropped it down out of the way a few inches to improve access to that last bolt head.
Note: I did not disconnect the power steering lines, with the bracket holding those lines disconnected, the rack dropped far enough to get the bushings out from the top.
My bushings were so shot, I just used my fingers and pulled out the center metal piece...no tools required. The fourth required a bit of poking and pulling with a pair of needle-nosed vice grips.
Removing the outer bushing ring was not as easy as the inner, but still wasn't difficult. I used a hammer and cold chisel and bent/cut the metal ring inward until it eventually pushed the whole thing up through the top. Way easier than I feared.
Write-ups mentioned pressing the new bushings in with the mounting nuts and bolts.This worked, but not during final assembly...the bolts aren't long enough for that. I used the bolt through the two bushings and the nut (no cross member) to press them in, then removed them for final assembly. Interestingly, this caused the bolts to no longer slide easily through the bushings. I had to run a drill bit (same size as the bolts) through the bushings, being careful not to enlarge the holes past what they originally were. I can feel the veterans cringing at this from here, but I had no idea what else to do. None of the write-ups mentioned this that I saw, so feel free to chime in for future fraud mechanics like myself to learn from
I had a horrible time with the sway bar mounts, which I think was more about being mentally exhausted than anything, so I took a break, ordered a pizza with the lift owner, and afterwards it went back together as expected. All told, including breaks for lunch/hardware store and dinner, this was about ten hours. It is pretty frustrating to spend that much time basically just unscrewing bolts, but...
The steering is AMAZING now. So sharp and precise. Quite a bit more road feel than before. Thank you to everyone who weighed in above, and to all of those who came before, documenting experiences and procedures, etc.
Some observations:
By FAR, the hardest part of this job (for me) was blocking the bolt heads on top of the crossmember when removing the four 17mm nuts. I tried the allen wrench trick (sliding an appropriately-sized wrench between the bolt head and cross member lip to block the bolt from turning) and a number of other tools. Eventually, I got three of them off, but the one with the least room was the driver's side rear one (?) which I ended up going to the store and getting a box wrench with an offset, which allowed me to hold it after some fiddling. This was useful in replacement as well, although that was still a PITA job. I'm not sure if I needed to, but I unbolted the sway bar and dropped it down out of the way a few inches to improve access to that last bolt head.
Note: I did not disconnect the power steering lines, with the bracket holding those lines disconnected, the rack dropped far enough to get the bushings out from the top.
My bushings were so shot, I just used my fingers and pulled out the center metal piece...no tools required. The fourth required a bit of poking and pulling with a pair of needle-nosed vice grips.
Removing the outer bushing ring was not as easy as the inner, but still wasn't difficult. I used a hammer and cold chisel and bent/cut the metal ring inward until it eventually pushed the whole thing up through the top. Way easier than I feared.
Write-ups mentioned pressing the new bushings in with the mounting nuts and bolts.This worked, but not during final assembly...the bolts aren't long enough for that. I used the bolt through the two bushings and the nut (no cross member) to press them in, then removed them for final assembly. Interestingly, this caused the bolts to no longer slide easily through the bushings. I had to run a drill bit (same size as the bolts) through the bushings, being careful not to enlarge the holes past what they originally were. I can feel the veterans cringing at this from here, but I had no idea what else to do. None of the write-ups mentioned this that I saw, so feel free to chime in for future fraud mechanics like myself to learn from
I had a horrible time with the sway bar mounts, which I think was more about being mentally exhausted than anything, so I took a break, ordered a pizza with the lift owner, and afterwards it went back together as expected. All told, including breaks for lunch/hardware store and dinner, this was about ten hours. It is pretty frustrating to spend that much time basically just unscrewing bolts, but...
The steering is AMAZING now. So sharp and precise. Quite a bit more road feel than before. Thank you to everyone who weighed in above, and to all of those who came before, documenting experiences and procedures, etc.
