928nut

As I'm slowly exposing the underbelly of my '79 automatic for oilpan gasket change, I noticed something strange on my steering rack. The right hand side fitting of this black tubing was up in the air, must have popped out of its hole when two cable ties were put on to keep the tubing in place. I forced it back in but had to cut the cable ties and pull the tubing off the left hand side fitting a bit to do it. Basically the tubing is a bit short, not sure if it shrank over time or it was that way from day one, 12+ years.

What I'm really wondering about is what the hell is its function ? The rack seemed to work just fine all this time and obviously it is not a hi-pressure line ? Any ideas ?
I could not find any reference to it in all my documentation.

See the attached pic for clarity.

928nut

s928s

I believe it is a vent line for internal pressure release, bleed by. Fluid ove time will cause hose to soften and swell.

justin

Vent line.

largecar379

while you're there....put solid rack bushings in (or washers, in my case)??

---Russ

Andre Hedrick

What does it actually gain you over new standard or poly ones?

largecar379

you gain no rack movement---either up and or side to side.

I would tell you the steering feels tighter (it's what I've heard), but I'm fighting clutch issues.......again.

I am so tired of this------

--Russ

FlyingDog

Bingo. It's a great improvement. ~$1 in washers vs ~$60 for mushy factory bushings or ~$70 for Carl's solid Al bushings.

928nut

I am thinking of doing that, having read the recent discussions on the subject but I want to take a better look at them first to make sure I understand the mechanics. Looking at a lot of other things "while I'm in there" - unfortunatelly.

928nut

928nut

Thanks fellows,

I guess that explains why I didn't feel anything abnormal. Having one end open/unplugged makes no difference other than that you could potentially get some dirt inside the rack, which could lead to some problems down the road. The tubing certainly didn't soften up if anything, it got harder and perhaps shrank a bit. I'll try to locate a new piece of tubing and replace it.

928nut

griffiths

The plastic tube is a "cross over tube". Fancy name huh.
Each side of the rack has a protective bellow or boot.
As the boot expands or contracts, with rack movement, the air under the boot needs to go somewhere else the boot may pop off the rack.
The rigid plastic tube gets brittle over time (oils and ozone). You can probably find something in your favorite BigBox store to replace the tube for awhile.
Around 1981 or so the cross over tube was deleted; the older solid shaft rack was replaced with a hollow shaft rack which has the cross over air circuit built within.

While you are inspecting the rack carefully remove the boot from each end and check for signs of PS leakage. If you find PS fluid in the boot then it is time to R&R. If the boots are torn, hard or brittle you might as well replace them (drop outer tie rod from spindle and R&R boot). When you pull back the LH side boot (on LH drive cars) turn the wheel so the rack shaft extends out as far as possible and grease up the rack gear.

928nut

[QUOTE=griffiths;4944379]The plastic tube is a "cross over tube". Fancy name huh. snip, snip .... QUOTE]

Got it, thanks Charlie.

killav

I put in Carl's solid mount steering rack bushings and this was a VAST improvement in steering feel on the road. Mine were really wore out.