Steering Rack Rebuild and Track Rod Replacement
Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 19:55
Hi All, I recently rebuilt the power steering rack from my 1983 Excel and thought it may be useful for others to see how I did it. I also had to replace a track rod and used that as an excuse to see what alternative parts could be made to fit, so I will add something about that to the end of the post too.
All comments, questions and corrections are welcome.
My steering rack had a slight leak of fluid into the gaiters, but the thought of spending £240 for a reconditioned rack didn’t appeal to me, and since the seal kits are available for about £50 I thought I would give that a try.
I have struggled to find much information or pictures of other people doing this rebuild, so I have written this up with more detail than usual.
From reading other forum posts I believe that the power steering rack in the Excel is from a Ford Sierra, and there are a few you tube videos around of rebuilds of racks that look similar. After watching a couple of these I felt happy enough to start taking mine apart.
My rack was already out of the car and this rebuild does need it to be separate. I understand it can be wiggled out through a wheel arch, but mine came out really easily as I had separated the body from the chassis
To start with remove the rubber gaiters from each end of the rack, then the inner tie rods need to be separated from the rack. There is a slot in the rack that has part of the tie rod peened over into it to prevent it undoing. I ground this peened over section off with a dremel.
Initially I only removed one end - the drivers side, because the other end was very tight and I was concerned about damaging the rack, but it does need to come off to access the seals.
The inner tie rods are screwed into the main rack. A large pair of pipe grips are needed to unscrew them, made worse because on my rack the tie rods have no flats on them for a spanner.
For the passenger side I left it until I had removed the rack from the case, and then held the rack in a vice and used enough brute force to crack the thread undone. I had to hold the rack by the teeth in the vice to prevent it rotating. A word of warning, don’t use heat to free stuck threads - The inner ball joint is lines with plastic which melts, loosening the ball!
Once both inner tie rod ends are removed the pinion needs to be removed
I prised off the dust cap over the lower end of the pinion. Inside is a lock nut, then a circlip that holds in the lower bearing. The circlip and bearing don’t need to come out, but the lock nut does need to be removed
At the top of the pinion is a dust seal - which had disintegrated on my rack, and then a circlip that holds in the seal.
Remove the circlip.
Before the pinion can be removed the front cover and pre load assembly needs to be removed. Undo the two bolts holding the cover on and carefully lift it free. I say carefully because under the cover is a spring that will probably drop out. Take off the spring, the shims and then prise out the bush that pushes against the rack. I grabbed it with needs nosed pliers and it pulled straight out.
I suspect the shims are used to set the preload, so take note of how many there are, and whether there is a gasket as well. There was a paper gasket on mine, so when I reassembled I used a new one (cut from gasket paper).
Now the pinion can be removed. I comes out through the top but will be quite stiff to remove due to the oil seals. I used a mallet on it from the bottom, and then an old screwdriver to give me more space to wield the mallet. As the pinion moves it needs to rotate slightly due to the screw thread against the rack, so don’t hold it tight.
Now the pinion is out the rack can be removed from the case. It needs to be withdrawn out of the passenger side, so the retaining bush at that end needs to be removed. This is held in with a locking piece of wire. Rotate the bush until you can see the end of the wire through the slot in the case, then prise up the end of the wire and rotate the bush is the right direction to un-wind the wire out of the case
The wire can then be completely removed. The end of it is inserted into a whole in the bush - although I found mine was broken which was why it came out of the case so easily. The wire is quite soft, so when reassembling I cut off the broken end and bent a new 90 degree hook into it.
With the lock wire out the end bush can simple be pulled out of the case. Then the whole rack can be pulled out of the case. This was fairly easy, but be aware that as you pull the rack out it also pulls out the oil seal and bush assembly so you will feel some tightness. Any power steering fluid remaining in the rack will also be ejected onto the floor or work bench, so keep plenty of rags handy.
At this point only the oil seal from the drivers side of the rack remains in the case. This is actually about half way down the case near where the two halves are joined. It also needs to come out of the passenger side of the case.
I used a socket that was small enough to fit through the case, but big enough to hit the oil seal (18mm socket as it happens), and then enough socket extensions to be able to push it through the case. This came free with less effort than I was expecting.
As the seals come out take a note (photos) of the direction they are facing so the new ones can go in the same way.
The passenger side oil seal is inserted into a bush that looks like it has an 'oilite' surface on the inside.
Remove the o-ring and seal from the passenger side bush.
The new seal kit seems to have every seal that could be needed, and some that I presume are for other / later racks as they don’t look to fit my rack.
I decided not to try to fit the teflon seals. There are 4 on the pinion and one on the rack itself. I understand these are a bit of a pain to fit as the teflon is easy to damage. If they do need to be changed then I believe the way to do it is to heat up the new seals in hot water, and to make a sort of 'cone' out of thin drinks can aluminium so that the new seal can be slid along it and into its groove.
My existing seals all looked to be in good condition so I left them alone - which I may regret later.
The rack, pinion, case and all other parts need to be cleaned up. I started off washing them in paraffin, and then using carb cleaner to get a final clean - mainly because I had a few cans left.
Now its time to start reassembly.
The drivers side seal pushed back into the case - I used the socket and extension bar approach again.
The rack should be lubricated and then inserted back into the case. I believe some sort of fluid grease is meant to be used, but after a bit of reading around I used normal grease. I hope that doesn’t cause problems.
The passenger side bush needs a new o-ring and oil seal, and then inserting into the case over the rack. Its fairly tight, but should slide on. The outer bush then needs to be put back into place and the lock wire returned to lock it into place.
I used a spanner as a 'key' to rotate the outer bush and pull the lock wire back around and through the slot in the case - having bent the end of the wire into a new 90degree angle to fit into the hole in the bush.
After this it appears I didn’t take any more pictures, so reassembly must have been pretty straight forward.
Now the rack is back in the case the pinion can be refitted. This drops in from the top, slightly rotating as the teeth mesh with the rack. The lower retaining bolt can then be fitted (I left mine loose until after the pre-load bush was replaced).
The upper bearing and oil seal also need to be refitted - using the new oil seal. The seal needs to be bushed down into position to clear the slot for the circlip. A round bar was found for this job to fit over the pinion and bear on the oil seal. My round bar was actually a jack handle, but that is all I had to hand. I then drifted the seal down into position with the mallet. Once in position re fit the circlip.
The pre-load bush, spring, gasket, shims and cover then need to be re fitted. I made a new paper gasket since there was one originally, but Im not convinced it is needed as I don’t think there should be any fluid in that part of the rack to leak out, and if there was the shims wont be sealed anyway.
With that all in place I tightened up the lower bolt on the pinion and checked that the pinion could be turned with about the same amount of friction as before taking the rack apart. I didn’t use any gauges to measure this with, just finger pressure on a locking wrench on the top of the pinion.
Finally the inner tie rods can be re-attached and re-peened to prevent them undoing, and the gaiters re fitted. I also used some thread lock where the inner tie rod screws into the rack.
Unfortunately I have no way of pressure testing the rack so wont know if I managed to replace all the leaky seals until its back in the car with the engine refitted. If it does need to come out again at least I know how to take it apart.
All comments, questions and corrections are welcome.
My steering rack had a slight leak of fluid into the gaiters, but the thought of spending £240 for a reconditioned rack didn’t appeal to me, and since the seal kits are available for about £50 I thought I would give that a try.
I have struggled to find much information or pictures of other people doing this rebuild, so I have written this up with more detail than usual.
From reading other forum posts I believe that the power steering rack in the Excel is from a Ford Sierra, and there are a few you tube videos around of rebuilds of racks that look similar. After watching a couple of these I felt happy enough to start taking mine apart.
My rack was already out of the car and this rebuild does need it to be separate. I understand it can be wiggled out through a wheel arch, but mine came out really easily as I had separated the body from the chassis
To start with remove the rubber gaiters from each end of the rack, then the inner tie rods need to be separated from the rack. There is a slot in the rack that has part of the tie rod peened over into it to prevent it undoing. I ground this peened over section off with a dremel.
Initially I only removed one end - the drivers side, because the other end was very tight and I was concerned about damaging the rack, but it does need to come off to access the seals.
The inner tie rods are screwed into the main rack. A large pair of pipe grips are needed to unscrew them, made worse because on my rack the tie rods have no flats on them for a spanner.
For the passenger side I left it until I had removed the rack from the case, and then held the rack in a vice and used enough brute force to crack the thread undone. I had to hold the rack by the teeth in the vice to prevent it rotating. A word of warning, don’t use heat to free stuck threads - The inner ball joint is lines with plastic which melts, loosening the ball!
Once both inner tie rod ends are removed the pinion needs to be removed
I prised off the dust cap over the lower end of the pinion. Inside is a lock nut, then a circlip that holds in the lower bearing. The circlip and bearing don’t need to come out, but the lock nut does need to be removed
At the top of the pinion is a dust seal - which had disintegrated on my rack, and then a circlip that holds in the seal.
Remove the circlip.
Before the pinion can be removed the front cover and pre load assembly needs to be removed. Undo the two bolts holding the cover on and carefully lift it free. I say carefully because under the cover is a spring that will probably drop out. Take off the spring, the shims and then prise out the bush that pushes against the rack. I grabbed it with needs nosed pliers and it pulled straight out.
I suspect the shims are used to set the preload, so take note of how many there are, and whether there is a gasket as well. There was a paper gasket on mine, so when I reassembled I used a new one (cut from gasket paper).
Now the pinion can be removed. I comes out through the top but will be quite stiff to remove due to the oil seals. I used a mallet on it from the bottom, and then an old screwdriver to give me more space to wield the mallet. As the pinion moves it needs to rotate slightly due to the screw thread against the rack, so don’t hold it tight.
Now the pinion is out the rack can be removed from the case. It needs to be withdrawn out of the passenger side, so the retaining bush at that end needs to be removed. This is held in with a locking piece of wire. Rotate the bush until you can see the end of the wire through the slot in the case, then prise up the end of the wire and rotate the bush is the right direction to un-wind the wire out of the case
The wire can then be completely removed. The end of it is inserted into a whole in the bush - although I found mine was broken which was why it came out of the case so easily. The wire is quite soft, so when reassembling I cut off the broken end and bent a new 90 degree hook into it.
With the lock wire out the end bush can simple be pulled out of the case. Then the whole rack can be pulled out of the case. This was fairly easy, but be aware that as you pull the rack out it also pulls out the oil seal and bush assembly so you will feel some tightness. Any power steering fluid remaining in the rack will also be ejected onto the floor or work bench, so keep plenty of rags handy.
At this point only the oil seal from the drivers side of the rack remains in the case. This is actually about half way down the case near where the two halves are joined. It also needs to come out of the passenger side of the case.
I used a socket that was small enough to fit through the case, but big enough to hit the oil seal (18mm socket as it happens), and then enough socket extensions to be able to push it through the case. This came free with less effort than I was expecting.
As the seals come out take a note (photos) of the direction they are facing so the new ones can go in the same way.
The passenger side oil seal is inserted into a bush that looks like it has an 'oilite' surface on the inside.
Remove the o-ring and seal from the passenger side bush.
The new seal kit seems to have every seal that could be needed, and some that I presume are for other / later racks as they don’t look to fit my rack.
I decided not to try to fit the teflon seals. There are 4 on the pinion and one on the rack itself. I understand these are a bit of a pain to fit as the teflon is easy to damage. If they do need to be changed then I believe the way to do it is to heat up the new seals in hot water, and to make a sort of 'cone' out of thin drinks can aluminium so that the new seal can be slid along it and into its groove.
My existing seals all looked to be in good condition so I left them alone - which I may regret later.
The rack, pinion, case and all other parts need to be cleaned up. I started off washing them in paraffin, and then using carb cleaner to get a final clean - mainly because I had a few cans left.
Now its time to start reassembly.
The drivers side seal pushed back into the case - I used the socket and extension bar approach again.
The rack should be lubricated and then inserted back into the case. I believe some sort of fluid grease is meant to be used, but after a bit of reading around I used normal grease. I hope that doesn’t cause problems.
The passenger side bush needs a new o-ring and oil seal, and then inserting into the case over the rack. Its fairly tight, but should slide on. The outer bush then needs to be put back into place and the lock wire returned to lock it into place.
I used a spanner as a 'key' to rotate the outer bush and pull the lock wire back around and through the slot in the case - having bent the end of the wire into a new 90degree angle to fit into the hole in the bush.
After this it appears I didn’t take any more pictures, so reassembly must have been pretty straight forward.
Now the rack is back in the case the pinion can be refitted. This drops in from the top, slightly rotating as the teeth mesh with the rack. The lower retaining bolt can then be fitted (I left mine loose until after the pre-load bush was replaced).
The upper bearing and oil seal also need to be refitted - using the new oil seal. The seal needs to be bushed down into position to clear the slot for the circlip. A round bar was found for this job to fit over the pinion and bear on the oil seal. My round bar was actually a jack handle, but that is all I had to hand. I then drifted the seal down into position with the mallet. Once in position re fit the circlip.
The pre-load bush, spring, gasket, shims and cover then need to be re fitted. I made a new paper gasket since there was one originally, but Im not convinced it is needed as I don’t think there should be any fluid in that part of the rack to leak out, and if there was the shims wont be sealed anyway.
With that all in place I tightened up the lower bolt on the pinion and checked that the pinion could be turned with about the same amount of friction as before taking the rack apart. I didn’t use any gauges to measure this with, just finger pressure on a locking wrench on the top of the pinion.
Finally the inner tie rods can be re-attached and re-peened to prevent them undoing, and the gaiters re fitted. I also used some thread lock where the inner tie rod screws into the rack.
Unfortunately I have no way of pressure testing the rack so wont know if I managed to replace all the leaky seals until its back in the car with the engine refitted. If it does need to come out again at least I know how to take it apart.