mike_israel write:
>The Jag dealer tells me my oil feed and return hoses have been leaking onto
>the rack bushings and said bushings now need replacing. (Amazing! A
>British car that leaks oil).
>Are these the bushings holding the rack to the chassis or are they internal
>to the rack? I suspect they must be somewhat obvious if oil is leaking on
>them. How difficult are they to replace? What is the general procedure for
>doing this work?
Having just spent a good part of last sunday doing exactly this job, I'll take
a crack at an answer. First of all, it's a dumb design. The bushings in
question are steel-sleeved rubber with a steel core, and are mounted co-axially
with the rack. In other words, most of the give in the bush is in the same
direction the rack tries to move when you turn the wheel. The other dumb
part, is that the rubber composition doesn't stand up well to oil (and they
live down by the oil sump!) WARNING! Bad ascii graphics to follow:
The bushes looks something like this: (almost to scale)
----------- <-- steel sleeve
__/___________\__ <-- soft rubber
| | <-- steel core (with bolt through it)
|_________________|
\ /
-----------
with a big rubber-coated washer on either side.
The rack looks like this: WARNING!! _really_bad_ ascii graphics coming!
(for sure not to scale...)
____[]________________________________[]____ <-- bushings
| |
| [o] <---------------------------------------- pinion
|____________________________________________|
There are two bushing oriented one above the other by the pinion, and one
on the other side (works for either RHD or LHD). The original bushings are
god's own bitch to get in and out (at least mine were), no amount of pressure
I could bring to bear using grade-8 bolts and spacers would budge them, and I
ended up using a 2-pound 'wrench' and a flame wrench to persuade them to see
things my way. I did them when I got the car last July (using stock parts)
and they needed it again already. I got the 'last forever' bushings from
John's cars (the guys who specialize in V8 conversions), and they went in
real easy, and are a simpler, better design. they're also made out of stuff
which will last _forever_. The job took about 4 hours on sunday afternoon,
most of which time was spent getting the old bushes out. The steering is
very tight and direct now - mucho better. BTW, I've been told that the stock
bushes should be treated as consumbable items, and that you should expect
to replace them once in a while.
Hope this sheds light, not generates heat...
John
|