Hi All,
I'm back for another one of those insider tips from the experts.
I've diassembled and cleaned the steering rack and associated pinion
shaft. My basket case 52 TD came with badly deteriorated rubber rack
seal 'boots' and a missing seal on the pinion shaft and after a
transcontinental trip I feared severe grit contamination of the steering
rack.
I have 2 questions:
1) There HAS to be a trick to installing the felt seal on the pinion
shaft where it exits the housing. There is a groove there, and I tried
putting the seal in first then inserting the pinion shaft - the fatter
end of the shaft forces the seal out. I've tried inserting the seal
from the 'top' after the shaft is installed - nope-- not enough
clearance. I've tried placing the seal on the shaft then inserting the
whole thing -nope--the passageway gets smaller and stops the seal from
progressing. So.......what's the trick here ????
2) What's the current thinking on oil vs. grease inside the rack ? I
know that originally 90W oil was used, but numerous times grease was
injected thru the nipple on the rack front. I've also read that once
apart and cleaned, go with oil as this was the original configuration,
but I also seem to remember a thread past stating modern greases are
much superior. Is there a difference in steering resistance with grease
? Thoughts anyone ??
Again, thanks for all assistance,
Bud
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