Max,
The "pool of oil" doesn't stay at the bottom of the gaiters, and
there is good reason why it is gear oil and not grease. When you get
the prescribed 6 fluid ounces of oil in the rack you can turn it from
lock to lock, and you can hear the oil gurgle in and out of the
gaiters and is passes back and forth through the rack
assembly. That's how you know there is enough oil in it. Don't use
too much oil, as that could explode the gaiters.
The MGA has a Zerk fitting on top of the steering rack housing for
the purpose of installing the oil, so you don't have to fiddle with
the caps or covers. The small palm push oil gun is a nifty tool for
this operation. MGB design deleted the Zerk fittings (just to make
life difficult).
The "Pinion Cap" is on the front side of the rack at the bottom end
of the pinion shaft. In most cases you do not want to fiddle with
shims there, as it is controlling minimal end float of the pinion
gear, and it usually doesn't change much. If you take out one shim
and the pinion shaft binds up, you screwed up.
On top of the rack you can find two caps over spring loaded brass
dampers. The one on opposite end of the rack from the pinion shaft
is not so critical and is simply spring loaded with no
adjustment. The one above the pinion gear will have multiple shims,
commonly a lot of shims. When the brass damper plunger is new this
is adjusted to minimal clearance, so if you removed one shim it would
bind. As the nose end of the damper wears the spring advances the
damper to keep the sliding rack at zero clearance. With a worn
damper you can remove shims until it binds, then put one shim back in
so it doesn't bind. But keep any shims you remove, as they ain't
cheap, and you may need them one day if you install a new damper plunger.
When you install a new damper plunger you can first assemble it with
no shims. Turn the cap down until the rack binds, then back it off
just enough so it doesn't bind. Measure the space under the cap with
thickness gauges. Install enough shims to fill that gap. If you
then remove one shim it will bind (so put the shim back in).
The rack motion should run smooth from center to both locks, spin the
steering wheel with one finger when the front wheels are off the
ground. It should not bind anywhere along the travel distance.
Barney
At 01:57 PM 9/4/2012 -0700, Max Heim wrote:
>I've never understood how a pool of oil at the bottom of the gaiter
>is supposed to lubricate the rack.
>
>The specified procedure is to jack the front wheels off the ground,
>remove the pinion cover and add oil slowly while moving the rack
>left to right and back. The clearances inside the rack are very
>tight, so this is a slow drop-by-drop process. But at least it gets
>oil on the wearing surfaces.
>
>As for your rack, if it feels tight, it's not worn. If it feels
>sloppy, it could be worn, or it could be some other front end
>component. To test the rack specifically, remove the thinnest shim
>from under the pinion cover. If the rack seems tighter near the
>center of the travel, but binds up near the extremes, it is worn --
>the wear is typically concentrated near the center.
>....
>
>On 9/4/12 9:37 AM, Andrew B. Lundgren at lundgren@byu.net wrote:
> > .... my gaiter (the torn one) is dry inside. .... That concerned
> me. .... What wears out in there? (The oil should have been lubing
> something right?)
> > ....
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