[Fot] Reproduction Steering Racks

[TR4 Tony]

Hi Tony

I'm afraid I'd be very doubtful of it personally, although clearly I have no
knowledge of what exactly you have-  you need to check it carefully. The
issues are;

The tube pulls out if the pinion housing
The pinion nut falls off
The threads on the track rod ends aren't always machined properly

I suggest you check with MOSS - I learned yesterday that MOSS Europe have
'frozen' sales of racks in the UK - I'm not sure what that means exactly, but
they have agreed to meet with me to discuss my problem at least.

Meanwhile I'm using a modified rack before the Titan parts arrive - I will not
countenance a rack as supplied by MOSS for fear of our and others safety.

Regards

Tony

Sent from my iPhone

> On 8 Nov 2013, at 19:08, Tony Drews <tony at tonydrews.com> wrote:
>
> FYI - I've got a Moss Quick Rack that I was planning to install this winter
- says "Made in Argentina" clearly on the sticker on it.  Guess I'll stick
with the old stock one that's in the TR4.
>
> Tony Drews
>
> At 08:08 AM 11/7/2013, TR4 Tony wrote:
>> Chuck
>>
>> I would suggest that it is worth checking all racks, but I only have first
>> hand knowledge of the TR4 (TR6 etc) racks. I would be suspicious of any
'Made
>> in Argentina'.
>>
>> Steve Hall at TR Enterpises is having a batch of weapons grade racks made
now
>> with an ETA of march 2014 - if anyone is interested I suggest you contact
>> Simon Watson at simon at trenterprises.com to discuss. NFI but I will be
running
>> one of the first when they arrive.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Tony
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Tony
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On 7 Nov 2013, at 13:24, Chuck WATSON <clw2000 at msn.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Serious stuff!  Is that the quick-ratio unit from Moss USA?  That one,
they
>> claim, is a heavy duty unit designed for competition.  I have their unit
for a
>> Spit/GT6 application and would like to figure out if the issues are
universal.
>> If possible, please email or post some pics on the Facebook site so we can
see
>> exactly the areas you have identified.  Thanks for the info Tony.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Chuck Watson
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> From: tr4.tony at virgin.net
>>>> Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2013 12:59:48 +0000
>>>> To: fot at autox.team.net
>>>> Subject: [Fot] Reproduction Steering Racks
>>>>
>>>> All
>>>>
>>>> I thought I'd give you all a heads up on my position with reproduction
>> TR4
>>>> steering racks made in Argentina and supplied by MOSS or via others.
>>>>
>>>> I have had another near lethal failure this weekend on the Rally of the
>> Tests,
>>>> costing me a high placing and a class win as well as the car or worse.
>> People
>>>> could have been hurt very badly. This is the second time.
>>>>
>>>> The issues are threefold in my experience, the first two are serious
>> safety
>>>> matters hence my email to this group.
>>>>
>>>> 1. The main steel rack tube is pressed without any notching or machined
>>>> scoring into the alloy pinion housing, meaning that on left hand lock
the
>> rack
>>>> tube parts from the housing and control is lost. This is because the
rack
>> has
>>>> nothing to bear against and therefore the wheels end up pointing in
>> opposite
>>>> directions. The alloy housing appears to be made from a material of
>>>> insufficiently high quality in my opinion and the press fit is poor.
>>>>
>>>> I am aware of 7 failures now, 6 on competition cars, one of which was
mine
>> and
>>>> which I was lucky to walk away from.
>>>>
>>>> 2. The nut and spring on the top of the pinion housing (which allows the
>> rack
>>>> preload / play to be adjusted) unwinds and falls off, causing loss of
>> control
>>>> and excessive play in the rack, as well as ingress of material as it's
>> open to
>>>> the atmosphere. This is another potentially lethal failure mode and
>> caused
>>>> because the peening of the pinion housing / nut fails and the nut just
>> spins
>>>> itself off. Again my opinion is that this is due to poor material,
design
>> and
>>>> manufacturing.
>>>>
>>>> I am aware if two such failures now, one on my car again which we were
>> lucky
>>>> to survive unscathed.
>>>>
>>>> The cast alloy pinion housings also appear to be poorly cast, with blow
>> holes
>>>> evident in the assembly indicating poor material, process and quality
>>>> control.
>>>>
>>>> 3. There is a third problem in that the threads on ends of the rack are
>> not
>>>> cut properly, so track rod ends will not fit. Theses need to recut and
>> again
>>>> is evidence of poor manufacturing and dimensional control.
>>>>
>>>> I am working with TR Enterprises in the UK to develop a short term fix
>> (which
>>>> we have done) and ultimately have some racks made that are fit for
>> purpose,
>>>> however meantime my opinion is that anyone who has one of these 'Made in
>>>> Argentina' steering racks should talk to their supplier and satisfy
>> themselves
>>>> of their safety in use.
>>>>
>>>> I for one will not be using such a rack in an unmodified form and will
>> replace
>>>> it as soon as is possible with a product that is designed to be safe in
>> use.
>>>>
>>>> Needless to say I wish to discuss this with MOSS and I am awaiting their
>>>> response.
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Tony
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
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>>
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