[Mgs] Torn gaiter

[Barney Gaylord]

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 at 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?)
> > ....