[Mgs] Torn gaiter

[Simon Matthews]

Barney,

With the MGA, one pumps  more oil in at every service on the car. Does any
excess naturally leak out, or how does one tell if there is too much oil in
there?

Simon

On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 4:17 PM, Barney Gaylord <barneymg at mgaguru.com> wrote:

> 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?)
>> > ....
>>
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