Hey all. Firstly, I have been lurking for a while but have never posted so hello

I'm midway through a Luego Velocity xt.

I have about 10 -15 degrees of play in my steering. It appears to be coming from the rack its self. (The TRE, wheel, UJ's are all tight) Its a Rally Design mk2 escort 2.4 quickrack. It was bought new 5 years ago but has never been 'used' yet only fitted. I heard there were a bad batch of these a around this time?

If I remove the gators and move the wheel you can see the tie rods moving within the housing. As if the bearings/bushes are worn.

It also looks like the pinion moves in and out very slightly. (<1mm)

If this doesn't make sense I'll try to up load a video to show the play.

Hoping this can be sorted without buying a new rack. Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Andy.

Might be worth having a word with Rally Design? The worst they can do is tell you to go forth and multiply. Welcome to the forum and make sure you look the Luego owners club up at any shows you attend

i had this problem with my rack which is the same, have a search on here as someone helped me, basically i took the rack off, removed the boots, on the end of the arm where it joins the rack there is a threaded cup and a thin locking nut, unscrew the locking nut and then unscrew the cup, inside the cup you will the ball on the end of the arm, in the end of the rack there is a small plastic cup with a spring. Pack it with grease and then reassemble and tighten it back up until the arm is not lose in the end of the rack, i tightened it until it would just stay rigid under its own weight but would easily move around by hand.

Cheers for the help! Going to see if I can sort it with abit of fiddling before I contact Rally Design.

Take it this is your post that I am looking for?

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=128312

I had a quick look tonight and managed to get one of the gators off with the rack still on but its going to have to come off for the other one. Will have a proper look over the weekend and report back.

Is there anything else worth checking whilst I have it out of the car?

Also where/what are the shims that you can remove to tighten the rack? (Yes I really don't have a clue with what I'm doing here!) I don't think I need to do this but it would be good to know.

Assuming I am reading your post correctly,none of the Rally Design racks have any plastic at the end of the rack shaft,the current racks have the TRW solution which basically involves the ball end swaged onto the end of the rack shaft,this system is not adjustable nor seviceable but it has nil problems. The previous racks sold by Rally Design were manufactured by Tecrac,a company based in Birmingham,these racks are serviceable,there was a phosphor bronze kit made to toughen the shaft/tie rod joint by replacing the plastic. It is my guess you have one of the older Tecrac racks and by the amount of play,either the nylon has failed or someone who does not know what they are doing has incorrectly shimmed the pinion(not rare). There was a third type which was a cheap unit,sold by most of the UK suppliers until the stock was eliminated. The Tecrac racks had the pinion assembled into the top retained by an oval plate retained by two bolts,the cheap type had the pinion assembled from the underside.The current type sold by Rally Design are viewable in their catalogue. I strongly suggest you photo the rack and send to Rally Design,the Tecrac type racks could still be serviced and this is the most likely type. Hope this helps

Its a tecrac one I know that. It was bought at the back end of 2004 for £99+vat .

I wouldn't have thought the nylon has failed as although its old it still has 0 miles on it!

I'm attempting to upload some pictures, I can't see a oval plate though?





How do I go about checking weather is is shimmed properly? and that the nylon parts (assuming they are nylon) are knackered or not?

Before doing anything re-check the splines both on the UJ and the steering wheel both will give exactly the type of free play you describe --- I know it seems too obvious but both give lost motion that is very hard to track down unless you have seen it before. .

Ensure the UJ clamp bolts are not thread bound --- very common problem.




[Edited on 11/2/10 by britishtrident]