Hi all recently serviced my rack bushings more or less as per “the Book”. Car is a 92 with relatively low miles. Ended up changing week pass side bush with an aftermarket. Shimmed/ tightened ok drivers side ones with pieces of rubber snowmobile track.
Question as “factory” parts were not as expected. Did not have any “bumper Washers” or “clip” to hold drivers side stuff in place. Rack was painter blue, and “original” bushings had blue paint still on edges. Does this sound like a “Friday built car”, or did Jag leave out parts on latter cars? Just curious. Do not think rack was worked on before. Looking forward to better weather to try out job. Thanks for any insight!
If rack was blue, definitely not an OE fitting, and if thrust washers missing on drivers side, definitely been played with.
thanks! Parts were more or less “ford blue”.
here’s the exploded view of the Jaguar XJ-S steering assembly
upon closer inspection of the parts maybe you can figure out what’s needed missing or otherwise.
Most of the stuff can be had via RockAuto, PartsGeek or the reliable SNGBarratt. SNG would be my first choice for parts, the RockAuto if Rock Auto doesn’t have it then the PartsGeeks will.
hope this helps. Also there is an “jaguar sanctioned alignment tool” for installing a rack. Without it, it is an extremely fiddly process. either that or it’s just me.
Anybody wanna discuss that? The special tool sets the height of both ends of the rack in slotted holes, right? IIRC, I just marked mine before removal and put it back where it had been. Legit or not? If you don’t know where it had been – or you’re pretty sure it had been wrong – is there any good way to align it without the special tool?
Thanks again all. I also tried the “mark it first” approach. Then again, the last shop left out parts, so I preserved that judgment. Maybe I am overthinking it.
I’m not sure how a person would know if it was previously set incorrectly.
And I’m not sure if the adjustment is intended to compensate for car-to-car variances or rack-to-rack differences.
What’s the optimal position of the rack? What happens if the rack isn’t positioned optimally?
Faced with this lack of knowledge, and also lacking the alignment tool, I’ve always just plopped to rack in place, let it drop to the lowest position in the slots, and then adjusted one side or the other to make the rack parallel with the main cross beam of the subframe.
If something deleterious is supposed to result from my nonchalance, I’ve not experienced it…or perhaps simply never noticed it?
Cheers
DD
Because the PO took it to a shop run by Larry, his brother Earl, and his other brother Earl.
Presumably Jaguar thought this was unacceptable or they wouldn’t have created the special tool. The only reason I can think of that it would be unacceptable is that it might put the tie rods at the incorrect angle, and the only reason that would make any difference to anybody is that the toe-in would vary somewhat as the suspension moves up or down. IOW, it would only affect the alignment when cresting a hill or bottoming a dip. I think.
Does anyone actually have access to the special tool? Perhaps if we observed where it actually puts the rack, we can figure out why it puts it there, and then we can figure out how to do the same thing without the tool.
speaking of racks…
At the risk of being flamed…
Back about 10 years…
I brought my XJ-S into the local “Jaguar Specialist” They had a big leaper on their sign - Does that make them Specialists? 
along with a Rack to replace mine which as leaking. the steering is still messed up. but that isn’t why I’m writing. When I dropped off the rack, there was a small bolt in the center of the inspection nut? where you’re supposed to stick something in to “center” the rack (I think). Anyway, when I got it back there was a grease fitting in its place…
If the rack was pumped full of grease, is this a bad thing?
It came with the grease fitting, but some rebuilders like to remove them because they feel they do more harm than good. The rack & pinion gear teeth need some grease, but that’s probably not a good way to grease them. Better to pull the gaitor off that end which should allow you to see the works and apply some grease with a dauber of some sort.
What do I do about the grease that’s been pumped into the rack from the grease fitting. I did check just because I, well, was curious. Do I leave the grease in, or try to get scoop it out?
I wouldn’t leave that chamber full of grease, but I wouldn’t bother to remove it unless it’s obviously nearly chock full.
Thank you. Your input is much appreciated
I used the old trick of “run it with the fitting out & she will spit out what she don’t want” on bearings over the years. May somewhat apply. At least make ya feel better.