1989 XJ6 Rack was replaced by previous owner rack not leaking but rack with car at standstill appears to move back and forth approx 1/2 inch total… yes it appears that the poor choice for bonding the mounts to the rack with rubber that any materials engineer would know fails with exposure to oil and considering rack is at the nexus of any oil leeks. Seems a poor design choice. That being said people have spoken about shims MMA3891BA though I can’t find them anywhere and many have asked How in heck do you get those plastic rings on the rack?? As an alternate why cant I wrap some bare copper wire (say 14GA house wiring without the vinyl jacket) into the space and or if corrosion is a concern use aluminum wiring or rods (not sure where id get these-maybe aluminum ground wire?) …
Any thoughts?
I just replaced the drivers side front suspension bushings (let spring down with jack by the way and will try and post procedure latter) as the lower pivot bolt bush rubber disappeared knocking metal on metal) much play removed but obviously the rack needs some help
XJ40 racks have nu user replaceable bushings. Wire would certainly take up the slack as would plastic shims if they are available and INSTALLABLE
Any thoughts Tips ??
Thanks to all.
Brad 1989 XJ6
The shims are fed into the area and firm up the play considerably our local spares supplier had them last time I checked;
Rodney Jaguar Rover Spares just north of Auckland New Zealand. http://www.rjr.co.nz/
Go to Jaguarforums.com search in the XJ40 section under Steering Rack Stiffening Bushes DIY an article by Don B , he is also on jaglovers , i don’t know how to send a link to it sorry . But this works , i’ve done it myself , easy and no expensive .
Hi
Don’t have supply stores like that on urban Long Island… I was desperate I was at the hardware store… I had measured the full gap with wheels full left or full right .325 inches I found springs with dearly identical diameter very closely spaced tension springs wired 2 together with some stainless wire put another stainless wire thru center of spring longer than the springs was able to install the springs in the gap on the passenger side and tie them in place with the center wire … steering is much more responsive like night and day
A stainless spring would be ideal… id post a picture to this post but I dont think there is any way to do that. I always try to keep it simple. Anyway the spring think is an amazing quick fix to remove all or most of rack movement… corrosion in future may be an issue but we presently have some small oil leak… it will be well lubed.
If I had this problem, I’d make up some sized teflon “washers” from an old bread/cutting board, cut a slot in them so you could force them open enough to slip into place.
Great idea but I had trouble trying to bend fairly malleable .125" OD aluminum ground wire around the rack in situ.
I kept hitting either the sub frame which is very close to the rack and or hydraulic lines, That’s why I gave up trying to wrap anything around the drivers side because of clearance the hydraulic lines the pinion tower all in the way… wheres my sawzall
the spring (stainless would be ideal) was very easy to bend and push into the GAP… i like the plastic insert idea too just more work to do with time I don’t have