Hope I’m just doing somethin’ STUPID!! I installed the rebuilt
rack that I purchased, so I didn’t do it myself… Put the rack in
the car and used a punch to center the rack. Just hung the tie rod
ends on to make sure that the wheels where close to the front, and
taped the punch in the hole so the rack will stay centered. There
is a slot of course that has to line up on the rack shaft so that
the pinch bolt can go through and hold the assembly together in
case of?? HERES THE PROBLEM: Everything lines up great with my
wife hold the steering wheel straight except to line up the pinch
bolt hole the wheel has to be UPSIDE DOWN?? It is exactly 180
degrees reversed. To the milimeter! With the wheel upside down I
tightened the tie rods enough to run the steering back and forth
and that sems to be fine. Is this rack assembled wrong? Or I hope
I just am doing something wrong as usual!! Having fun under the
car in AZ. Jim–
Jim xjs
Sierra Vista, AZ., United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
In a message dated 7/23/2006 12:07:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, “Jim xjs” jchambers39@hotmail.com writes:
Put the rack in
the car and used a punch to center the rack. �Just hung the tie rod
ends on to make sure that the wheels where close to the front, and
taped the punch in the hole so the rack will stay centered. �There
is a slot of course that has to line up on the rack shaft so that
the pinch bolt can go through and hold the assembly together in
case of?? �HERES �THE PROBLEM: Everything lines up great with my
wife hold the steering wheel straight except to line up the pinch
bolt hole the wheel has to be UPSIDE DOWN?
Hi Jim:
The centralization of the rack with something inserted into the hole where you have the punch is needed to have the turning radius be the same for full-lock left as it is for full-lock right. However, due to different rack pinion shaft position relative to the centering of the rack, this may result in the wheel being off-center.
Since the upper steering column to which the steering wheel is attached has a cancelling feature for the turn indicator, and this can be affected by removing the steering wheel from the upper column to center the steering wheel, the correct place to change wheel position relative to the rack pinion shaft is at the upper U-joint attachment to the lower end of the upper steering column.
Since there is a pinch bolt that fits into a groove where the lower column mounts to the rack pinion shaft, you can’t change position there. There is a similar pinch bolt where the upper end of the lower steering column attaches to the upper U-joint, so that means adjustment must be made at the upper end of that U-joint, where it attaches to the bottom of the upper steering column.
If that isn’t clear, refer to 1G 04L (Lower Steering Column) of the Parts Catalogue, or let me know & I can send you something off-list.
George Balthrop, Clifton, VA USA
85 & 89 XJ-S Coupes; 89 XJ40 VDP