C5 X7 Steering Rack - Again!

[darbuck]

Sorry Marc I thought you had given up on them altogether.

[darbuck]

Oh ok I thought you had moved on completely. How do you find the alternative

[darbuck]

Has anyone tried an aluminium epoxy . Belzona seems to only come in 1kg tubs that are €120 a bit steep for trial that may not work.

[myglaren]

I can't guarantee that it will work but in the past I have used Plastic Padding Chemical Metal.

The image there reminds me of a lad I worked with, one of the smartest people I have met.
He was conscripted into the Swedish Navy and was chugging around in the Baltic on an MTB. He had lots of stories, funny and frightening in equal measures and one was that their main motor failed, a gas turbine, he said it was a Spitfire engine but it clearly wasn't but out of a British fighter nevertheless, Meteor perhaps.
Anyway, when the engine cooled he crawled inside to assess the problem, that turned out to be a couple of sheared off turbine blades.

As it happened, they had been given some experimental cyanoacrylate adhesive by some U.S. sailors they had met up with. He cleaned the joints up, glued them back and with some difficulty extricated himself from the engine.
They waited 24 hours. They still had power from a V8 engine to run the generators and hydraulics.
He fired it up and they gently proceeded back to port to have the engine swapped.
He was surprised it worked but there weren't many other options at the time.

Where we worked there were a couple of toilets, unused except for storage, mainly paint and tools, but there had been five litres of Plastic Padding in there, that had fallen over and the floor was an inch deep in it. Fortunately not the hardener. It took weeks to get it out and recommission the toiled.
The owner's brother worked for Plastic Padding (Henkel) and supplied 'free samples'.

It could be worth experimenting a bit to see if it would fill your need, it is around nine quid for a small pack. Mine was about a fiver but that was over a decade ago.

[darbuck]

Hmm interesting story. Might give something similar a go I will have a look and find the most affordable best fix.

[MattBLancs]

Has anyone tried an aluminium epoxy . Belzona seems to only come in 1kg tubs that are €120 a bit steep for trial that may not work.

I'd try something like this:
https://www.toolstation.com/araldite-st ... ive/p13445
Or
https://www.zoro.co.uk/shop/automotive/ ... W1EALw_wcB

More sensible quantities and prices

[MattBLancs]

Sorry didn't see myglaren's post when I set off replying.

Yes that's the sort of stuff. Would be worth looking at oil compatibility of the various products, but pretty sure once cured it's pretty hardy stuff.

[Jay-Bruce]

Truthfully, the main purpose of the belzona or alternative is to fill in any pitted craters on the shaft, so as to prevent the incredibly thin speedy sleeve from sinking into those contoured releifs. If you've got a lathe, and are good with the lathe and welding, you could "clad" the shaft then turn it back down to a round profile and skip the speedi-sleeve and it's backup gunge entirely.

[MattBLancs]

...If you've got a lathe, and are good with the lathe and welding...

Having to make do with only one of the two requirements! (Have a lathe= ? )
More practice required! Same with welding really

I'll probably not push beyond my limited abilities, so a good splodge of chemical metal will be my way forward when the time comes for my X7

[darbuck]

I'll have a look when I get it out I wouldn't be afraid of using the lathe and welding it up with a new sleeve what I am nervous of is getting the shaft out but I think I will have try and move past it. I have never in all the years I am fluting around with cars ever had to do a rack. I should be fine once I get it out.

[darbuck]

That plastic padding looks like a runner Myglaren by the way.

[GiveMeABreak]

Oh ok I thought you had moved on completely. How do you find the alternative

The Aircross is a completely different vehicle and of course, the first thing is the ride quality - and for me it's akin to going from CX suspension to a horse drawn carriage with wooden wheels and no springs. You get used to it and adapt like anything, but after I realised PSA were knocking 'hydro' suspension on the head permanently, I resigned myself to that fact.

As I wanted to downsize at the same time as I don't need anything as big as the X7, the C5 Aircross was still too big, so opted for the C3 Aircross. Of course the C3 Aircross doesn't have the Progressive Hydraulic Cushions first found in the C4 Cactus and now on the C5 Aircross, but I'll have to live with that.

It's great overall and suits our needs perfectly - Diesel economy, power when you need it, is well spec'd up with options, very configurable room wise and still retains some quirkiness. Seeing as you asked

Oh, and just to keep this on topic, NO rack issues at all on any of these to date that I'm aware of!

[bobins]

I think I'd definitely want to seat the Speedi-sleeve on a bed of chemical metal or similar just to remove the chance of rust developing and eventually distorting or rupturing the Speedi-sleeve. Seal out the air and moisture and the problem will (hopefully) go away.

One thing about treating the rusty bits with a rust treatment is that very often only the very surface of the rust actually gets chemically converted i.e. it doesn't penetrate that far into the rust.

[darbuck]

Oh ok I thought you had moved on completely. How do you find the alternative

The Aircross is a completely different vehicle and of course, the first thing is the ride quality - and for me it's akin to going from CX suspension to a horse drawn carriage with wooden wheels and no springs. You get used to it and adapt like anything, but after I realised PSA were knocking 'hydro' suspension on the head permanently, I resigned myself to that fact.

As I wanted to downsize at the same time as I don't need anything as big as the X7, the C5 Aircross was still too big, so opted for the C3 Aircross. Of course the C3 Aircross doesn't have the Progressive Hydraulic Cushions first found in the C4 Cactus and now on the C5 Aircross, but I'll have to live with that.

It's great overall and suits our needs perfectly - Diesel economy, power when you need it, is well spec'd up with options, very configurable room wise and still retains some quirkiness. Seeing as you asked

Oh, and just to keep this on topic, NO rack issues at all on any of these to date that I'm aware of!

Well that's good to hear at least it's reliable but I wouldn't say it too loudly it might hear you

[darbuck]

I think I'd definitely want to seat the Speedi-sleeve on a bed of chemical metal or similar just to remove the chance of rust developing and eventually distorting or rupturing the Speedi-sleeve. Seal out the air and moisture and the problem will (hopefully) go away.

One thing about treating the rusty bits with a rust treatment is that very often only the very surface of the rust actually gets chemically converted i.e. it doesn't penetrate that far into the rust.

Yes that's my concern even though I can get it turned down I still think I should sleeve it with a chemical rather than a hot weld. Welding would probably encourage rust.