C5 X7 Steering Rack - Again!

[Stickyfinger]

Cheers for the measurement.

Well I travelled to Wakefield yesterday and had my rack done ""same day" by Steering Specialists Ltd

I have to say the service they provide is very good, rack off in the morning, refurbished OnSite in their main facility (they do 1000's of racks btw) and refitted by 2.30.

All seems fine on the drive home. Steering was a little heavy but that loosened up after I exercised it in the Tesco car park getting supplies for the drive back.

Steering Specialists Ltd = Recommended.
Drive in/Fit Service
Postal Exchange Service

[GiveMeABreak]

So what exactly did they do Alasdair in that time? A quick rub down of the pinion shaft rust and replace seal? What sort of cost as a comparison to getting a remanufactured or a completely refurbished rack? Did they apply any additional future protection measures at all?

[Stickyfinger]

They have a refurb-business on site, they completely strip it, new seals etc. They turn the p-shaft down & use a larger seal size.

They paint the shaft up to the seal and use a dollop of copper grease.

I will be modifying a boot (adhesive/boot-2-rack) to fit and fill with marine/propeller shaft grease.

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, I'm making good use of that white marine grease around other areas of the car too. Glad it is all sorted, for the moment.....

[Stickyfinger]

for the price, very happy, a bonus to see their operation as it gives some confidence in a re-manufactured product. We all know the phrase "buy cheap buy twice" and I am sure we all worry about poor quality, half-arsed job type products.
I know I would be totally safe with the £1500 Citroen OEM one, but at v£450 fitted the re-con one is a good bet (made better odds by meeting them/seeing their main business).
I see no reason to think they are in the same bracket as Plyidies etc were a few years ago, my bet would be that they are set to become one of the "always trusted" go to places.

[bobins]

Did they set the tracking up afterwards as well ?

[Stickyfinger]

Yes......They even noticed a missing boot clip on a drive shaft, a new strap applied for me.

[Hell Razor5543]

When somebody gets used to doing a repetitive task they can do it quickly and well. Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.

About twenty years ago the law changed, in that electrical appliances had to have plugs fitted. The company I worked for was contracted to fit plugs onto small electrical white goods. It got to the point where I could fit eighty plugs in an hour. I found out that later the foreman was not convinced I could be doing this properly and safely, so he pulled aside two boxes (twenty items to a box) and checked them (there was already a safety inspector testing the items), and did not find any issues. He then watched me for a while, and after that he suggested to the others that they do the job in the way I did. We ended up completing the contract ahead of schedule, which meant the company (and ourselves) earned a nice bonus.

[Sloppysod]

Yes......They even noticed a missing boot clip on a drive shaft, a new strap applied for me.

Alasdair - Was this the right hand side by any chance?

Also as per earlier post, the boot can be fitted with only removing the sealing donut at the bottom of the steering column, the steering column and the under tray. I only put a tie-wrap at the bottom of the rack.

[GiveMeABreak]

Well well, I was helping out another member today with a 308 (T9) who has some steering issues and whilst looking up some technical info I happened to see this little nugget:

A completely different rack to the X7 - on this 308 the power steering is integrated onto the rack and not sourced separately - but the interesting thing was the design of a seal over the pinion....

Now I cannot seem to find this little beauty anywhere separately so I bet it's another 'supplied with rack only' stitch up! It would also appear to be completely different to the floor plug seal in the cabin. But thought it worth a mention as it would certainly seem to be a reasonable design to help prevent water penetration.

[jontech]

Hi French car forum. New member (although been following you for a long time).

Have a question: How do I get the shaft off the rack? Is it only the two screws that holds it in the rack or does something else need to be loosened? Apart from the pipes of course.

[GiveMeABreak]

I take it you're referring to the right hand driveshaft:

Undo the 2 screws (9) of the RH driveshaft bearing.
Move aside the circlip (10) in the direction of the arrow "a".
Release the RH driveshaft by pivoting the front half-axle upwards.
Remove the right-hand drive shaft.

[bobins]

There was a video posted earlier in this thread by GiveMeABreak that shows how a rack can be stripped down.
.
.
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There was a video - but they use some Carlos Fandango type tools to get the innards out - I wouldn't attempt it without the tools unless you were 100% confident as there are quite a few bits in there and if needing an exchange unit they might refuse to take yours if it has been dismantled.

So were you planning to grind down the corrosion on a lathe and fit an over-sized seal? The seal is definitely fitted from the inside though.

This video is for a 2.2 C5, (doesn't say what year though), but may give you an idea of what's involved.

Hi French car forum. New member (although been following you for a long time).

Have a question: How do I get the shaft off the rack? Is it only the two screws that holds it in the rack or does something else need to be loosened? Apart from the pipes of course.

[jontech]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry, I mean the pinion that goes into the the rack coming from the steering wheel. The one that rusts.

[bobins]

Yep, the above video shows that being removed.