oiling the steering rack

Post by **grainger** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 11:46 am

hi

its great to be back

can i ask one of the questions that came up on the grease points thread again

how do you get hypoid oil into the steering rack reliably, i havent done my traveller yet, but i did my saloon with the grease gun (emptied as much grease as possible) but i couldnt be sure how much was going in - and i noticed not long after that the rubber boot had burst so maybe i got too much in?

cheers
grainger

Post by **Willie** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 4:22 pm

The usual way to ensure that when you use a grease gun and the
contents insist on oozing from the joint instead of going into the
nipples is to insert a piece of thin cotton cloth over the nipple
and then force the gun on to it. This usually works but if you have
a really stubborn one you can double the thickness of cloth. This
works just as well when injecting Hypoy oil....but you must not
pump too much into the steering rack.....about 8 pumps is plenty.
Willie

Post by **Gareth** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 4:29 pm

Now there's a dodge! I hadn't thought of doing that ~ sometimes I have difficulty seating the gun over the nipples - maybe this would help... I'll have to try this next time I'm out with the greaser... Cheers, Willie!

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 1:12 pm

Hi Willie

This works just as well when injecting Hypoy oil...

What do you use to pump the oil? Do you use something similar to a grease gun?

Post by **Willie** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 5:59 pm

Ray, I have two identical sidelever grease guns so I keep one
for Hypoid oil only. Not flash, I just aquired it over the years.
There are a good few well known grease nipples on various
cars where it has proved much better to inject Hypoy instead of
the originally recommended grease so if I only had one grease
gun I would wait until it was out of grease....put in some Hypoy,
do the steering rack(there is nowhere else to do on the Minor), and
then refill with grease. In other words it will do no harm if there is
a small amount of Hypoy mixed with the chassis grease...in my
opinion. Mind you, injecting the oil is one time that you will
certainly need a piece of cloth over the nipple to ensure that it
doesn't squirt out of the sides!
Willie

Post by **Robins** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 7:49 pm

When I removed my steering rack the other day, it came out with a mass of grease around the nipple. obviously not everyone knows to put hypoy oil in the steering rack. And this was serviced by a garage every year for 10 years before I got it.
How do we know if any oil goes in at all?

Post by **Willie** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 8:05 pm

Well you can tell by the 'feel' when you operate the lever wether
it is pumping and if it doesn't escape around the nipple you should be
ok.
Willie

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 8:31 pm

'Flash'?
I guess I'll be looking for a second grease gun now - gotta keep up with the Jones's.. lol
My grease gun used to be my late Grandfathers. Feels right somehow.

And yes there's usually a 'feel' if the grease is going in, and a 'Firm' feeling if it's not going in anymore, like when the steering ball joints are full (well, good ones anyway - the ones that do not leak staight back out of the top)

On that subject, I had a kingpin assembly from B'ham minor centre and on the first greasing the grease came straight back out of the top trunnion cap - I was fuming!! (can't say what I really thought as it would get censored..)
2 greasing sessions since then, the cap has miraculously sealed itself and the grease now goes down the trunnion thread.
And after many years of using B'ham I've switched my allegiance to Bull Motif. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but at least if I do get more poor parts I won't be asking why I kept using the same place.

Post by **Cam** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 10:13 pm

I had a kingpin assembly from B'ham minor centre and on the first greasing the grease came straight back out of the top trunnion cap - I was fuming!!

Same here!!! I have had a few dodgy parts from the Minor centre in Birmingham.

I am still in a battle with them to try and get a working 3-branch exhaust manifold.

1st one - blew a hole in the bottom after about 12 months.

2nd one - center pipe to flange cracked at the weld after a few months.

3rd one - flange to head was bent causing blowing gaskets after about 30 miles.

4th one - ?? they cannot supply me with another yet as after checking all their stock, they are all like my 3rd one. They have sent the whole lot back to the manufacturer, and I will have to wait until they get the next delivery.

So what do I do in the mean time? I have put copius amounts of exhaust sealing paste in between the gasket and flange, and I have been driving slowly (max 3000 RPM and only a maximum of half throttle). Which considering that I do about 50 miles a day is getting a bit irritating.

Post by **Kevin** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 10:47 am

That does not sound much fun Cam, I would have thought that after the 2nd one they would have made sure that the 3rd one was perfect

, rather than let you find out the hard way and then check the stock quality you cannot be the only one to have suffered.
Very dissapointing when you consider their sales ads for improvements

Post by **Willie** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 11:38 am

My King pin assemblies have always oozed grease out of the top
cap!! Been on for the last ten years..no problems. Mind you I keep
pumping until the grease emerges from the bottom of the joint too.
Willie

Post by **Cam** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 2:08 pm

Willie,

Yes, I tried to cover the split up as best as I could when pumping the grease in so that it started squirting out of the bottom joint.

It's nice to know that even with the split, they last quite a while. That's put my mind at rest. Thanks!!

Kevin,

Yes, I am not at all pleased with the quality of their replacement parts, their quality control leaves a lot to be desired. Unfortunately they are my local supplier (50 miles away!).

I have been very impressed with ESM. Their quality seems much better, but they are a lot further away from me, so I only order smallish items from them through the post.