The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hello all, long time no speak,divorce and all that. My Sprint has just got through the MOT but with steering rack issues. The rack was put in approx 18 months purchased from the club. It is not right, feels grabby,all the ball joints are good,as are the steering upper and lower joints. I want to rebuild another rack that i have, wasnt there someone on here that did this ? I think this is the only way to go as racks are getting quite rare now.

Are sprint racks not the same as others? Are they unique to the sprint in other words. Mine has slightplay as advised on the last few MOTs and will be looking to sort this out over the winter

Cheers

Yes, I rebuilt mine on NWL, I'll do the same on DTR as well I think. You can get a different pinion, I ordered one from Jigsaw, they sent the wrong one and I'm still waiting for a replacement but that's a different story.

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You can get the cups from Chris Witor, highly recommended, they are great!

You can test your rack itself for er... straightness by placing it in a length of angle iron.

In the club members only section Alun Nicholas has been keeping us advised as to the problems he is having when it comes to having steering racks reconditioned and as a result I added the following comment on the 15th July which you may find helpful.

Back in 2005 I wrote an article on refurbishing steering racks which was published is issue 113 of Dollymixture and I am surprised that more members have not had a go at refurbishing their racks.
Providing the rack has not been bent in a crash my assumption is that the most common problems will be wear in the ball joints, the nearside bush or to the pinion pressure pad. To take the wear out of the ball joints it may be just a matter of adding some shims if you are lucky. However it is not difficult to replace the ball sockets but it does take more effort to select the correct shims. When it comes to the nearside bush this is quite easy to replace once the rack has been withdrawn. To take the play out of the pinion it is just a matter of removing a shim or two.
To correct the ball joint wear following items are still available from both Moss-bros and Rimmers:
130032 Shim adjusting 10th approx cost £2 each, 130031 Shim adjusting 2th approx cost less than £2 each.
If it is necessary to replace the complete ball joint socket part number 158732 is still available at approx £5 each. Plus there is a Superflex steering rack kit containing two ball sockets at approx £12.
Locking washers part number 120957 are also still available at approx £2 each.
To correct the nearside play the bush is part 128002 and again is still available at a cost of approx £10
To take the play out of the rack and pinion it is just a matter of removing a shim or shims from under the screwed cap. If you are unlucky and all the adjustment has already been taken up due to wear on the plunger I have not been able to find a source for the plunger replacement. It will also be sensible to replace the O ring part 128021 at a cost of about £1 and to check out bearing part 21H5212 which costs about £10.
If all the above goes well it is then just a matter of greasing up the ball joints well and fitting new gaiters at a cost of about £15. The trick to get the gaiters on is to put them is hot water first so that they will be more supple.