Found a scary problem with my steering rack !!

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caprikid61
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Found a scary problem with my steering rack !!

Post by caprikid61 »

I was having problems with my capri steering the car seemed to be wandering all over the road but was worse when I used the brakes . I thought my steering rack was worn as I tried turning the steering coupling by hand and I could feel lots of play on the steering rack so I orderd a new rack .

I was sending my old rack as part exchange for a reconditioned one so I removed the rack but as soon as I removed the left hand inner rubber boot I found the problem with the rack !! The ball joint is held on by a large nut and mine was just hanging on by 2 threads!!

The ball joint was very slack so I hate to think what would have happend if the ball joint had came apart when driving !! I always thought that when it comes to steering parts there would be something to stop any bolts from coming slack .

Does anyone know if there is any way of keeping those bolts tight ?? Just seems strange that mine came slack its a bit scary to think that its a design fault. I would say to any of you capri drivers out there who feel there car wanders around a bit , make sure you check the inner steering rack ball joint nut is tight .
Paul G
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Re: Found a scary problem with my steering rack !!

Post by Paul G »

Someone in the past ownership must have tried to tighten up the balljoint to remove play but they haven't locked the balljoint socket and locknut together. Ford drilled into between the two and locked them together with a pin hammered in.

I don't know whether said pins are available but I would wind the locknut up the rack then wind up the ball socket till it is correctly adjusted with no play in the ball joint. Really a spring balance should be use to work out the force required to move the track rod arm but if you haven't got one just set it so as the track rod moves freely with a small bit of resistance then tighten the locknut back up. I use two pairs of stillsons to do this.

A small blob of mig will then lock the two together to stop them coming undone but be careful not to put too much heat into the joint and melt or distort the balljoint cup.
caprikid61
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Re: Found a scary problem with my steering rack !!

Post by caprikid61 »

Thanks for all that info Paul but I have orderd a reconditioned steering rack from Burtons so wont have to do the repair . I now understand how the nut had come slack thanks to you I thought there must be a way to keep that nut tight as its part of the steering . Thanks again Alex .
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damajin
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Re: Found a scary problem with my steering rack !!

Post by damajin »

Do you mean where the ball joint attaches to the steering arm on the strut?
As far as I know, the original ball joint used a castellated nut, like the anti-roll bar, which is prevented from undoing using a split pin. On the replacement ones that I got they used nylock nuts instead. Both require you to stop the ball joint from rotating whilst they're tightened.

Or, do you mean where the ball joint screws onto the track rod?
This should be held with a lock nut. I've never known one come undone by itself and allow the track rod to unscrew from the end. Normally it's the opposite problem where it's impossible to get the lock nut undone to adjust them.

If you've ordered a new rack, I'd suggest ordering some new ball joints too. They won't come with the rack (or at least I don't think they will) and no point in not doing them if you've got the whole thing disassembled.
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Re: Found a scary problem with my steering rack !!

Post by Jasonmarie »

I just had a new steering rack fitted by Tickover the rack was only £70 on my laser and it now sits to the road really nice . :beer:
Ford Capri 2.0 Laser 1987 Mercury Grey ....... :beer:
caprikid61
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Re: Found a scary problem with my steering rack !!

Post by caprikid61 »

The problem was the ball joint that screws onto the rack on the left hand side . The nut had come slack but the part that holds the ball joint in place had also managed to unscrew itself a fair bit , infact the ball joint was only held on by about 3 threads.

I was lucky I noticed the car moving about the road so decided to turn the steering coupling by hand thats when I noticed loads of play coming from the rack. I ordered a reconditioned on from burton power so I had to strip the rack down before sending it to burton thats when I noticed the problem as soon as I removed the rubber boot. I am thinking that the slack inner ball joint could have been the only problem with the rack so I might have got away with just getting it tight again then making sure the nut was tight and putting a pin through it but decided it would be a better and safer option to get another rack so it should arrive next week . Cheers Alex
caprikid61
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Re: Found a scary problem with my steering rack !!

Post by caprikid61 »

damajin wrote:Do you mean where the ball joint attaches to the steering arm on the strut?
As far as I know, the original ball joint used a castellated nut, like the anti-roll bar, which is prevented from undoing using a split pin. On the replacement ones that I got they used nylock nuts instead. Both require you to stop the ball joint from rotating whilst they're tightened.

Or, do you mean where the ball joint screws onto the track rod?
This should be held with a lock nut. I've never known one come undone by itself and allow the track rod to unscrew from the end. Normally it's the opposite problem where it's impossible to get the lock nut undone to adjust them.

If you've ordered a new rack, I'd suggest ordering some new ball joints too. They won't come with the rack (or at least I don't think they will) and no point in not doing them if you've got the whole thing disassembled.


I had just fitted new track rod ends two weeks ago and managed to remove them by hitting the part on the strut they fit into with a hammer and they just popped out so the rod ends are still fine . Cheers Alex
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