Quaife quick rack 'knock'

[willa]

Howdy lads,

I installed a quaife quick rack into my corolla not too long ago, along with t3 arms+rods. From that point on every time I'm stationary and I turn the wheel side to side it knocks/clunks and I've recently pulled off one of the rack boots to investigate. What's happening is the rack is moving (let's call it 'back and forth' as apposed to the normal 'side to side' movement) inside the housing and hitting the housing creating the noise that I'm hearing.

Is this problem caused by the big bolt not being set right?

Here is a pic below, although I'll edit it later to put an arrow to where it hits. But basically, looking at the photo, the gap to the left between the rack and housing closes and makes contact when I turn the wheel

http://tapatalk.com/mu/cb14231c-0794-fa4f.jpg

Will.

[assassin10000]

Yeah, not set right.

Andrew

[biggo]

possible missing parts?

you need to set the preload onto the pinion proper. Its a fine art, tho

[ke_70]

isn't it just spring loaded? thats how my power steering is setup.

[Frak]

I've done a couple of Quaife's now, I just use the specs for a factory 86 rack and they work fine. There are 2 preload/adjustments you have to make.

[willa]

Cheers fellas. I will look up the specs and exactly how to do it. Previous owner told me about the fine art of setting it, and how he thought he got it right when he rebuilt it.

[assassin10000]

There is a secondary spring/guide, sitting flush inside the main guide. You need to get the main guide pressing just the right amount against the back of the rack gear to set the proper preload. The secondary guide I think helps with chatter or slight machining differences.

It's a fine art, if your really good with knowing/feeling preload you can do it with no special tool. But it's a rare person who gets that dead-on right by feel.

Andrew

[LittleRedSpirit]

There is also a metal bush in the casing on the lhs, and once worn out, on a lowered corolla it often allows up and down movement of the rack in the housing. I rebuilt mine once in a housing that had a shit bush on the left and ended up swapping it over to a perfect condition one when the car was apart. If you want to know if this is an issue, hold the left tie rod end by reaching through from the bay and bounce the car with your body weight, there's no point shaking the tie rod end up and down, as it will be pushed one way or the other by the tension of the steering most times, so hold the end and bounce the car, it will knock if there's movement. Do the same on the right to see if the pinion is adjusted correctly. Most steering places will machine you a bush and refit it for you. I just had to fix it, as this was the only noise in an otherwise tight front end.

[willa]

So much good info, thanks guys I appreciate it. I'm leaning toward someone else doing it now, as there's no point me trying if it will end up the same. Any takers? ;)

[willa]

I'm back, with 2 quick questions.
Is it very unsafe to be driving with it like this?
Also if I get a bolt to fit the big plug thing, can I just tighten it up to get a bit more pressure on it?

[assassin10000]

Not 'that' unsafe, but I dunno how it being that loose will affect your tire wear. I used a big bolt w/2nuts on it to get get the right pressure/preload.

Don't go out and be sliding/touge/etc, it could put it on a part of the tooth where it will be easier to break one off if you hit something.

Andrew

[ke_70]

i'd be more worryed about damaging the rack itself. but you should be right if you're careful

[willa]

See that's the thing, I assumed it was the rose jointed rod ends that were making the noise, but now I've figured this I'm a bit suss. It could snap teeth as it hasn't got max contact.

Yeh that's the way I'll do it Andrew, but if it has play then I need to tighten it? Also will a torque wrench suffice or do I need something different?

[assassin10000]

You need an kg-cm/in-lb rotational torque wrench, and make an adapter for the pinion shaft so you can measure the pre-load correctly. Same one used for setting pinion bearing preload on a differential would work.

Spec is 2.3-3.3 kg-cm or 2.0-2.9 in-lb of rotational force (drag) when turning. Which is hardly anything.

Andrew

[willa]

You need an kg-cm/in-lb rotational torque wrench, and make an adapter for the pinion shaft so you can measure the pre-load correctly. Same one used for setting pinion bearing preload on a differential would work.

Spec is 2.3-3.3 kg-cm or 2.0-2.9 in-lb of rotational force (drag) when turning. Which is hardly anything.

Andrew

Yeh the lowest my torque wrench goes is like 10ft-pnds or something.

I think I'm just gonna tighten it up bit by bit until the play is gone, then get it done properly at some stage.

[assassin10000]

A click style torque wrench is completely wrong.

You need a 'beam' style, or one with a rotating dial to get it right.

Andrew