The other day I was trying to diagnose a suspension creak, was lying under the car (well more off to the side) while a helper cranked the steering left/right rapidly (between 9 and 3 oclock, once/sec or so). Engine running and car on the ground, so the power steering was pushing against tire drag pretty well...

I noticed the steering rack bushings tend to compress a pretty decent visible amount side-side when doing this. However, there's no play if just trying to move the rack on its own, with a prybar etc, and no gaps in the bushing mounts. Last time I had the rack off, maybe half a year ago, the rubber was still nice and tacky, no signs of dry rot at all. Bushings fit nice and snug when mounting everything up. Is this typical behavior for these bushings? Or have they "softened up" over the years?

 

Have you jacked it up to get the wheels off the ground to see if it does it? I'm betting not and the sheer weight of these cars is the culprit when sitting still. Also, are you running performance tires?...like nice soft, road grabbing type that would cause lots of torque on ...oh, lets say the rack?

 

It doesn't do it in the air. I know it's from forces from dry steering with the wide grippy XJR tires, I'm just wondering if they've gotten too soft. Have a vibration I've been fighting with and want to make sure I have all the rubber bits sorted. I'll try to get a video of it at some point cause the "how much is too much" question's a bit moot without measurements, or a sense of scale.

 

If you wanted to pick up another set of straps or maybe even the whole rack, Col Sandurz is parting out his recently wrecked one...https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/market/231095

 

I'll definitely PM him, rack's been starting develop a slow leak from the pinion seals, and he might have a couple other bits I need