I felt the steering unfirm these days, so I jacked up the car and checked the steering rack mounts, but they show no signs of tear & wear visibly.
But they ARE the bushes 20 years old straight from the factory, so they must be getting weak...
Mine is a facelift and has CBC9107 bushes which are difficult to change, so I decide to make a quick fix until the bushes are completely ruined.


[pic 1]
I found the poly bush I have them made for X300 shock upper mount (I sell parts in Japan) is just twice as thick as the space between the rack bush and the bracket, so I cut it in halves.
The shock bush is 19mm thick (while the genuine bush is 22mm) and the space was approx 9mm.
It is better not to leave any margin to let the rack move freely, so the extra 0.5mm will be rather better.

The hole diameter need is 14mm but the X300 bush has 11mm hole, so I broadened it with cutter.
Then I carved a groove on the outer side with grinder.

[pic 2]
The steering rack moves as much as the space amount made between the bush and the bracket...

[pic 3]
So I filled it with the spacer bush I made.
I tied it with a piece of stainless wire, that is why I curved the groove.

[pic 4]
The driver's side. It was a bit difficult to push the spacer bush in, because the valve body was in the way, but I could manage to do it finally.



This procedure made my car steer naturally again.
I think it will even extend the rubber bushes lives.
If the rubber bushes aren't in such a bad condition, this could be an easy solution.

 

nice deal working with what you have. Unfortunately not so many of use have extra bushings laying around lol.

I wanna try out the aluminum racing bushings but they are 60 dollars lol

 

Haha, you're right, usually few people have extra bushings around.
I have a source of polyurethane rubber factory and can have them make these kind of bushes. I think it will be less than $15 per set of 2.
Do you think there would be any demands?

 

A quick repair, and if you are happy I am happy. I believe that if this has happened, your rack bushings have separated, and the rack is sliding back and forth. Adding the bushing parts on the ends will reduce the slop in the steering but I suspect the bushings should have been completely replaced.

 

This is extremely wise advice, I believe. And when replaced, if there is any free play between the ends of the bushings and the fixing brackets on the subframe, a suitable steel 'fender washer' is the best way to remove any possibility of unintended rack movement.

Greg

 

I know how bad it is when the bushings are completely ruined, so mine was not that case.
I couldn't even see tiny wrinkles or cracks, but I felt it had became "soft".
And that is why I called it temporary fix. I know I will have to change the bushings someday, but I will also have to change the arm bushing, so I want to do all in once.

Maybe I should call it "upgrade" to kill the excessive movement but not making it harsh.

 

It's time for me to acquire a set of these....

 

As a quickie fix it's not bad. It will keep the car in use which is important as the XJS is prone to be mothballed when minor problems are never addressed.

 

Poly rack bushings from Superflex are cheap maybe just order a set in the meantime? I used large copper washers to fill in my rack bushings, they are 'JaguarSport' upgraded oem but the dumb technician forgot the other half, or maybe they don't come with washers. Either way DIY fix still working 3 yrs later on new bushings.

 

I have the Jagsport bushings, haven't had the time, or space to put them on. I believe I'll need to pull the steering rack out completely.

The Jagsport bushings only have a flange at one end, not both, so I believe the shop may have simply put them on backwards, negating the benefit of the Jagsport bushing?

I was looking for something I could slide in. Japthug's solution looks like it'll do exactly that, and the wire keeps it from falling off.

 

Innovative idea Japthug.

IMO, it's really not a problem to replace the rack bushes. I put poly bushes in mine 11 years ago at a cost of £23. I'm sure it only took me 2 hours in total and I didnt remove the rack. It's one of the occasions where poly seems to be much better than original or even JaguarSport items.

Paul

 

Really? I thought removal of the bushes, at least, would require removal of the rack. Can you tell me a little more on what you did, and how you did it?

Also, would using the poly bushes be easier to install than the Jagsport bushes? Thanks.

 

Vee,

From memory, 2 of the bushes were quite easy and one slightly less accessible. I definitely didn't remove the rack completely or disconnect the steering pipes or either track rod. I know that others have mentioned uncoupling the lower steering column pinch bolt to enable the rack to drop a bit further, but I'm pretty sure I didn't even have to do that. I just lowered it sufficiently to remove and install the bushes.

I think the reason that some disconnect the pinch bolt to lower the rack is to give greater access for the old bush removal. I just used some threaded rod and a socket and some large washers and nuts. I was then able to fairly easily draw the old bushes out. They weren't badly damaged or deteriorated, so came out pretty easily. Because the new polybushes that I used were 2-piece type, it was really easy to insert them and then the internal tubes.

I'll try digging out some pics but I remember it was much easier than I initially thought and probably the best £23 I've ever spent on the car!

Cheers

Paul

 

The JS bushes cannot be removed rack on car. In fact they are a royal pain to remove at all. Only change them if you are sure they have play. I have never seen a JS bush go home.
You do need one each end, so why not buy a third and put it in? Whether the old bush will come out easily I have no idea, but the JS bush does need a good press to get it in, but a threaded rod and a large socket over the open end to push against the rack body will do it.

 

I understood that the two horizontal bushings benefit from being JS, the one vertical bush gets no benefit. Does this sound right?

Im wondering if I’ve made a mistake and should now just chase down a couple of poly bushes and replace the OEMs I have now (not JS) with two-piece poly?

 

Vee,

Just to clarify, all the bushes are mounted horizontally,. It's just that there are two bushes on one side (an upper and lower) and one on the other.

On late cars in the UK, they were originally fitted with 1 of the standard bush CAC 1635 and 2 x the stiffer bush CBC 9107 (as fitted to JaguarSport cars). I'm not sure what was fitted on late US cars.

As we know, the JaguarSport bushes are more difficult to extract BUT they are much less prone to wear.

My suggestion would be not to replace the 2 x JaguarSport bushes (if you have them fitted) unless you definitely know that they are worn. But definitely replace the 1 x standard bush and fit poly there.

If you don't have any JaguarSport bushes fitted then replace all 3 with poly.

IF you have 2 x JaguarSport bushes fitted AND they are definitely worn, then change them for poly, as you'll be grateful if you ever have to change them again.

I'll bow to Greg's superior knowledge, but if you have a late 4 litre car with JaguarSport bushes only fitted on the lower 2 bushes, then I think you'll get them out without full removal of the rack. I managed it, but accept that I might have been lucky.

Good luck

Paul

 

All three OEMs replaced with poly will be fine, but ensure the heatshields are in place as polys are affected by heat. As Paul says, if you change your rack bushes from OEM, you need a JS bush each side and an OEM bush on the second hole on the steering rack tower side; or three polys.

 

I suppose I will need something to support the engine from above?

 

Vee,

The steering rack bushes shouldn't require any disturbance of the engine mounts or the need to move or support the engine. I did everything from below without touching engine or engine mounts.

Good luck

Paul

 

As Paul said, no need to do anything other than undo the three bolts going though the mounting bushes. This allows the rack to lower a bit, supported by the track rods, the column universal splined joint, and the power steering pipes.
If you need to remove the rack to get serious on the bushes, then pop the track rod ball joints from the tapered holes on the steering arms, undo the steering column spline pinch bolt and unto the P/S pipes from the rack, then the rack is free. The only hard part on reassembly is getting the P/S pipes threaded fittings started into their threads in the rack tower. Be very careful not to cross-thread them.