I was reading Palm's description of the steering rack bushings and, since I have the front of the car on jacks for another purpose I thought I'd have a look.

I took the photos from under (more or less) the steering rack, with one photo looking towards the left (single bolt in it) and one towards the right (two bolts in it). It's a LHD car.

Am I correct that these are the three bolts that hold the steering rack in place, and that the questionable bushings are on these bolts?

I had the steering rack replaced just over a year ago, but I wasn't sophisticated enough at the time to ask if they were using OEM bushings or after market.

A few questions...

Is there a way to test for a steering rack issue, either by driving it, or when the front end is on jacks? The only knows steering issue I have is that when I let go of the wheel the car will slightly veer to the right with the steering wheel doing the same. It's not really a "problem" (yet) but if I knew what the fix was I would fix it.

In one photo you can see a large nut with a screw thread in it that adjusts something (it's on the bottom of the steering rack). What does this adjust?

Thanks,

John
1987 XJ-S V12
63,000 miles

 

That certainly does not look like a new rack and bushes. I would also be looking at the cracking in photo 1

 

Greg

 

In one photo you can see a large nut with a screw thread in it that adjusts something (it's on the bottom of the steering rack). What does this adjust?

I am pretty sure that this is a factory set backlash adjuster which is used to set up the rack/pinion clearance and should not be touched.

as far as I can see by Bernard Embden's Website the big nut with the plug in the middle is for rack centring just the middle plug, I have never done this though.

 

I agree with Warrjohn about the cracking. Unless my eyes are deceiving me it looks like one of the mounting ears is almost totally separated from the subframe.

Cheers
DD

 

Right. If you remove the small plug in the center you can insert a small screwdriver or similar to "center" the rack. This would be done when performing a wheel alignment and/or centering the steering wheel

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for all that! The "crack" is actually just a shadow caused by the camera flash...I just crawled under it to confirm, so there is no cracking.

The steering wheel seems to be centered properly, so I'll just leave the center adjustment alone.

The car still wants to pull to the right a bit when I take my hands off the wheele...I suppose I need to drive on the other side of the road to see if it's the slope of the pavement that is causing it.

Thanks,

John
1987 XJ-S V12
63,000 miles

 

I tried that coming home from the pub last night. its very dodgy! lol

 

Doug is correct I wheel aligned my car last week. You can insert a 3/16 drill to center the rack.

Multi lane roads are best to check for alignment as the camber tends to be less than narrower roads (at least here in Sydney). Checking the alignment is very easy. I did mine with 2 poles and string, or just take it to a shop and have the alignment checked.