I am interested in finding out definitive information about these racks. Also there seems to be some confusion about the rack bellows.

I have recently acquired one of these (probably a late 140) via trade and it was very dirty and greasy. I have since cleaned it up, but have found an anomaly with the inner tie rod ends. One of them had a weakened, compromised spring in it with several thin shims and the other one had a good spring, no shims and what appears to be separate ball cup from an XKE rack.

I have done many almost fruitless hours researching just what is supposed to be in these and have finally come up with something I am not sure is correct. SO I entreat those of you who know to please verify what I am about to say.

As far as I can tell, the inner tie rod ball end is fitted to the double threaded Ball Socket (screwed into the each rack end) by the large hex nut with only the spring between them. There is NO separate socket cup like the XKE has and there are NO shims for adjustment. There is ONLY the spring between the threaded Ball Socket and the ball end itself.

The attachment of the threaded Ball Socket to the rack is by two washers - one on either side of it. One is cupped or dished and fits between the rack bar end and the threaded Ball Socket and the other fits between the large threaded end of the Ball Socket and the large hex nut that secures the inner tie rod end to the rack. This second washer is peened over to stop the large nut from turning. These washers are made in such a way that they lock the Socket and tie rod ends to the rack.

The bellows are another matter and it seems that some sell these as fitting all the rack of the XKs and the XKEs. That seems to be false as the smaller of the ends is too small for the XK140 rack by a lot. I have found one U.S. purveyor selling what I assume is the correct rack bellows. I find this curious to say the least. Usually there are a few of the many racks out there whose bellows will fit any particular rack, but that does not seem to be the reported case. So, if any of you kind folks know where I can get the 140/150 bellows in the U.S. I’d appreciate it. I am not averse to using the one I found. I am just trying to compare them since there seems to be some confusion about fitment and sizes.

BTW, the rack operation seems to be smooth and the tolerances seem good.

TIA for any advice or help you can give me.

 

I have gotten no information from this forum nor, really, any from any other forum except for a photo of the assorted new XK rack parts for a rebuild. There is one item in that photo that has never been included in the Jaguar blowups of the related XK parts. It is what looks to be an early version of what Jaguar calls simply a "socket" on their XKE (SI) rack parts list. The XKE rack parts list and blowup from Jaguar does not list any shims. Perhaps they really are not needed.

So, as an experiment and since I have a couple of these thickish cupped XKE "sockets" I tried them in the XK140/150 rack and they work well. They fit perfectly and with no shims used and seem to give the correct feel for the rack end. So, it's only the spring in the XK "Ball Socket" then the socket from the XKE rack along with inner tie rod against a greased "socket" held together with the large hex nut using the attendent locking washers on the original XK rack in their original positions and that's it.

With no further or counter information I will assume the XKE "socket" that fits the 140 rack will work and will proceed that way. Best, Brian