Several weeks ago, before I traipsed off to Scotland, I finished the swich
from the stock, flimsy steering rack to the older solid rack ('79 Midget, early
rack). Everything fit just fine, although the alignment man almost ran out of
threads on the tie rod when he aligned it. But there is a problem. When I
turn a corner and let go of the steering wheell, it does not return. I have to
turn it back to straighten it.
Now--when I disassembled the old rack, there was NO spacer beneath the
driver's side bolts on the rack, as it shows in the shop manuals. There WAS a
spacer behind the driver's side bolts on the '73 when I took the rack off it.
Since there was NO spacer on the '79, I did not put one under the early rack
that
I installed. I found that I had to drive the steering columb onto the rack
sprocket with a hammer and a piece of wood.
My question is, should the spacer be in place? Is the rack and steering
column "binding" because the spacer is not there, even though it was not there
when it had the stock rack? Should the steering column have required that much
pressure to install it over the steering gear sprocket? s there any other
reason why it should be that tight? One thing I was thinking was that the
tension
adjustment was too tight, but I have loosened it till I can turn it with my
fingers and the steerring is still tight.
--David C.
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