Steering Problem.
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi lads.

Little while back i went to pull away in my car, but the steering wheel just turned but not the wheels so as i was near work, i got my mate to look at it. he ended up putting a good nick 2nd hand steering colum on, as a new one is near £200, seeing it's a 1980 mini. the pling thing on the rack had worn. all was fine after that, till a good few months later, which was today, the samething happens. till i got time to have a look at it my self, what would you say the problem could be to why it has happend again ?
I do trust my mate as his very good at what he does.

Cheers :)

Shit Happen's

hello
I had the same thing happen to mine on sevral occasaons the way I got around this is, were it clamps on to the rack take the colum of turn it upside down so the end is facing up titen the bolt back up then run a hack saw through it do this two or three time, when u re-fit it it will tighten up more
Hope this helps

I have done the same as Alan above BUT only as a very temporary measure.

Once you reach the point that the gap closes completely when you do the pinch bolt up, then the splines inside the column, or on the rack spindle (or both) are VERY worn.

So although you can make it grip again by increasing the gap, it will be gripping more by friction than by engaged splines, which is not the way it should be at all......

BTW the most common cause of this is the column not being aligned properly with the spindle in the rack, either because someone has lowered the column without slackening the rack bolts first, or a replacement rack has been bolted up before re-connecting the column, or hasn't been centred properly.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Think i'll do that for the time being, up till christmas, then try get a good 2nd hand colum hopefuly.
can you buy a new pinion ?

Cheers.

Shit Happen's

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Shit Happen's

As i said before, my car is 1980 1275GT.
I'm told this is a later column ?






Not sure what that clip, tie and sponge thing is meant to do.?





Also, you can see how worn the splines are.
It's more worn on one side then the other. not sure why :(
This was what happend before ?
Also, i'm told you have to loosen the Steering rack U bolt before you refit the column. Just by looking at it, i just can't really see what difference it would make ?

P.s. not to sure if this is the right one ? it's the same size in lengh.
http://www.minisport.com/acatalog/info_FAM5285.html

Cheers :)

Edited by Markie_D on 28th Nov, 2008.

Shit Happen's

The sponge thing is the bottom felt bush. You can get new columns from minits for a good price, about 40 quid IIRC.

You should loosen the rack so that it can rotate while you fit the column, to make sure you are not putting any stress on the joint.

you loosen the rack before fitting the column to make sure the spigot on the rack and the column are straight onto each other otherwise they will wear out like what has happened to yours.

As above, you MUST loosen the rack while bolting up the column to rack joint...
There is no universal joint, or any sort of flexible joint in the system, so the rack must be allowed to align itself to the column while you are tightening the clamp/pinch bolt.

Only when the column pinch bolt is secure, can you re-tighten the rack "U" bolts, and even then, you should centre it first.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Got ya..
Like you said, the rack "U" bolts might not of been loosend before the column was fitted.
The rack pinion looks fine though. so hopfuly i'll only need a new column.

Thanks for that :)

Shit Happen's