I made my own indicators out of stiff wire wrapped round the end of each
shaft with one end of the wire off the end of the shaft and its point on the
centre-line of the shaft. Others have used Blu-tack on the ends of the
shafts formed to a point. The important thing is to get the point (wire or
Blu-tack) the correct distance from the end of the shaft and this
corresponds to where the centre of the UJ will be when fitted. You can get
the points centralised easy enough by rotating the shafts. When the point
doesn't wobble it is centralised. Then fit shims and/or adjust the position
of the upper column (earlier non-collapsible columns only) until the points
just touch. If this isn't done it can cause excessive and rapid wear in the
rack pinion bearing.
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Councill" <dcouncil@imt.net>
To: "MG List" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 9:51 PM
Subject: steering rack alignment
> Has anyone done the alignment of the steering rack as mentioned in the
> manual (Bentley)? I moved my column and rack from my 71BGT to my 72B and
> it seemed like there were a couple of shims that fit between the rack and
> front cross member. But I didn't try to align it - I just bolted it in.
Now
> I'm thinking of going back and doing the alignment by the book except I
> don't have the dial indicator (really just looks like caps on the rack and
> column ends).
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