PJ Grady Steering Rack/Shaft

Hello! I was just chatting with Rob the other day about a manual transmission refurbishment. He asked me how my steering shaft and rack were doing one year after purchase, so I figured I'd share here.

Steering shaft: Excellent. He told me we'd kind of experiment with the one he sent me, he added some rubber into it, which I believe most modern cars have. It's supposed to dampen the vibration and I was slightly concerned it might make the steering numb like so many new cars. Not the case. That little bit of rubber actually does a great job of insulating you from all the irritating little vibrations these cars are prone to have, especially on the highways. But it doesn't decrease steering feel or make it feel like you're driving a toy, you still have that responsive feedback, and you still have road feel, just without the juddering.

The rack: mine was an original 81 which had developed a bit of play in it, and apparently it was also a bit stiff if that makes any sense. I know it was stiff because turning became much easier with Rob's rack in the car. Night and day, and my steering was much more accurate! The only irritation is the steering being slightly off center, but that's because my alignment guy did it by hand with no computers... The rack installation was fairly easy some annoyance dealing with the bushings in there, but that can't really be helped. Rob tells me this thing is designed to never have to come back out of the car again. He claims to have never had to rebuild one of his own units. I've only had the thing for a year, so I can't attest to that, but I'm perfectly cool with installing a part that I won't have to worry about at least for a long time.

Basically, one year with both, and both are working as designed and have made an already smooth ride even smoother. (Other things that have helped over the years - Ed Uding's outriggers and boxed control arms)

I know other vendors have similar products out there, this is just my experience with Rob's!

Wish that rack had been available when I replaced my original rack. Sounds like a nice improvement.

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Originally Posted by opethmike

Wish that rack had been available when I replaced my original rack. Sounds like a nice improvement.

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We've been offering these rebuilds for about twenty five years except for a few years where we also offered DMCH racks so we probably had them available if you had checked with us. Sometimes if we're waiting for a new run of bearings or bushings there could be a delay but we are fully stocked for the foreseeable future.
Rob

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Originally Posted by tyb323

Hello! I was just chatting with Rob the other day about a manual transmission refurbishment. He asked me how my steering shaft and rack were doing one year after purchase, so I figured I'd share here.

Steering shaft: Excellent. He told me we'd kind of experiment with the one he sent me, he added some rubber into it, which I believe most modern cars have. It's supposed to dampen the vibration and I was slightly concerned it might make the steering numb like so many new cars. Not the case. That little bit of rubber actually does a great job of insulating you from all the irritating little vibrations these cars are prone to have, especially on the highways. But it doesn't decrease steering feel or make it feel like you're driving a toy, you still have that responsive feedback, and you still have road feel, just without the juddering.

The rack: mine was an original 81 which had developed a bit of play in it, and apparently it was also a bit stiff if that makes any sense. I know it was stiff because turning became much easier with Rob's rack in the car. Night and day, and my steering was much more accurate! The only irritation is the steering being slightly off center, but that's because my alignment guy did it by hand with no computers... The rack installation was fairly easy some annoyance dealing with the bushings in there, but that can't really be helped. Rob tells me this thing is designed to never have to come back out of the car again. He claims to have never had to rebuild one of his own units. I've only had the thing for a year, so I can't attest to that, but I'm perfectly cool with installing a part that I won't have to worry about at least for a long time.

Basically, one year with both, and both are working as designed and have made an already smooth ride even smoother. (Other things that have helped over the years - Ed Uding's outriggers and boxed control arms)

I know other vendors have similar products out there, this is just my experience with Rob's!

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Thank you for your observations as we appreciate your feedback and comments. I do want to clarify one thing however. The rubber dampened steering shaft was not an experiment but rather the first one we had sold and I did not have the chance to try one on my car before hand which is an exception to our usual practice. They are not modified rather but made that way by the manufacturer and have been used by other owners so it was not an experiment at all. We don't experiment on our customers. We like to keep them around!
Rob

To add to this, I've had my rebuilt R&P from Rob for well over a decade now and besides some rust on the inner tie rod bars which I already fixed, it's still like new today, about 30,000 miles on it.

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Originally Posted by PJ Grady Inc.

Thank you for your observations as we appreciate your feedback and comments. I do want to clarify one thing however. The rubber dampened steering shaft was not an experiment but rather the first one we had sold and I did not have the chance to try one on my car before hand which is an exception to our usual practice. They are not modified rather but made that way by the manufacturer and have been used by other owners so it was not an experiment at all. We don't experiment on our customers. We like to keep them around!
Rob

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Thanks for clarifying! We'd had that chat a little over a year ago and I was in the middle of a job search at the time, sorry for getting my wires crossed! I knew it was a new thing though, that much I remembered! Either way, I'm loving it!

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Originally Posted by PJ Grady Inc.

We've been offering these rebuilds for about twenty five years except for a few years where we also offered DMCH racks so we probably had them available if you had checked with us. Sometimes if we're waiting for a new run of bearings or bushings there could be a delay but we are fully stocked for the foreseeable future.
Rob

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I took 2065 in for its annual road worthy inspection in Australia today and was told I had a little bit of play in the steering rack. Seems like I may need to get some of the small nylon replacement bushings. Are these available and what other items should I look at "while I'm in there"

I would consider replacing the entire rack but for the cost of shipping the part and returning the core.

Any help or advice appreciated.

I'd start with PJ Grady for the steering rack bushing and inner tie rod bushings. I got a set of these when I rebuilt my steering rack a few years ago and they are really nice quality. The large circular bushing that holds the rack in place is the most common wear item but you may also want to replace the plastic cups on the inner tie rods as well. Other things to check are the large boots on the ends of the rack, and possibly the outer tie rod ball joint boots.

I took a bunch of pics that might be helpful:
http://dmctalk.org/album.php?albumid=160

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Originally Posted by Mark D

I'd start with PJ Grady for the steering rack bushing and inner tie rod bushings. I got a set of these when I rebuilt my steering rack a few years ago and they are really nice quality. The large circular bushing that holds the rack in place is the most common wear item but you may also want to replace the plastic cups on the inner tie rods as well. Other things to check are the large boots on the ends of the rack, and possibly the outer tie rod ball joint boots.

I took a bunch of pics that might be helpful:
http://dmctalk.org/album.php?albumid=160

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Thanks Mark, appreciate the response

No problem :)

If you plan on removing the cover plate/pinion gear seal to remove the pinion gear (to check for wear) you may also want to get a new paper gasket for that cover plate. I ended up tracing the plate and making my own gasket and then using RTV silicone to seal it up. There is a similar gasket also needed for the blanking plate on the side of the rack where the U shaped bushing and preload spring sit. You can adjust the pressure of the rack against the pinion gear by adding or removing shims on that plate.

While I had everything taken apart I sand blasted and powder coated the outside of the rack tube. If you end up going that route be sure to mask off the inside of the tube at the ends. I had the powder coating done with the two plates installed so the inner surfaces wouldn't get coated. Afterwards I took a razor blade and cut around the edges to separate the plates from the rack tube since the powder coating fused the parts together. You'll also need to press out the rubber seal from the pinion gear plate beforehand so it doesn't melt during the powder coating process. I don't know of anyone that reproduces the seal.

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Originally Posted by Mark D

No problem :)

If you plan on removing the cover plate/pinion gear seal to remove the pinion gear (to check for wear) you may also want to get a new paper gasket for that cover plate. I ended up tracing the plate and making my own gasket and then using RTV silicone to seal it up. There is a similar gasket also needed for the blanking plate on the side of the rack where the U shaped bushing and preload spring sit. You can adjust the pressure of the rack against the pinion gear by adding or removing shims on that plate.

While I had everything taken apart I sand blasted and powder coated the outside of the rack tube. If you end up going that route be sure to mask off the inside of the tube at the ends. I had the powder coating done with the two plates installed so the inner surfaces wouldn't get coated. Afterwards I took a razor blade and cut around the edges to separate the plates from the rack tube since the powder coating fused the parts together. You'll also need to press out the rubber seal from the pinion gear plate beforehand so it doesn't melt during the powder coating process. I don't know of anyone that reproduces the seal.

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Thanks again Mark. This is very useful information.
I spoke to Rob @ PJ Grady early this morning (my time) who was most helpful and has all the parts.

I will get into the rack to see just how much wear there is. It may be worth replacing the whole unit but the shipping costs to OZ would be horrendous, but if that what it takes......

If the rack gear is in good shape I will order ALL the rebuild parts and go that track.

Your detailed response and tips are very much appreciated.

Cheers