6 replies to this topic

[DaveVader]

Model: Mayfair
Year: 1985
Description of problem (please be as in depth as possible):

Hi guys, I've recently found my steering wheel isn't straight at all, wheels are straight, steering wheel is pointing in an off direction.
Bit of hunting has found that where the column joins to the rack, it seems to be loose and spins quite easily.

Someone said this could be due to the fact I have a steering column drop bracket. The problem has only just started and it seems to be getting worse by the day.
I use this as my daily so can't really afford for it to be offroad for long at all.

I'm going to take my steering column out tonight, remove the drop bracket and affix it back normally to see if that solves it but I am worried that I may have damaged the teeth that holds the column and rack together and that the problem may well only get worse.

Any thoughts, ideas, kind words?

[robsrallymini]

Hi there
Sounds to me that the pinch bolt ,where the column joins the rack , needs tighting up.
Obviously at the moment the car should not be driven. Straighten up steering wheel and make
sure the column is located properly and tighten it up.
Hope this helps.

[Pooky]

Did you fit the steering column drop bracket? Do you know if the steering rack U bolts holing the rack through the toe board were loosened when the drop bracket was fitted? If not you will get excess wear at the rack/column splined joint.

The fact that you say it's loose sounds pretty dangerous to me and I'd be making alternative travel arrangements until it's sorted properly.

Remove the column and inspect the splines. Hopefully the rack will be ok and you might only need to replace the column...

[DaveVader]

Yeah, gonna inspect the splines, hoping they will be OK.

Didn't fit the drop bracket myself, previous owner did that.
Got another column out my other mini I could use if it's not in good enough nick.

If the U bolts weren't loosened, then removing the drop bracket and having it at standard height will be alright (as long as the splines and what not are good)
If they were loosened, then I'd need to tighten them up if I'm removing the drop bracket, right?

Ugh, you've all sort of confirmed what I was worrying about :\

[DaveVader]

Well, I replaced my steering column.
What came out was worrying!
Took a load of pictures, most of them have corrupted themselves but these two give you the just of it.


What it should look like


What it came out like

The top picture is the column out of my project car, wont be needing it for a while so why not!
The bottom picture shows what I pulled out. This happened in just 2 days!

[bmcecosse]

Well found - it's ruined - throw it away to prevent anyone using it again. Hope the rack pinion was ok - not in similar state? These daft 'drop brackets' have a lot to answer for.......... Apart from problems like this - in a hard frontal accident - the column will spear straight back at you. It was originally designed to pivot on the mounting and send the wheel away from you towards the screen. It won't do that with the 'drop bracket' fitted.............

[DaveVader]

The pinion was fine, which was my biggest worry.
If that was in a similar state then I would not have been happy!
Taken off the drop bracket for now, feels so different, gone from driving a mini to a tractor!

The old column is currently in my garage, might keep it as a reminder to myself to get things sorted before they turn seriously south!