240 Steering rack seal kit

While I have replaced a number of steering racks over the years with used or rebuilt ones I have never tried to rebuild one using the available seal kit.

I now have a CAM rack leak in my never ending entertainment vehicle, the Brand New Bertone. This car only has 25,000 miles on it so this is not a wear issue as much as a 36 year old seal failure. Passenger side of course as the CAM racks were known for that. Fluid will drain from reservoir to floor in only a few days without being driven.

I have never been concerned about tying something that I haven't done before and have the GreenBook on the rack. Any comments on special tools or fixtures and difficulty in such an effort?

The Brand New 1981 262C Bertone Coupe strikes again!

Best tip is polish the rack with 1000 grit w/d. Do not go long ways, this may create "grooves" maybe causing leaks. Do it radially. Put a reman rack on my 780 and it had the best feel, firm. But started leaking from the pinion shaft. Replaced it and now it's like all others. Wish I had just done the seal.

To old for this said:

. . . . Wish I had just done the seal.

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That's what I am thinking. With 25k miles on it wear of hard parts doesn't seem reasonable. Replace the seal on the right side and see what happens. Labor cost would be practically zero . . . maybe a beer or two.

Now, the seal only comes in a $50 kit with mostly worthless parts such as metal clamps. Anyway to just acquire the shaft seal?

where are you sourcing the complete kit from?

Have you tried dumping is some STP PS stopleak?

It probably won't work, but it might.

Lucas makes a mucus for everything. Maybe worth the few bucks.

blkaplan said:

where are you sourcing the complete kit from?

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http://www.autozone.com/suspension-...st-rack-pinion-seal-kit/228834_115346_0_60953

Available at a number of on-line sites but probably from the same source.

I will go down to talk to my BFF at NAPA tomorrow about appropriate Lucus Mucus.

I put some Lucas stop-leak in mine. It may have slowed down the leak, but the main thing I noticed was that after a startup in cold weather there was a short delay before the steering would work at all.

I believe Mueller rebuilt a rack and mentioned it in his 242 project thread.

Good news . . . . bad news . . . .

It isn't the rack that is leaking.

It is the oil pan gasket at the rear of the pan dripping down on the rack and running out to the end where it appears to be coming from the rack except that it is not red.

Bolts were tight on the pan so a gasket replacement is warranted.

Moving on . . . .

Good news.. bad news.. and excuse to paint and polish and get ready for the concourse.