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MG MGB Technical - Steering rack lube

Haynes manual says to put grease in the nipple on the steering rack. I don't have a nipple and the racks the MGOC supply now don't either. when I asked MGOC how to lube it, or if it was a maintenance free item - the answer was 'don't know'.
so does anyone know if the two nuts holding the top cover on should be removed to add lube, and if so, oil or grease? thanks, Graham

Graham Moore

Graham-
I don't know who wrote that in the Haynes manual, but he obviously knows nothing about the steering rack. You never, never put grease in it! The nipple was present so that workers on the assembly line could efficiently fill the steering rack after it was assembled into the front suspension and the gaiters subsequently installed. Use EP 90 hypoid gear oil. Refill the steering rack with 0.4 US pint (½ UK pint, 0.2 liter) of EP90 hypoid gear oil. Do not overfill the steering rack as this thick and viscous oil flows slowly from one side of the steering rack to another. Overfilling can result in a ruptured gaiter (boot). Under no circumstances should you attempt to substitute grease for oil. The rack itself acts much like a double-ended piston, with the gaiters being the cylinders. This action causes the oil to move around and lubricate everything, including the inner tie rod ends, which grease does not do. There needs to be a pressure equalization vent between each of the gaiters and the body of the rack housing. On the steering pinion side of the housing, the rack teeth cutaway lets air / oil move past the bush, but on the other side you need to have either a hole or a channel cut in or around the bushing so that the pressures can equalize.

As for how you're supposed to fill your Argentinian-made steering rack, I presume that you'll have to trickle the oil in through the pinion housing!
Stephen Strange

Stephen you have given a good account of how the rack is lubricated but have not said how you get the oil into the rack when it has not got a grease nipple, can you answer that please


Graham
GJ Barker

I thought he attempted to in the last line?

Dave O'Neill2

Take off the cap under which is the plunger opposite the pinion, then dribble oil down into the rack. It takes time ....
Alternatively, put the EP_oil into an oil can, poke the spout of the can in through the small end of the rack boot and pump.
Paul Walbran

Forcing the spout of the oil can in to the end of a piece of (pointed) washer pipe allows a bit more "wiggle room" in terms of angle of oil can/spout/rack gaiter. As you need to fill from the top side of the gaiter or it tends to run straight back out!
Michael Beswick

The correct amount of oil for the rack is 1/3pt not 1/2 pt, and as Paul said put it in an oil can and pump it in via the small end of the rack boot, A.T
andy tilney

Apparently Moss replacement racks *are* grease lubricated. At least it doesn't run out through the many possible places that oil can.
Paul Hunt

On my rebuilt car, the steering rack is the only part that drips oil :-( Many cars use grease in the rack and I don't see why the MGB couldn't be the same. On my Elan (Triumph Spitfire rack) you are told to grease the rack before installing it in the rack tube, and then to give 5 strokes of a grease gun on the nipple every 12,000 miles. It warns against doing any more than this as you could damage the unit. But that grease only goes in one end of the rack and its hard to see how it will be distributed evenly, including the ball joints. And yet these racks last as long as any MGB one, so why not grease an MGB one and forget the drips?
Mike Howlett

Because the B racks don't usually drip?
Paul Walbran

When I had my Sprite rack rebuilt by Kiley Clinton, I asked them about oil and they said that they now use grease in them.

http://www.steering-racks.co.uk/
Dave O'Neill2

"Because the B racks don't usually drip?"

How did you manage to say that with your tongue so far in your cheek you ought to have choked? :o)

Neither of mine dripped, then when I had to change one gaiter on each I found the reason why - there was no free oil in there, obviously hadn't been in the many years I owned the car. All the mechanicals were wet with oil though. Refilled with the new gaiters and both promptly spent the next few weeks dripping. They don't drip any more though :o)
Paul Hunt

That's right Paul, my MGB rack has stopped dripping now. I wonder why?????
Mike Howlett

Where do they drip? I find that if the boot clamps are tight, the rack doesn't drip at all.

Dominic Clancy

Mine has never dripped from the boots, but I can't stop the oil coming out of the pinion housing. It escapes upwards out of the tiny oil seal that is meant to seal the steering column, and it drips out of the cover plate despite my best efforts . I've replaced the seal and the cover gasket but to no avail - it always drips. Well, it doesn't now because there won't be much oil left inside, but at least my blocked driveway is keeping clean.
Mike Howlett

Can leak from shaft seal, damper cover plate, and bottom plate. I gave up trying to seal them as well.
Paul Hunt

Went through a rash of Moss replacement Racks a few years ago and after issuing the edict echoed above by SStrange that only 90 wt was to be used, I was contradicted by Brett via kelvin that the "new" ones ( Pakistanese I believe) are greased for life and don't use the 90 wt.oil anymore. Seemed strange to me ( pun intended). I checked with Whisperer Twist and he was not aware of the "greased for life" claim. On my own cars, both reracked, I make sure the gators breathe both sides, and have installed a synthetic Royal Purple to entertain the Indian grease in their daily dance. Kelvin- You out there? Cheers, Vic
vem myers

"I make sure the gators breathe" Feed them as well, or they will get snappy.

The gaiters should not breathe, they must be sealed to the rack tube and the track-rods, to prevent the ingress of dirt and moisture.
Paul Hunt

To add to what Paul stated, the gaitor on one side collapses while the gaitor on the other side expands. No need for them to breathe outside air. RAY
rjm RAY

Hi all,

EP90 isn't something Halfords stock - will 'Halfords Differential Gear Oil EP 80W/90 GL-5' provide the right level of protection?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_220229_langId_-1_categoryId_255220
A Riddett

you can (could?) get Castrol EP90 from some of the 'usual parts suppliers' including MGOC Spares

or Opie Oils stock it

if you're sticking to tradition then you'll want the EP90 (or alternative) in GL-4 spec too

I've read here other owners that empty out the oil and use grease instead or others that haven't touched the steering rack in many years (decades) of use and have never needed to

so it might be that the exact oil type (or even oil) isn't critical

but as you asked about the supply of EP90 (GL-4) - http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-77274-castrol-classic-ep90-mineral-based-multi-purpose-extreme-pressure-oil.aspx
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 12/04/2014 and 18/05/2014

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