Dino DIY - Removing Inner Tie rods

Scott,
I looked at removing the right one on mine so I could replace the worn right rack bushing and torn bellows. The ball joint felt just fine and had gear oil on it. I decided that it was not worth the effort and possible misadjustment when putting back together. I guess it depends on why you want to pull the tie rods. The book says that you should send the whole rack assembly in for repair. But book is 36 years old. I didnt touch ball joint, made a new trick bushing and found that bellows was same as Ford Pinto. Talked about it in an earlier Saga.
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82666&highlight=051113
Once all was done, jacked car high on right side, filled rack housing with 90 weight gear oil and secured bellows. Feen fine ever since. Hope this helps.
John

 

I have just recently fitted a fast rack to my car (makes a big difference) and it involved taking these tie rods off the old rack.

It is a bit difficult to expalin to be honest, Basically you punch out the locking tabs and unscrew the tie rods. (if you can think of your fist in the palm of your other hand) undo the large nut and it then releases the ball and socket joint. Reassambly is the reverse but ensure the nut is retightened adequately and locked back properly. ie no play in ball and socket.

If you need to go any further in replacing the rack then it gets a bit complicated in setting the shims and centering the rack.

On fitting back just grease the rack (no oil) with a good molydendum grease.

Hope this helps?

Tony

 

Tony,
How do the ball joints and right hand rack bearing get lubrication? Ball joints get a huge amount of action. I like oil. So did Ferrari.
John

 

John

With only 0.2 litres of oil in the rack, the boots and rack are not filled up to the top!! The BJ's are not in the oil so rely on permanent lube

Greasing the rack is far better IMO

 

I have completely taken mine apart. You have to slightly bend out the indented punch & unscrew it. I tried to press out the sealed bearing where the steering column goes & ended up splitting the bearing up and dropping ball bearings all over. I spent some time looking through a Pantera site as they have the same rack. There was a firm that would send you the rebuild kits but then they would only do it if they rebuilt the rack for you & wouldnt just sell the repair pieces. I bought a quick rack from Superformance and this is why I started the whole exercise. Unfortunately, that was only the long inner rod that goes into the rack. My rack was made by Cam Gears Ltd and is # 21461...It is in pieces and I can post pics if you want. I am sure that they must have mad a lot of these for British cars ( I think Cam Gears was a UK co). I am told that they were used on Mini's but that those were smaller. I have left mine dissasembled & on the shelf while I do other stuff. I really wish I hadnt taken it apart as the car only has about 20,000 miles on it. If you check I posted on this along with John a while back. Please let me know if I can help.

 

For the cost of a superformance (new) rack over the fast rack kit, i would have bought the complete thing.

At around £350 its pretty cheap and saves a lot of aggro!!

Cam Gears i beleive is Italian?
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I just purchased that rack from Superformance....and it's here in the States now. It appears to be a brand new "reproduction" of the Cam Gears rack. My intentions were to install it in my BB, but then decided to have a custom rack built using their fast rack "kit" in a TRW Italia housing (long, long story). If anyone is interested in this rack, it is for for sale....complete with minor scratch marks from a trial fit, but without the outer tie rod ends.

With shipping and customs duty, it stands me $870. First real offer...and it's yours! PM me....

Thanks,
David