steering rack

[BDA]

I'm preparing for the possibility that I will want to rebuild my rack. I've been in my rack before and I think the part I'll might need is the rack itself - i.e. the shaft with the teeth cut into it.

Can you help me check my knowledge about this? I know that it is a Triumph Spitfire rack assembly and the only real modification to the "guts" of it is a spacer for on the passenger side. Since my car was built in '73, I would assume that Lotus used the racks from the '73 or '74 Spitfire but I assume that that rack hadn't changed much for several years. Did they remain the same in later production years?. I understand there are "new" rack assemblies available now but that they are not different and therefore not appropriate.

Can somebody correct any misconceptions and tell me which years of Spitfires would be appropriate for a TCS? What about other models? Does anybody have a good source for used Spitfire racks other than car-part.com and ebay.com - I'm looking for as many options as possible.

[LotusJoe]

Here is some information. Although it talks about an Elan steering rack the Europa specs are listed at the bottom of the article.

[jbcollier]

There are many variations on the "Triumph" steering rack:

https://macleansbridge.com/index.php/triumph-info/technical-information/22-steering-racks

[Certified Lotus]

Replace the bushing. Dave Bean sells them.

[4129R]

I have 7 of the Herald rack bits sitting in my garage.

If you or any of your friends are in London, I can give them one FOC, but I don't think they will fit, even with the spacers added to the ends.

Beware there are 6 and 7 cog pinions.

[BDA]

Thanks for the articles, JD & Joe. They were very helpful.

Certified, the problem is I had trouble adjusting the turning resistance on the pinion (2lbs at 8"). I could only get it too loose or too tight. My car had been hit in the driver's side front corner which could have bent my rack a little. When I took the rack shaft out, it was bent a little and I spent a lot of time trying to get it straighter. When I finally decided it was as straight as I was going to get it, there ended up being two places somewhere in the middle of the travel where the pinion seemed to be too tight. I'll know more after I put the car on the road but I think it might affect steering effort when driving. If so, this is most likely because of my efforts to straighten the rack and not from any accident damage.    There are less than 20K totals miles on it so my thought is a good rack shaft should allow me to fix my problem if I have one.

Alex, the article JB posted has a table that gives specific information about Triumph steering racks. The for Spitfires and Heralds  is paraphrased here (the table has more detail):

Model          | Rack shaft part # | Rack length (mm) | Pinion teeth
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GT6             | 208058                | 660                     | 7
Spitfire 1-3   | 208058                | 660                     | 7
Herald 1200  | 208058                | 660                     | 7
Herald 948    | 208058                | 660                     | 6

Before I wrote this, I had only looked at the pinion teeth after reading your post so I became aware that there were two different Herald pinions but I didn't realize that they both were apparently used on the same rack shaft! Hmmm....

I am assuming from the table that all the Spitfires had the same rack because there is only one entry for them and because there is only one for the GT6 and it's production ran from '66 - '73 but the "1-3" designation baffles me.

[Certified Lotus]

BDA, what did you try and straighten? The tube or the rod or both?

[BDA]

 Just the rod.

[Roger]

I  understand that the issue with recent Triumph racks is that they can't be disassembled, so you can't get the spacer in, or change the track rods if you have an Elan.
I think some people in UK have modified Spridget racks. Someone like Spyder might be able to help.
Apparent my used, good racks are like hen's teeth nowadays.

[BDA]

There's lots of them on fleabay. Unfortunately, most seem to have been "harvested" years ago so their mileage is unknown. There are some on car-part.com that probably have better documentation. Richard will swap your rack for a rebuilt one. There are options out there.

Your used good racks... are you a potential source?

[4129R]

Alex, the article JB posted has a table that gives specific information about Triumph steering racks. The for Spitfires and Heralds  is paraphrased here (the table has more detail):

Model          | Rack shaft part # | Rack length (mm) | Pinion teeth
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GT6             | 208058                | 660                     | 7
Spitfire 1-3   | 208058                | 660                     | 7
Herald 1200  | 208058                | 660                     | 7
Herald 948    | 208058                | 660                     | 6

Before I wrote this, I had only looked at the pinion teeth after reading your post so I became aware that there were two different Herald pinions but I didn't realize that they both were apparently used on the same rack shaft! Hmmm....

I am assuming from the table that all the Spitfires had the same rack because there is only one entry for them and because there is only one for the GT6 and it's production ran from '66 - '73 but the "1-3" designation baffles me.

Thanks for that.

To change my LHD Europa racks to RHD, I have bought Triumph Herald racks for 100 or less on eBay. I then take the rack and pinion out of the Lotus rack, and put all the moving bits in the RHD casing. The casings look identical except obviously mirror images.

I wondered why there was a  6 cog pinion, and now I know why.

So I now have several LHD cases and 7 Herald racks sitting in my garage doing nothing.

[BDA]

I thought I'd update this old thread. I purchased a '78 Spitfire rack on eBay. I was pretty lucky as the seller said it had only 40,000 miles on it and I got it for about $40 delivered. It really was in good shape. I assumed that the shaft and pinion, etc. on the late Spitfires was the same as on the Europa but I hadn't been able to find anything that specified that. My previous post where I copied a table from a link JB posted listed the Spitfire Mk I - III but did not mention the Mk IV or the 1500.

I took both racks apart and found that except for the Europa spacer and tie rods, everything is interchangeable. I suspect that this will be true for even more recent Spitfire model years (I think production was ended after the '80 model year.

I haven't finished setting it up yet but I don't think I'll have any problems since other than cleaning it, re-lubing, and adding the Europa bits, it will be just as I got it. I'm even keeping the tube.

One thing that I found interesting is that the tie rods were very loose. The Europa workshop manual specifies 7 lbs resistance at the end of the tie rods. Not believing that on my first time fooling with my rack, I adjusted them very loose and found it made the car unstable - it would try to jump into the next lane on the highway! Maybe that's why this rack was available!?

I think it's been stated before that the aftermarket racks that are available are not compatible.

[4129R]

Early Triumph Herald racks have 1 less tooth in the pinions.

The Vitesse (6 cylinder), Herald (4 cylinder), Spitfire (4 cylinder) and GT6 (6 cylinder) were all very similar.

[BDA]

I meant to list the differences between the Spitfire and Europa racks. Here they are and I would assume the other similar racks would have the same differences:

The Europa tube has an extension on the passenger side.
The Europa has a spacer (didn't measure it) that goes around the rack rod on the passenger side.
The Europa sleeve nut (at the end of the rack rod) is much longer for both the driver and passenger sides.
The Europa tie rods are longer that the Spitfire's.

All those fit simply on a Spitfire rack and all the other parts of the Spitfire rack are interchangeable for a Europa application.

[dakazman]

BDA, moss motors has a selection of spitfire / triumph parts.
Dakazman