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Re Ford Puma steering falure after MOT.

A track rod had parted company with the rack. It would appear that this was due to having both track rods recently replaced by an incompetent mechanic. Not the same garage I hasten to add. The track rod that 'fell off' had unscrewed completely, and the one on the other side was loose and ready to do the same.

IME the threaded housings for the ball joints are usually locked to the end of the rack either by staking, or some other method, to ensure they can't easily come undone. Obviously the mechanic who fitted these ones, can't have followed the recommended procedure for their replacement.

In any case, seeing as these joints are concealed by the rack boots, I don't think the MOT guy can be blamed for failing to notice they were loose during his inspection.

The story goes, that when the owner, (a young female) bought the car, it had o/s wheels fitted. Shortly after buying it, she took the car to a garage to have the steering and tracking checked as it had a tendency to wander. She was told that both track rods were bent, which had been caused by the fitting of the o/s wheels? On their advice, they replaced both track rods, and fitted the original std wheels.

Recently the wander had returned. It was on it's way from the MOT bay to the w/s next door to have the tracking checked again when the steering failed. . The garage reckoned she was very lucky young girl, in that it failed at the garage, and not while she was driving it on the road. That type of failure at any sort of speed doesn't bear thinking about. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G
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Surely they'd replace the whole rack, not just the track rods?

All sounds a bit odd to me, and a reminder why I do my own work whenever possible.

Reply to
Stuffed

If the rack is OK, it's quite acceptable to replace the track rods on their own. And if it is OK, there's the question of cost. I suspect you'd get little change, if any, out of £200 to replace the rack complete with t/rods. Whereas £50 might cover the cost of replacing the t/rods alone.

I had a brake master cylinder replaced by a garage once. The flange was only attached by one nut, instead of two. A hard push on the brakes, and the flange would have broken, and the m/cylinder would have disappeared into the engine bay, leaving me with nothing but the h/brake. Luckily I spotted the nut was missing before that happened. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

I disagree. If the steering was prone to wander, then there should have been massive play evident in the rack, and that in itself would be a failure.

I've had fairly minor play questioned on MOTs, and just feeling any form of play in my pre-MOT checks leads me to investigate which ball joint is at fault (I have Minis, the swivel pin ball joint is a regular!). I replaced both track rod ends this time round because I felt slight play.

MOT testers _are_ fallible - mine put down as a fail point that the inner wings needed welding. When I examined where he had marked he was implying that the Mini's inner wings should be welded to the subframe! However he didn't argue when I pointed out that they are never welded there.

Reply to
Chris Bolus

The steering could've been prone to wander 'cos the tracking was way out.

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

Prezactly. Give that man a coconut. :-) The track rod that fell off, must have unscrewed itself to the point where it was only just hanging on. This wouldn't necessarily have resulted in excessive play, but it would certainly have put the tracking well out. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Mike G ( snipped-for-privacy@lycos.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Depends how far IN the other track rod was wound, surely...?

Reply to
Adrian

Not really. Think of the steering rack with it's 2 track rods, simply as one continuous link between both track arms. The length of that link governs the tracking. Any alteration of that length, (in this case by the unscrewing of a ball joint) throws the tracking out. An increase which in most cases, would result in excessive toe-in. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Mike G ( snipped-for-privacy@lycos.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Turn the right hand TRE five turns out. Now turn the left hand TRE five turns in.

The tracking's still right. The rack's way off, but the tracking's still right.

Go and have a look at KwikFit any day of the week for a fine demonstration of how tracking is changed on the side nearer the spotty oik only.

The only question remaining is "Will the unwound one fall off before the inwound (is that a word?) one reaches the end of the threads?"

Reply to
Adrian

You haven't really been following this thread have you? I suggest you read my OP. It makes it perfectly clear that it was an inner ball joint that 'fell off' the end of the rack. These joints are normally locked onto the end of the rack and are not supposed to unscrew unless the track rods are being replaced. You are referring to the ball joints attached to the track arm. The ones that *are* supposed to be adjustable for tracking purposes. I also went on to say that the joints are normally concealed by the rack boots which should have given you another clue Given the above, I think I gave a perfectly sensible reply to your question. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

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