Took my car for an MOT a couple of weeks ago and it failed on a few small bits, one of which was the fact that there was play in the steering rack on the passenger side.

I've taken the rack off, which I think is Cortina. The drivers side is tight, the passenger side does indeed have a mm or two of play when you push the shaft towards the rack. I presume this is due to the tie rod, which I have removed from the rack. I've attached a diagram of what it now looks like and I can't work out what's exactly wrong.
The tie rod physically won't screw further onto the rack unless I become Jeff Capes, yet there's a still a bit of play there. It's almost as though the spring behind the plastic 'cup' (see diagram) isn't stiff enough?

I'm concerned that if I buy a new tie rod, the same thing will be present.

Help would be great!

I'd suspect it's just wear on the ball and/or cup. Probably the only option is replace it.

I thought wear and tear too, but the ball fits perfectly in the cup. The slack is only present when it's all bolted back together? I'll look into ordering a new one tomorrow.
Thanks very much

I had exactly that a few weeks back on my mot. Tragically, I can't remember what caused it or what we did to fix it! I had a spare rack, and we took both apart. I suspect we just reassembled with the spare arm.

I'm tempted to try and screw it onto the rack a tiny bit more to out a bit more tension on the spring, but is it the spring that takes up the slack by itself?

put a washer behind the spring for more tension

You can shim it but it won't be a longterm solution..

That is the Can Gears rack Kiley Clinton make replacement tie-rods for the Escort mk2 version which istr are the same length

[Edited on 9/11/14 by britishtrident]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll maybe try another washer first to shim it out a bit and get it through the MOT and then give Kiley Clinton a call to arrange a new one

Sadly, this seems a technical discussion about steering gear. I was expecting something else...

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Originally posted by Xtreme Kermit
Sadly, this seems a technical discussion about steering gear. I was expecting something else...

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