Hi everyone,
I was driving the mini around to work the other day and the wheel felt like it had a lot of play in it, and made a clicking sound at full lock. I tried tightening everything and it didnt work. So unbolted the column and the splines that connect to the rack are knackered. Can anyone tell me how i could fix this, either replace or the best solution i could think of was a high tensile bolt through the splines of the column and rack. Has anyone got any ideas about which way to go?

Cheers,
Joe

Joe...you need to be extremely careful in this area...I would suggest you get a Mini savvy person to have a look at it and get it safe enough to slowly drive to a Mini repairer for corrective action.

If you don't do the right thing to correct this problem it could result in total loss of steering with tragic consquences for you and anyone else in the car.

The clicking may be a seperate problem with your CV joints and hubs.

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"Show me the Mini!"

You need to replace it.

The main reason this happens is because a lowering kit has been fitted and the column lowered without the steering rack being rotated to suit the angle of the column.

To rotate the rack you need to loosen the u-bolts that hold it to the floor and you should just be able to turn it to change the angle at which it enters the cabin.

Ryan

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Ryan Filippi
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

Thanks for the quick replies,
The CVs i think are the originals, so 40+ years old. Im replacing those and the wheel bearings when i upgrade to disc brakes very soon.

Ive taken the car off the road until its fixed, its not worth losing control in a mini with the roads as they are.

Cheers, Joe

Ry...thats only one thing that can cause problems...the main thing is 30-40 year old columns, splines, racks and tie rod ends

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"Show me the Mini!"

I exchanged mine through either Mini Car Clinic, Mini Kingdom or Mini Spares??? I cant remember who it was, it was quite a few years ago now. The exchange colum had a brand new spline section fitted to it.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras