There has been some discussion over the past few months about 'new' steering racks. I have to say that I did look at some old UK racks many years ago and thought that the Oz racks were way better, so I have had no experience with them as I have only ever reconditioned the Ozzy Rack. This is an exract from the 'Donkey News';-

Not so new Steering Racks

Recently the subject of broken steering racks came up on The Moke Forum and while trying to help the person out it became apparent that number of faulty new steering racks in recent years has been a lot higher than I was aware of. The racks started being available out here around 2006 up until recently and their life span can be measured in a few months to a few years. The problem seems to be they run dry of the oil and then the bearing collapses and causes the pinion to jump over the teeth in the rack which results in erratic or no steering. There are good racks available now, but if you have had a steering rack replaced in the past 3-4 years, it might pay to have it checked out by a reputable mini specialist. The racks of questionable quality are black with a white part number sticker on the right side of the main tube and is usually visible from under the Moke.


If you want to know what will last and what won't in the area of steering components, driveshafts, Wheel Bearing, hubs and diffs for a Mini, look first at how they last in a Big Wheel Moke. The size and to some degree the weight of the big wheels does load these components considerably more than on a Mini......

I don't know if the `newer' ones are any batter. maxi23 only got a month out of his recently, and it was bought from a place in Oz that advertises "the latest racks made with new tooling are much better".

I would have sent the bastard back...

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

That kind of life span is criminal. Yes he should have sent it back, for a refund. Do you know if it was one of the so called 'latest' racks?