With the youngest 6-cyl E-type now being in excess of 50 years old, a little wear in the steering rack can be forgiven. A change of gaiters or track rod ends are both easy DIY tasks but anything beyond this will usually require replacement parts and no small measure of experience to set up.
We assume that you have removed the rack from the car and separated the ends from the track rods. With the rack body supported in a vice, the gaiters can be detached by releasing the clips or cutting the securing lockwire . The tie rods can then be removed using two spanners (1 5/16”AF): hold the locknut, and unscrew the ball housing, no need to release the lock tab as this is. To release the pinion shaft, the three ½”AF nyloc nuts are undone , this allows the top O-ring seal housing and mounting plate to be removed. A sharp upward pull on the splined section will extract the pinion with its securing thrust plate . The rack bar can now be slid out of the housing . On the reverse of the pinion housing, circlip pliers are required to extract the clip which retains the dished retainer plate , this in turn holding the adjustment shims, Belleville washer, spring and thrust pad . Once fully dismantled, all components are cleaned for detailed appraisal.
