Steering Rack Alignment Check

I’ve always wondered whether the steering column had been properly aligned when the previous owner had his local garage (not MG specialists) fit the power steering that he has bought. If it had not been aligned properly it can stress the rack and cause premature failure. So when the rack with its fixing bolts were now fully exposed it seemed a good idea to check.

After slackening the fixing bolts I can check that the rack is sitting flat onto the support brackets. There should be shims like the MGB to fill any gaps …… which there weren’t. There was a 20 thou gap. This would represent a 5mm out of alignment step at the universal joint where the rack joins the steering column!!

I made a shim from a sheet of steel the correct thickness and placed it under the rack and resecured the bolts.