Weeks later and after a decent drive to Suikerbossie hill (sugarbush) and back, plus a Shell filling station for petrol, I do another visual and the fix holds and with no leaks of hypoid oil that I can see.
Works for me!
Two weeks later and I have just done a visual check to see if this idea has done the job?
There was an oil drip on the repair end, re tightening the screw clamp should have fixed that, it also prooves that the single rubber cap end on the other side of the steering rack was enough oil to work to the far end of the rack. I have since put another end cap of Shell Sprirax SAE 80W-90 heavy duty gear oil into the rack. With the low milage I tend to do in this car we should be ok for the time being?
The original story starts below:
These are very long lasting, the one on our 1967 Singer Chamois may be the original, if not its at least twenty years old and from the rebuild I did back then.
I had seen that the gaiter had come free of the bellows section on the right hand side, oil had gone and the free end would allow sand and dirt to enter if not fixed.
Seen here I have done a stop gap repair.
A new rubber gaiter is GBP30 by the time I get it here I expect that to be GBP50 with postage, duty and vat, more maybe?
In this case it was the very end that had come free.
The steering rack gaiter on the Singer had split right around where the right hand clip is.
A new one will be 50 quid by the time it gets here, plus its a big job to remove and refit the
entire rack.
This was last refitted twenty years back? I dont remember fitting a new one, if its the original
its now 47 years old and has done 99,300 miles or so.
The trick was to remove the old clip and what was now a rubber band underneath it, then with
a new clip and sliding the gaiter alone 3/8" re fasten it, as you can see its ok, will it work and
for how long?
Not all oil had gone from the gear end, so no damage was done, I took the rubber end cap off and
filled it with Hypoid oil, popped it back on and tightened the clip quickly, seems good.
With luck this will save someone out there some time and money?
Note the disc brake, working better and better now as the pads bed in.
Roy
