Steering Rack boot......right side on a LHD v.6 Activa

[Stickyfinger]

Do not temp fate Jim.....it still may come off !

IF it does, then it is Rack-Out time.

If that is going to happen I may just bite the bullet and take it off the road for a while and remove the engine over the winter. That will give me the chance to renew all rubber lines with Poly and do all connectors with the new ones I have been working on.
I am getting a bit sick of chasing little leaks in ridiculously hard places to get to.

[CitroJim]

Fingers crossed Alasdair

[Stickyfinger]

Update: the clip and boot was slipping off !.........bugger !

So, Plan No3................................................................

The problem: .............The rack has a grove in the neck, applying a strap off the car is easy as you can tighten it so the boot is compressed into this grove...as we all know, there is NO access to do this off the car and narrow banding needs to be used to allow this to happen..... jubilee clips are normally to wide and "bridge" the groove which is why they come off.
VAG "squash" type bands cannot be tightened correctly due to the very limited access and are also to wide and also bridge the groove.
The solution (I hope it is).......................................

1.....I used 3mm TIG welding wire (annealed in a flame/no quench).

2....I folded this over on itself, squashed the folded end close together in a vice......then using a spare boot (to check roundness/size) and using short pointed pliers formed it to a circle, I cut it off about 5mm short of a full circle and rounded the ends well with a file.....I essentially fabricated double wire "circlip"....9/10th of a circle.

3....I put this over the boot (via the wheel arch) and using a hooked rod and fingers, moved it over each of the bellows until it got to the strap-end.
(I tried hard not to open it up to much and took care not to force the ends through the rubber boot...but these are very strong).

4.....The plan here was to apply this wire circlip OVER the boot "strap-collar" and set it to be above the rack groove and use the jubilee clip to compress this wire circlip into the boot/groove with the jubilee clip holding the boot and the wire circlip in the groove. This would thus be now locking the boot in place by it being now pressed down into the groove in the neck of the steering rack as it was designed to be.

...........................................................................
UPDATE. The boot/clip is still on this morning, it has not moved a single mm.......the steering was left on full lock/boot fully stretched all night.
I think (hope) this new method will allow the use of the after market rubber boots

[xantia_v6]

Well done, that will be useful in future.

Did you consider just using the wire just wrapped around and twisted to tighten?

[Stickyfinger]

That was the first thing that I considered......but I did not want any "cutting into" the rubber boot as I did not think the wire would tighten evenly (being you would have to use quite thick wire).....using thin wire would cut it for sure, eg, ss-lock wire type. Also access to get in to twist/the sharp end etc....

I did want to obtain a "push in" to the grove rather than a strong "Press hard against/squash to much" type force.

I do think a much thicker wire could also be used...........

We shall see over the next few weeks if this works on the road.

It is still on now, not moved at all....that is more than 24 hours sitting on full lock.

[CitroJim]

Good work Alasdair

[Stickyfinger]

UpDate:....boot still on

[Paul-R]

Will this be a daily report like during lock down when Covid was rife?

[bobins]

Quantum mechanics in relation to a Xantia steering rack boot........

I fear it may turn into a variation of Schrödinger's cat. You'll only be able to determine if it's still fitted by looking at it, but the process of looking at it may alter the outcome.
If you don't look at it it may be both still on and fallen off at the same time so it could be argued you have an infinite chance of success. If you look at it you'll have a 50% chance of failure.

[Paul-R]

I do love the eclecticism and erudition displayed on this web site.

[Stickyfinger]

I do love the eclecticism and erudition displayed on this web site.

Is that a line from Ghost Busters ?


Boot still On ....that is days now

[Paul-R]

Not knowingly.

[CitroJim]

And we were pleased yesterday to see it's still good

[Stickyfinger]

The "clip" method ................. iS STILL HOLDING

[CitroJim]

The "clip" method ................. iS STILL HOLDING

Excellent