C5 X7 Steering Rack - Again!

[Paul-R]

How much did it cost you Lenny?

[Lenny]

£480 all in.
I believe that's £180 to refurb the rack and £300 labour etc.

[Lenny]

(...so that's about the same as it cost to make one of the headlights work again on a company BMW I had the misfortune of running a few years ago.)

[GiveMeABreak]

Excellent result. If you have the details, I'd like to suggest you put up a post in the recommended garages section - or PM me the details and I'll do this for you. This may be a useful resource for others Lenny.

[wheeler]

That's not a bad price but will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

[white exec]

Did they refurb your own rack, or fit a ready-refurb'd one?
Do we know how the refurb was done?

[Paul-R]

Yes, I was wondering what they have done to clean up the surface area on the shaft that gets rusty and pitted. Do they offer hard chroming if needed for instance? And what about the seal there? Do they put a second or subsidiary seal in as well?

[Lenny]

If you have the details, I'd like to suggest you put up a post in the recommended garages section

No problem, I will do.

That's not a bad price but will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Did they refurb your own rack, or fit a ready-refurb'd one?
Do we know how the refurb was done?

Yes, I was wondering what they have done to clean up the surface area on the shaft that gets rusty and pitted. Do they offer hard chroming if needed for instance? And what about the seal there? Do they put a second or subsidiary seal in as well?

I had my own rack refurbished. It was removed, cleaned, stripped, checked for wear then had the seals replaced and a new pair of boots fitted.

They are well aware of the pinion problem and cure it by removing the pinion shaft and machining the corrosion away in a lathe, painting it up to where the seal fits and then fitting a different seal with a smaller inner diameter the compensate for the machined shaft. They were a big fan copper grease for protection and coated the end where it goes into the rack.
As the new pinion shaft seal is bearing on a newly machined surface then I can't see any reason why it would last less time than if I'd splashed out thousands on a genuine Citroen rack. I'll get down in the footwell every service with my trusty waterproof grease though regardless.

They were also prepared for the pipes to be corroded under their retaining bracket but luckily mine were okay. They cleaned them up and took photos to show me their condition when I collected the car.
If the pipes had been suspect then they were prepared to cut them back, replace the first six inches or so and connect with a compression fitting. There would have been an extra £45 charge for this. Apparently they've had to do this to quite regularly.

I suppose the keen price and efficient service is mainly down to the fact that the whole job is done in house. Judging by the size of the place they must recondition thousands of steering racks, steering boxes, brake calipers etc. and it looks like they've been in business for quite a while.

[white exec]

Not keen on the use of compression fittings for these high-pressure pipes, which also have to contend with a certain amount of hydraulic pulsing. Such fittings (if with compression olives) are prohibited for use on vehicle brake systems.

As discussed here before, fitting a protective gaiter to the pinion bearing housing would have been a wise move.

[Lenny]

Not keen on the use of compression fittings for these high-pressure pipes.

As discussed here before, fitting a protective gaiter to the pinion bearing housing would have been a wise move.

I think they said it was usually the low pressure pipe that needed attention. I believe it's aluminium and corrodes where it's held by the steel retaining bracket.

I shall look into fitting a gaiter down there when the weather improves. I would have loved to fit the rack myself if it wasn't so sodding cold out there (And my garage is full of 2cv and Beetle. And the C5 is my only car from November to April. And I'm bone idle.)
If I'd fitted the rack myself then I'd have chopped that pointless cast bracket thingy off the pinion housing while I had it out to make it easier to get a gaiter in place.

[osx]

Are these part numbers for steering racks the correct one 9685708680 7832974202?

Vin VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

[wheeler]

No, it should be 9801415480 For new or 1663665380 for exchange

[osx]

Thanks. Don't think a refurbished one can be re-refurbished?

[wheeler]

Dont see why not, it depends on what is wrong with it. Just the same as one that has never been refurbished may not be repairable depending on what's wrong with it.

None of those numbers you provided appear to be valid part numbers.

[osx]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-2014-CI ... 635-2958-0

The numbers match.