Dave, the clonk comes from moving the steering wheel slightly with the wheels on the ground. Look closely at the centre of the rack when the steering wheel is rocked very slightly, and you will see the rack moving very slightly vertically under the load. Repeat that with the wheels off the ground and there will be no clonk.
Mine is the same.
Hi DaveW, thank you for the fast reply.. Following from your post I have undertaken some more checks under the car. The clonk does indeed seem to be due to the movement (clearance) of the centre section of the rack as it starts to move/slide over the rack inner housing body... I also found that moving the cars position can reduce the clonk noise, I assume this to be caused by the steering load, which ties in with your findings that the noise goes away when the car is jacked up.
In the Quaife drawings ( If I am reading the drawings correctly ) the outer centre sliding section is called the support tube and the gaiters attach either end of it. The L plate ( where the track rods attach) is twin bolted through two sets of spacers ( Quaife call these washers), through the support tube, through the main rack body slot and thread into the rack. As you say, as the rack is moved slightly the support tube has clearance to slide over the main body, this produces the centre section felt movement and noise. Thats why, although you get a clonk there is no actual rack/pinion clearance movement fault.
It is reassuring to know that there is nothing about to fail in the rack....
I did wonder if the support tube movement is because there is slightly too much clearance between what Quaife call the internal washers ( spacers) and the racks main body slot. ( the spacers appear to be partly designed for bolt guidance between the racks main body slot and the support tube/L bracket ) .. I am basing most of these comments from reading the design drawing, so I hope I am correct. I have no hands on experience of dismantling one of these racks, which is a pity...
The car received an MOT no more than 2 weeks before this winters layup.. No fault was recorded in the cars steering system...
I am new to Morgan ownership and I am still finding my way through the cars design and operation, so the help and advice I am receiving from this forum is hugely appreciated.
Dave
