Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing 2016 Roadster steering clonk..

Over the last weeks I have been working through our Roadster. I have noticed that when the steering wheel is moved there is a quite an audible "clonk" from the front of the car. The steering has no play in it when the steering wheel is rocked., but there is a clunk noise when lightly rocking the steering wheel back and forth..

Today the wife rocked the cars steering wheel back and forth a few inchs per dirn, while I listened under the car and felt for the cause of the noise. There is no play to be seen in the wheel/hub/kingpin areas or in the track rod ends. However the clonk is located and movement can be felt by hand in the centre section of the rack and pinion rack at the point where the track rod and the L shaped plate attaches to the rack itself. By placing my hand on this area of the rack I can feel the movement and hear the clonk at the same time..

I checked on the GoMog site, for any known issues and following from this I have checked both the L plate that connects between track rods and the rack for fractures and I have also checked for loose bolts, all seem ok. I also checked the two clamps that hold the rack in place, all are ok and tight. I am assuming that as the car is 2016 the rack/pinion is of the Quaife design. I am also assuming that as there is no play at the steering wheel the cause of the noise and felt movement is not the adjustment of the rack/pinion??.

So my question is... Is this "clonk" noise common to Roadster/Classic Morgan's from the rack and pinion, or is there an issue.. The car has covered 9K miles, so not a lot of miles.

Advice please..

Dave

Long shot as you can feel it on rack but the self cancelling indicator mechanism can make an audible clunk. If you have a Moto-Lita steering wheel the boss design makes this clunk considerably louder.

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.

Doesn’t that perhaps suggest wear thus insufficient meshing between the rack teeth and those of the pinion perhaps? Cannot remember without going out to the garage to look at my rack but usually on racks in general there is a shimmed adjustment which bears on a pad that in turn bears on the smooth side of the rack to preload the engagement between it and the pinion.

I've tightened my adjuster, but it's the same. It seems to be caused by rotation of the rack against the pinion. There's no play.

I did a How To on this subject (rack adjustment) about five years ago, which I can't find but I do have the images.

The first couple are the "after" images. "Before" is the last image so you can compare how much the adjuster was turned in.

It can be done in situ. Easier without over rider brackets. Restarting the thread is mission impossible against a strong spring.

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

Could there be slight wear in the UJs on the shaft from the wheel to the rack?
Are the connector pieces nuts tight and is the shaft bolted securely to the bulkhead?

At the MoT Dave, the steering is checked on swivels, so you don't get the static load you are getting at home.

SimonH uses aluminium pads with grease between, and I'm seriously thinking about getting some for the garage.

Newspapers under the wheels work to reduce the load on the steering for test purposes- and are free and to hand.