Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Home made steering gaiter

Hi Heinz

Thank you a good tip, tried it out and it works well.


Regards Zach

Hi Heinz

Thank you a good tip, tried it out and it works well.


Regards Zach

.
Brilliant Heinz

Hi Zach,

We need more like you!

The Jack Knight gaiter is flimsy. and priced predatorially. Frankly, they were so when they cost 27 quid. They gaiter system shouldbe changed as Quaife did when they began supplying their R&P to Morgan in 2007. They likely spotted the J&K problem at a glance. I was going to do the same as you 10 years ago. I still have the new aftermarket gaiters I bought in spares. But I figured out the J&K systems and became lazy after they stopped splitting for decades, not months. Incidentally, I have been told these gaiters were made by silicone coating a form many times...cheapest method possible. But their cheap material is not the cause they split.

First point is that these gaiters, J&K or Quaife are not made to be pressure or liquid proof. They are there to keep fine road debris from sticking to the oily pinion. (duh)

Second point is that very few materials, rubber, neoprene and especially this cheap silicone stuff can stand being squeezed to high torque, which is exactly what we do when we install the plate go pop-eyed installing the two bolts that attach the tie-rod plate to the steering rack. If you look at these J&K spacers that slot into the rack's pinion carefully you will see that their outer side has a machined raised circlet around the bolt holes. This keeps the plate and spacer proud of the gaiter and prevents squeezing the gaiter material, allowing movement and preventing splitting and tearioing. 3 We must place the gaiter holes over these circlets and use washers that are NO LARGER than the holes. Your washer marks give you away. They held the gaiter immoveable and it ripped. Did you also reve tough a dim memory tells me I ran across o=it one. They show the R&P spacers but not the little raised criclet. The Quaife and your system avoids all that..Andre Koopman, Morganwerkstatt (Germany) sells one very much like yours.

Well done. I will be doing it.

May I post it to gomog with a link to this thread?

gmg

Heinz

Thank you!

Your info makes TM much more usable!

Hi GoMog

Thank you for your compliment. You are welcome to post the link.

I was aware of the machined raised circle around the bolt holes at the time I fitted the Morgan gaiter. I measured how far the raised circle protruded above the large diameter face. It was 1.49mm. Now I don't know if I got a particularly bad one but the gaiter at this point was around 2.5mm thick, so it was not possible to tighten the bolts without squeezing the gaiter see photos. If you look at the photos of the gaiters in the previous post you can see that the rip did not propagate from the holes. The gaiter seems to fracture where it is pressed up against the bracket on full lock. The only thing I could do was to make sure the gaiter holes aligned properly with the raised circles on the spacers. This is the reason I didn't expect it to last long and set about making my own. I did expect it to last more than a year though !!

I am currently putting together a document containing sketch dimension drawings, photos to show how I went about it and materials sources for B3MOG. If you would like a copy when its finished I will be glad to oblige. I am a retired electronics engineer not a mechanical engineer so I am sure there are people out there that could do a better job than me.

I would love the drawings! I shall post them prominently with proper attribution. Fastest way to inform the Morgan world. Must be over 8000
JKs on the road. I get constant complaints exactly as yours.

BTW, you would be wrong to assume there is constant coordinated design thread and lore on Pickersleigh Road. Reasons for doing things
and their effect get forgotten. The acumen of MMC designers and parts buyers varies. In today's world mid-management no longer comes
from the hands-on ranks. The consequences of less-than-common sense designs, whether inhouse or outsourced, can and have cost
millions. The responsibility ultimately rests with the design arm.

gmg

Hi GMG
I am working on this document as we speak. I will be delighted if you could pass this onto the Morgan World. Just one thing, have a look at it before you do and make sure I am not going to embarrass myself. I am, after all, an electronics engineer not a mechanical engineer. Will be in touch by private messaging when it is ready.

Regards ZACH

No problem. I will examine it with others as I try to do with all gomog postings. I have help. Astoundingly, after 30 years
and 4000 pages gomog has never excited a claim..though corrections, suggestions, contribitions and improvements are
constant.

Electronics engineers can be as automotively gifted as anyone. Good trad mechanics is not rocket science. Anyone can
manage it. I think you have in this instance. Both JK and the wonderful Andre Koopmann sold the same thing and Quaife
adopted it at first glance. The raised circlet to prevent gaiter destruction was/is silly. I went through 3-4..(though in those
days they cost 27 quid.) (who has NO formal training in automotive magic but knows a good thing when he sees it)

L.

P.S. BTW, The reason people so often pop the end cone gaiters is that they push them on too far onto the rack, a point to
be aware of. The first time they turn the steering wheel to its limit, they break the cone's end. Guess how I know this.

Hi GMG

Just a quick progress report. I have finished the document with drawings and pictures but I need to read it through a few times to make sure as best I can that it all makes sense. Do you know if there is a way of attaching a file i.e. the document to a private message like you can with an e-mail ?

Zach