Steering Rack

[kevincprice]

Hi Guys

My car failed MOT on inner track rod end, after the shock of being told it needed a new steering rack at £1100 plus vat plus fitting,I found that the steering was by Adwest and fitted to Jaguar XJ and Land Rover.

Part is available from http://www.paddockspares.com/shop/pages ... eering.htm

at a cost of £3.49 !!!!!!

hope this helps

regards kevin

[F1 LOTUS]

Sounds like a great find, but I'd be surprised if the valving is the same as the Elan? Lotus apparently fine-tuned the valving and feel from the SE when they produced the S2's in the mid 90's. I hope it works for you though

[kevincprice]

hi

no change required to steering rack, only replacing the rod end and ball joint

[John_W]

Kevin,
a useful bit of info. Thanks.

For clarity, can you confirm that you bought:
RTC5869 Track rod end - RH thread (replacement) 3.49
RTC5870 Track rod end - LH thread (replacement) 3.49

Any reason to expect these wouldn't fit as well?
RTC5869G Track rod end - RH thread (Lemforder - O.E.M.) 6.50
RTC5870G Track rod end - LH thread (Lemforder - O.E.M.) 6.50

http://www.paddockspares.com/shop/pages ... eering.htm

John

[Sy V]

I'm pleased Kevin has had some success here, and I'm glad that the Jaguar theory holds up.
Many months ago, I was speaking to some of the West Mids guys and someone said that they'd had a refurbed Jaguar rack (or parts thereof) fitted - Phil Sloper?
Anyway, it's nice to see that there was at least some similarity.

[F1 LOTUS]

hi

no change required to steering rack, only replacing the rod end and ball joint

Doh!
I 'locked-on' to the Adwest mention and overlooked the part you needed to replace
Good find, and thanks for sharing!

[Dico]

At that price theyre worth purchasing as spares,
John, order two for me when (if) you place you order

[Dico]

Bump -
New link

http://www.paddockspares.com/sp/categor ... neous.html

Kevin never confirmed these are the ones he fitted, though at that price its worth a shot.

[Camalot]

The Lotus parts manual list the same part number for manual, power assisted, LHD or RHD cars. It also lists the same part number for left and right sides. The part number is A100H6024S TRACK ROD END, so unless Lotus only sells in pairs, how can you list two different Land Rover part numbers? Has anyone verified these parts ? In the USA, I can't find for under £16. I could get them shipped from your suggested site, but I'd like to be sure before I wait that long to get them and find them wrong. See http://www.charliex.net/Lotus/steering/ for part #s and pics.

[Camalot]

If you look at http://www.charliex.net/Lotus/steering/ and select page239[1].tiff you will see a picture of the the track rod end labeled 23. Page 240 calls this an outer ball joint. But SJ Sports and others use the same part number and call it a track rod end. In either case the part number is A100H6024S. The steering rack is the male end and the track rod is the female end. I acquired the Lemforder RTC5869 per the suggestion. The tie rod is the male end and is a much larger diameter than the existing steering rack. I should have noticed this myself looking at the Lotus Parts catalog above and the Land Rover site picture of its part, http://www.inlandrovers.com/ProductDeta ... de=RTC5870

If anyone else has a cross reference it would be appreciated.

[donsladek]

Camalot,

Welcome to LEC! Glad to have another US Midwestern M100.

Have you tried Dave Bean for the track rod end? They have the stock of older Lotus parts in the US. Probably won't be cheap, but they should have this part available.

Dave Bean

Don Sladek

[Camalot]

Don, Thanks for the welcome. I have had my Elan since 5/5/95 or over 12 years now. I have been a member of Lotus Corps that whole time as well. I've written a few do it yourself repair articles.

I have done numerous repairs and am aware of Dave Bean and SJ Sportscar. I like to maintain a cross reference list and find parts much cheaper if possible. I believe both of them have the part in stock. But Lotus UK doesn't so we'll need xref eventually.

I took my car to the Lotus dealer and they said I needed a tie rod. I took it apart to replace it. Found out wrong part and didn't need one on the passenger side. Might need driver side or steering rack. Anyway I pursued the Jaguar comment and the 1982-1994 Jaguar XJS looks promissing. For one thing the part# for left and right is the same like Lotus. It looks the same as well. If the other side needs replacing I will try one of these. If its not right I will go to Dave Bean.

As for the steering rack, I got the impression from a few posts that Adwest made a custom rack for the M100. Anybody ever get details on that or feedback on rebuild and which kit to use?

Don Z

[GeoffSmith]

Don,

Welcome to LEC.

A recent addition to LEC is the trial of a Wiki style knowledge base - WikiLEC. As you already have some write-ups that would likely benefit the community, would you be interested in adding them or providing copies for us to add at some later date?

Geoff

[Camalot]

I looked at your Wiki and your stuff is of a serious nature, purely technical. Our newsletter is a funny thing happened on the way back from the track event, something broke and all the fun to find and fix. I will edit to technical info and provide for posting.

I have an article on repairing headlight lift motors $20 kit or sourcing alternatives and how to install. Also have article on replacing horn buttons vs whole wheel. I plan on writing one on rebuilding window lifts, but haven't written it yet. I would also like to combine all my xref data into one spreadsheet its now in 3 xls and several word docs.

But right now I'm trying to get my car back on the road.

Still interested if anyone successfully found track/tie rods or steering racks w/ non-Lotus part numbers/ suppliers.

[algirdas]

Dear Camalot:

Welcome to LEC! I was in Lotus Corps many, many, many years ago. Suffice it to say that it was LONG before 1995. Back then I was a Cicero boy (bang, bang). Lotus Corps is a great club.

Look forward to reading your articles.

Sincerely,

Algirdas

[Camalot]

I couldn't log on to Wiki w/ this LID/PWD. So I just posted here as 2 new threads.

I'm working on my xref.xls You know Lotus Part # = somebody elses actual part # and source vehicle w/ prices and web links. Will the Wiki allow me to replace / update it once its posted? It was posted to Yahoo Groups Lotus Elan years ago, but I've updated since.

[GeoffSmith]

Don,

The Wiki is separate from LEC at the moment so you need to open a new account. I've downloaded your write ups and will get them put posted as soon as I can.

Geoff