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Steering rack adjustment???

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paulsherman

Jedi Trainee
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After 9 years of finding most of my parts, I finally assembled and installed the steering rack, replaced everything including tie rod ends, I find that my front wheels (both of them) are a bit out of adjustment. Both tend to face outboard as if both are making a turn in opposite directions. I replace the tie rod ends and screwed them both all the way in and secured the jam nut. My thinking is that they both need to be shorter, but there is no more threads available to shorten them. Just read the factory manual, and still confused, but very tired also. I will revisit this in the morning. Any suggestions?

Thank you
 
It may well be the steering arms, I would bet dollars to a donut that you have assembled the trunnions on backwards.
Don't feel bad, as all sprite/midget so-called mechanics have to do this at least once.
My buddy Peter and I were assembling the "race car BE". He was doing one side and I was doing the other.
When we both got done, we stepped back to admire our work, and both front tires were pointed outward. We had both made the same mistake!
On the Trunnion, the hole for the upper fulcrum pin faces the outside of the car. My page 42 on the moss catalog shows it well.
Good luck, now you are an official sprite/midget so-called mechanic, just like Peter and me.
Scott in CA
 
Typically 15 1/2 threads is the starting point for alignment. Yes if both tires are leaning out you've got the truions backwards. BTDT twice on the same car at different times. I give myself the Dumb A__ Award on a regular basis when I do stuff like that.
 
The Moss tie rod ends I bought recently came with a note that they were longer than some of the originals. I'm not where I can get to the parts, but I remember it to be something like 1/4 inch. In some cases Moss said this would be a problem. Moss' solution is to have you cut the tie rod end shorter making sure the end is square.

I did compare the Moss ends to my originals from my 1960 bugeye, and they are in fact longer. It was also apparent there wouldn't be enough thread on the rack ends to bring the front into alignment. If you have new tie rod ends this could be your problem.

Jim
 
I was also thinking that the tie rods may be different. They are new and they did come from Moss. I will compare to the old ones, then check the steering arms to see if I have them swapped out to the wrong side. I learned of the trunions being ass backwards last week. But I must give some attention to my yard today:( or I will be run out of the neighborhood.
 
Found the answer, but not the new parts yet. Probably today. Wrong tie rod ends were packaged with wrong part numbers. These parts are about 1/4" longer than the old ones.
 
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