Mark V play in Power Steering rack

[rickster991]

I decided to look into the steering play I have. I was hoping it would go away with the alignment but it didn’t. Driving on Florida’s straight roads it’s manageable, but once I drove it in NC it removes all confidence on winding roads. I thought the play was coming from all the steering column joints, but it’s not. It seems like the play is coming from the rack itself. I uploaded a video showing the play on the rack.


https://youtu.be/rKOR2XXIWW4

I read some posts about adjusting the preload on the rack to remove play. It looks like you loosen the lock nut on the rack and tighten the preload. I think this is the adjustment nut.

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Do you agree? If it is, there is no room to do it! And it seems like the lines are in the way. Anyone have experience with this? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[Blitzboy54]

Both my Cobras at some point had steering play. Both were the set nuts in the steering column had come ever so slightly loose somewhere with the heat cycles. If you turn the wheel even a touch and the shaft doesn't turn with it there is something loose in the linkage.

[rickster991]

Update: After speaking with FFR support, they agreed that the play is in the rack and that I should watch videos on how to adjust it. They said the shafts should come from the manufacturer without play. I guess I got unlucky. It involves loosening the jam nut, tightening the inner bolt until it’s tight and then backing it out. The wheel should turn freely and the ultimate test is that during turns the wheel should return to straight without issue. The first step was to figure out how to tighten the inner bolt. Turns out it is a 17mm hex. I just happened to have a bolt/nut combo that fit perfectly.

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Loosening the outer nut required channel locks. It was quite the task to get it loose as there are lines in the way. All the videos I saw had the outer nut coming off easily from the inner. That was not the case. They are bound together pretty tightly. So I needed to loosen both enough so that I could hold the outer nut with the channel locks while tightening the inner nut so that I could increase the preload. Step one was to loosen it enough so that I could get the inner nut to bottom out. It was then multiple attempts to get it to increase the preload, not bind, and tighten down snugly. After a couple of hours and lots of swearing it’s done! I drove it in the field and most of the play is gone and it turned freely and returned to center. There is a little play left, but that is in the shaft knuckles. Next will be trying it on windy roads.