steering rack bolt size
 

Hi all
I have a mk 2 escort rack which had the usual spline shaft coupler attached to it I placed a 8mm bolt through it to clamp it up. Looking at it I thought this would be ok as the rack has a dent in the shaft so you psyically have to take the bolt out for the shaft to part from the coupling. Have covered about 150 miles I checked the car over and found the shaft was actually loose and with a bit of a tug the coupling popped off the shaft on the rack :eek:
But the bolt was still tight
So have I got a dodgy rack / coupling or is an 8mm bolt wrong and I need to use a 3/8 or similar bolt
Hope this makes sense lol cheers

I assume you have a rally design Group 4 Forged coupling on there? The bolt hole is in the wrong place on them it seems. I opened the hole up a touch and then welded M8 washers on the sides so that the bolt would be in the spline grove when installed.

I also squeezed it in a vice a little so that it was a tighter fit on the splines.

Cheers
Stot

Cheers stot
yes i have a grp 4 coupling i will have a go at what you suggested. Bit difficult to explain but my rack has a splined section then a resessed area then another splined section i presumed the ressesed section was for the 8mm bolt to go through the coupling so it could never pop off the rack even if the bolt became loose. mine does though :eek:
i may have to weld the holes up and re drill the holes so it works as it should