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STEERING RACK BOOTS

D dickruzzinMember
#28/ MANGUSTA STEERING RACK BOOTS, or as the French say...GAITERS.
DICK RUZZIN / 03-05-20012
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Today I installed new boots on my steering rack I had looked for about two years on the internet with no luck. I did find out, although not confirmed that, the rack is a 1966 or later rack from a Renault R 4, left hand drive with three speed trans-axle.

Finally I joined a Renault 4 Forum from France on the internet and made a request for boots. I discovered that the R 4 steering rack is a high quality unit. See my other article about rebuilding the steering shaft and housing.

Time went on, I checked once in a while, someone else with a Mangusta had been on the forum several years earlier. Finally after about six months had gone by I received an e-mail from:

MR. M J HARRISON
4 FELLOWES ROAD
HONINGHAM
NORWICH, NORFOLK
NR9 5BD
UNITED KINGDOM

http:/k2b-print.ebay.co.uk/wseBayISAPI.dll

ITEM #, 140690281055 RENAULT 4, 6, STEERING RACK GAITER KIT

(I paid 9.77 pounds for the parts and 14.20 pounds for the shipping).
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We emailed several times, he was sure the ones he had would work, and they did very well. I have installed them on my car. They are longer than the originals, I think the originals were too short resulting in premature tearing.

Mr. Harrison got them from:
QUINTON HAZELL AUTOMOTIVE LTD. SALES AND MARKETING
HAZELL WAY, BERMUDA ROAD,
NUNSEATON,
WARWICKSHIRE, CV10 7QQ,
ENGLAND
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The units are very high quality and fit perfectly
Installation was very easy, instructions, a plastic cone and plastic ties are supplied for securing them to the rack. Just pull the bolts from the Heims joints that are attached to the rack on each side, remove the old boots, install the new ones and secure with the zip ties. Done.

DICK RUZZIN
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D dickruzzinMember
That may be why no parts suppliers familiar with the R 4 that I found on the Renault Forum could identify the rack. One company wanted me to send it to them so that they could find the proper boots!

A very good authority that I respect in the UK told me that the Mangusta rack is superior to the Pantera rack in quality and that a faster gear ratio would require changing the front suspension pick-up points on the chassis, or at least the upper ball joint location, a big job.
According to Renault experts there is no faster interchangeable rack and pinion that will fit the "unknown" housing.

Early in my steering research I was told by a rack and pinion rebuild company that the rack and pinion rarely wear. That leaves ball bearings and bushings. These are easily replaced by any machinist. My rack after 59,000 miles with some fairly hefty tires with much bigger contact patches than the originals was perfect, no play that I could find at all anywhere.

An interesting thing happened when I drove my car out of the driveway for the first time after rebuilding the steering shaft, then totally without any play. As I turned left I suddenly could feel the rear end push in an ever so subtle way as I turned left. I picked it up as it was different than my previous experience.

DICK RUZZIN
N nateMember
Hi Dick, thanks a lot for the information on QH brand boots. I'd long procrastinated this for 8ma1010, not having come up with any good solutions, an ended up ordering the same parts from ebay.UK. The part # on the box recieved was QG2100 - presumeably the same as yours. One unmodified boot is visible in the photo, along w/ 2 old boots of unknown origion (they were obviously cut at both ends to fit the Goose rack). I cut a small portion from the new boots (see photo) to allow a good seal at the outboard ends of the rack (... would love to see how a stock boot fastened at that end!!). The two washers shown (1 large and 1 small) were added to the inside of the new boot so the end of the boot is securely trapped when the ends of the rack are assembled. These washers are not visible when everthing is assembled, but ALL of the threaded nut 'bulkhead' part IS. Having taken apart a few Goose racks now I know this is NOT how things were done in the factory, but it seemed like a good solution given the dimensions of the new boots.

One concern is how much the boot assemblies get compressed when the steering is at either lock position. The shorter the boot the better in this regard, but they do have to stretch out a LONG ways at opposite lock. The inboard end of QH boot turns itself inside out when compressed down, making it fit reasonably well. I did not use the cable ties at this end but I think you could with no major complications.

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D dickruzzinMember
NATE,
I think the original boots broke up because they were too short. I fooled around with mine when they arrived and came to the conclusion that the inboard end would fit fine and the outboard end is very different than the original.

I eventually decided to install them as received as the small diameter stepped end that goes outboard telescopes into the main body.
That is exactly what happens when the car is driven, the two stepped ends have telescoped inside themselves but start to extend at full turn. That means that there is no stress on the boot as it is never fully extended, it just barely starts to extend out, never to the full length.
I zip tied the inboard end and let the other on the tie-rod end alone as it is very tight.
I have driven the car over a hundred miles since installation and everything is fine.
DICK RUZZIN
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