V40 2003 Steering Rack Gaitor
 

Hello people, the old girl failed her MOT last week, my fault really, I should have checked her over more carefully. The garage went to great lengths to tell me that I had a leak on the power steering that had filled the gaitor with fluid which had then given up under pressure and split...

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Hmm.. not sure about that really, I have had the car from new and I bought some fluid about 10 years ago and put a drop in every 6 months or so, the dipstick hardly ever changes, but as I have replaced every other gaiter its not surprising this one was worn out too, just because of its age more than anything else. I took the old gaitor off ran the engine and turned the steering wheel lock to lock several times, there is no leak, but a miniscule amount of fluid must be getting past the oil seal I suppose in 15 years it could amount to a fair bit in the gaitor, but I really don't think it's that significant to warrant further investigation at the moment.

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Anyway, the reason for this post is not to tell you how to replace the gaitor, that's very straight forward, just remove the track-rod end, and slide the old one off, the problem is how to get the new one on, it slides easily on to the tie rod, but how to get the new gaitor on to the body of the rack is a real pain in the ass... You only have access from under the bonnet, and even then only with one hand, there is just no possible way to get the thing on..

But actually, its really easy if you follow this procedure.. First sit down and eat plenty of ice cream, I chose Carte D'or vanilla.. Seriously though all you really need is the lid.. Cut the lip off and you end up with a piece of plastic of just the right thickness to be flexible enough to roll up into a tube,

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Put your newly created plastic tube inside the new gaitor so that about an inch or so of the plastic is still visible.. move it about a bit so that this visible piece of plastic is flared out slightly at the visible end. You will need a bit of lubrication, I used rubber lube.. (no, not that kind of rubber lube) this one is made by Lockheed and is for use in the rubber components of braking systems, whatever you use it must be the type that does not damage rubber.

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Slide the gaitor on to the tie rod and up to the rack body making sure that the visible piece of ice cream tub has gone over the lip......Now slide the gaitor right over and on to the rack body ensuring that the plastic tube doesn't disappear, it will easily slide over with only a little effort. From under the car using a pair of pliers grip the plastic tube and pull it out leaving the gaitor in place on the rack body..

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Job done..I hope this helps somebody and gives you the confidence to tackle this particular job..

Cheers for posting, this'll be really handy for me as my recently acquired t4 has one gone, massive tear in it, I had a right old battle on my hands changing one on the other V40 I've just sold back in may for the MOT, made even tougher because I had the flu at the time, although luckily for me they only sold them in pairs so I have a spare one.

Hah - I was stuck doing the same job over the weekend too! I had previously tried your trick last time I had to replace the same part but I could not find a container with just the right amount of flex and thin-ness. Instead I resorted to putting the gator in a small bowl of very hot water prior to pushing on. Not a pleasant job but I eventually got it to come on with the help of a right angle pick. I like your technique a lot better! Thank you for posting.

PS - I don't buy your garage's diagnosis. Mine was also ripped to shreds same as in your pics. I'm betting the gator was simply filled with dirty water. You'd know it if your seals went as I think the ps performance would suffer.

I personally would use a small 500ml coke bottle with the cap threads cut off and also cut the base out of the bottle then put a slice right down the middle

I tried all sorts of different plastic bits, from bottles to aerosol caps and a lot in between, the plastic Carte D'or ice-cream tub lid is just perfect, flexible and smooth, and cutting out an oval shape seems to work better than anything with corners..

It's a very timely tip, I'm dropping the subframe on my v40 to sort the arb bushes out and discovered that the bellows piece is done for on mine.
When I did it on my audi I used the hot water technique which worked well but now I have two aces to play as it were.

A good guide :thumbs_up: The forum at its best. Owners sharing their own workarounds that make a difficult job so much easier.

Thanks for the tip, modified it somewhat, I don't like Ice cream but fished a used Lucozade 1 litre bottle from the bin, cut the screw top off cut it off at the taper where it meets the parallel section then split it.
Did the job too well, had to pull the gaiter off to grip the plastic with the pliers but it took all of 10 minutes including finding the bottle, cutting it and pushing the warmed up gaiter on.

Dear Clan Fusion, thanks for the great method with the right rubber grease.

My S40 has a heat shield on one side which seems to be attached to the rack.
How did you get around that one - since it obscures the clip on the boot.?

Hi the produre i carried out to replade the CV steering rack boot was to get the new boot. Cut down the middle and wrap the new boot around the shaft then glue it togrther with super glue. Then put cable ties at both ends