MG Car Repair: steering rack, bugeye sprite, ball joints

Question
QUESTION: hello: the ball joints on the rack that I bought from Vit Brt is so tight tha  it takes great preasure to move them when off the car and on the car the wheel will not come back to center after a right or left hand turn. Are there shims in these new ones to removed? Thanks

ANSWER: Hi Ron,
The ball joint on each end of the rack should be a little tight and I can't see how they could be so tight as to stop the car from returning the wheel to center. If they are so tight that you can't move one (disconnected from the tie rod end) with one finger, then you need to return it to Victory British. If you take it apart and try to adjust it yourself you will probably void any warranty you might have. If they messed up that bad, I shore would not want to put my life in the hands of that rack as they may have messed up the rest of the rack too. Does the rack rotate right and left with ease?
Disconnect the tie rod end and grab the threaded end of the tie rod between your thumb and index finger and see if you can move the tie rod forward /back and up/down. It should not be easy but you should be able to move it full travel. If not, return it and DON'T put it on your car.
Howard

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: howard: Thank so much for getting back to me. This problem is on my 59 bugeye sprite and no, the rack will not move left and right very easy. You have to pull hard.. i put the old one back and it steered much better. Before putting the old one back on I moved it left and right by hand and it was much easyer but not able to do it with index and thumb. I am trying to find another rack and if not I see that Moss sell parts to rebuild it . Thanks again  Ron Lasita  Sarasota Fl. P.S I have had 2 rack from BV and the second one is even harder at the ball joint.You have to hold it down on a bench to move the ball joints

Answer
If the rack is not under a warranty of any kind you can easily do the repair yourself.
With the boot off look closely at the ball end and you will see that the large outer shell of the socket is a nut. Some were punched or peened at one point to lock it. Some of the older racks had a lock tab bent to lock it. You will also note that there is a second inner part that screws into the rack itself and it usually has a lock tab also. You want to unscrew the outer nut (shell) only meaning you have to hold the inner nut so it does not unscrew from the rack. With the outer shell off you will find a little plunger and spring. The plunger and spring are to keep the ball snug and not allow the little bit of free play to cause wheel shake from road conditions. Some I have done had thin shims between the outer shell and the inner nut to adjust the tension on the ball. Some had a large plunger and had shims under it to control the tension on the ball and the spring only kept additional tension on the ball. I always did my adjusting with the spring out and when I was satisfied, I put the spring back in. Be sure to grease it well as no oil comes from the rack to lube it.
I am sure I did rebuild Mk I racks in the dealerships but that was 40%+ years ago and I don't remember any of the racks I did being much different.
Let me know,
Howard