Steering rack boot clips

[RedGus]

Morning all,

I was just finishing off putting my steering rack back together last night, and the last things to go back on were the clips for the rubber boots. I'm using the genuine clips that came in the pack with the very high quality Lemforder boots from Brickwerks. The small end clips went on fine but, as hard as I try, I can't get the larger ones (at the rack body itself) to get anywhere near fitting. My understanding is that all the hooks should engage with their respective holes easily by hand, then you just crimp up the collapsing section to pull them tight. I struggled so much to even get the two ends of the clip together, then I even tried the clip around just the end of the rack, with no boot in place. Like this:



As you can see, it's not even going to come close to fitting on the bare rack, so no hope at all of fitting once the boot is in there as well.

Has anyone else had this problem recently? I presume I need clips that are quite a lot bigger, but these are the ones that were sealed in the pack with the boots from Lemforder, and both sets were the same.

Oh, and out of interest, there were no clips on the original VW boots at all, and ETKA doesn't show them either. Did VW just fit the boots without any clips at all?

Cheers,

James

[RedGus]

Anyone had any experience of this problem? I'd love to hear if anyone else's clips didn't fit, or if I've just had a bad batch, before I get in touch with Brickwerks to see what they think.

Cheers,

James

[pirate-pete]

I replaced a trackrod recently and there were no clips on mine and they seemed secure enough. Boots were VW original and in great condition so saw no point in me replacing them.

[Ian Hulley]

They are usually more than secure enough ... I always use zip-clips (cable ties).

Ian

[California Dreamin]

You can use cable ties but I prefer to do mine the old fashioned way and use lock wire (2 - 3 full turns around the gaiter and then twist to tighten)
Those inner clips look too small

Martin

[RedGus]

Thanks for all the replies.

Although the original boots had no clips at all (as seems to be the experience of several people), I thought that it made sense to use the clips that came with the boots, seeing as they were included in the pack. The Wiki suggests that the original type clips are best, followed by lock wire, with cable ties "a poor third option". The boots do seem to be a very snug fit with no clips at all, though.

Martin, those clips are definitely too small, as they won't even come close to overlapping the two ends, even without the boot in place. I couldn't understand why Lemforder would send out packets of boots containing clips that were way too small, but that seems to be the case. I'm not having much luck with parts fitting at the moment.

Cheers,

James

[Simon Baxter]

Lemforder recent'y changed what comes in their kits.
I noticed this last week.
To be fair they don't need any clips, they didn't have them from the factory.
We usually just use a cable tie for that warm fuzzy belt and braces feeling.
Syncro did have clips from the factory.
we do have the correct size Oetiker clips in stainless for the syncro we see in the workshop, I don't think they made it to the webshop? I'll check.
I'll pass this on to the guys in the warehouse, we'll probably just take the clips out of the bags to save any confusion on the customers part and swap them for cable ties.

[Plasticman]

nothing wrong with good quality ties and if you fancy SS then
http://www.uneeda.co.uk/stainless-steel ... and-betts/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
mm

[RedGus]

Thanks for that detailed reply, Simon. I'll just save the clips for another job somewhere else, then, and use cable ties.

And thanks for the cable tie link, Mike. I'll bookmark that for some evening reading later.

Cheers,

James