Club 80-90 Forums

Hi , i have a split steering rack boot , the replacement boots that i have seen for sale dont look like the ones fitted , the small end is much smaller on mine , anybody know where i can get some from.

The new ones may appear larger at the narrow end, because there is a grommet on the rack which sits in a groove that the boot fits onto. Here is one example that maybe useful.

https://youtu.be/MTNvT_JyJdU

no grommets fitted on mine ,the small end of the boot measures about 14mm and is clamped direct to the tie rod.

Have you taken it off yet, the pic looks like it is showing an odd lump inside the boot - I wonder if that's the grommet and the previous owner didn't seat it properly- just a thought

It does look like that, i think this grommet serves 2 purposes, correct positioning of boot and keeping dirt out. If boot is not correctly fixed to it in its recess the boot when fitted may stretch to much and split.

been under tonight and there is nothing under the boot , the large rubber grommets appear to have been removed, anybody know if they can be bought?
 

I would check that your fit is not different to others. The recess which holds this grommet should be visible, not sure if they are sold separetely but doing a search should bring a result. Attached is an image which shows this gromett in placen
https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/uk/ ... gKicvD_BwE

its impossible to check what fits these vans because nobody knows, i have checked both sides and theres no grommets , the latest pics shows there might be a groove in the tie rod that the current boot is clamped to , i will have to cut it off to be certain but its raining here now. i have searched for the grommets but found nothing( only a quick search though) 

The parts catalogue shows the SA vans use the same components as the european made ones in this area; the one in your picture looks like a generic universal steering rack gaiter/boot, so I'd suggest that's what you will need to fit unless you are changing the tie rod as the big rubber grommet is part of the tie rod originally and isn't available separately afaik. If you can find someone with used tie rods with the rubber grommet on you may be able to remove the grommet and swap across and use the T3 boot 251 419 831 A, but easiest option is to just replace the one that has split with a good universal boot, Bailcast are quality British made, can be found online

ive been looking at various vw boots and theres a few options but i wont know what fits till i get the old one off and measure the rack. i guess mine was modified in SA.

There is groove in tie rod 12mm, tie rod is otherwise 14mm, groove in rack is 51mm, overall at rack 54mm but it's quite a short boss with not much space to ensure good clipping, hence correct boot is specific to the rack, and it needs to have about 28cm maximum articulation whilst being able to compress to around 4cm, I think the one fitted is too short.
Ours are longer than many
The original rubber grommets can be slid off the tie rod, I have checked
Easiest repair would be replace tie rods, 251 419 803 and fit correct T3 boots, that's what I'd do and I'd also polybush the rack whilst I was there and then have whole the steering geometry set up

Both my sa racks are the same as any European van. Looks like yours has a typical sa bodge done to keep it going.

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Mine had a type like this one pictured on for many years, I think it was from a Mondeo ! It doesn't need to be a proper one if you can't fit one, there's nothing special about a T3 boot

i have ordered the tie rods and boots from brickwerks , putting it back to standard seems to be the easiest way.