Proper p***ed off!

[Dean]

A couple of months ago i went to SES to get a recon rack, i figured that it would be worth the £150 and an old rack i had kicking around for a newly re-furbed jobbie, this however is where the moan starts........
The first racks pinion was overtightened to the point i could not move the rack within the housing, oh well i will just take it back, after all these things happen sometimes.
Rack 2 was a real piss take everytime it was moved to full right lock the N/S gaitor would pop off and the N/S rack support bush was goosed, so back that went.
Rack 3 involved a 4 week wait, they said they didnt have any other racks in stock, i was calm because i wasnt planning on doing the job for ages so dispite being irritated i kept quiet, unfortunatly when it did eventually turn up it was the same worn out peice of c**p i had sent back 4 weeks earlyer with a different gaitor on the N/S held on with two tiny little zip ties .
By now im pissed off good and proper, they promise rack 4 would be with them in two days, and it was........all well packaged in a box, the gaitors were held on right and they werent really cheep pants ones, now there was i tiny, tiny bit of play in the N/S bush but barely any movement really so i rolled with it and took it home and put it on the shelf in the garage to await the day when work would commence.

Today was that day and i picked out a good ram and cleaned up and painted everything to fit onto the recon rack but as i was about to assemble everything ready for it to go in tomorrow when i get the old rack out of my car i suddenly realised what those morons who re con these racks had done, can you see?.....


Well, the pinion valve is on back to front, which in itself has annoyed me again, but the threaded hole the 6mm bolt that holds the main feed and return pipes (red) on by their bracket has i sheared off bolt in it...................steel sheared bolt, in the alloy housing, i really hope i have calmed by tomorrow because if i go back into SCS in the morning and that little git on the counter trys to tell me nothing is wrong with the rack AGAIN im affraid i may insert it in him

D

[Ciaran]

Crap Dean

Its a damn good thing you have such a detailed eye for these things, and checked it beforehand, otherwise you'd have been fairly well pissed off after you'd fitted the things...

That's unbelievable service from that company. Like you say, mistakes happen once, twice maybe, but FOUR times?

Wouldn't like to be the fella in that place tomorrow

A real pity, as your cleaned up and painted rack looks great.

Ciarán

[Dean]

I may just ask for my money back, its all left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth if you know what i mean, i only went for a recon unit because re furbing a steering rack doesnt really interest me, so i thought pay another £50 and have someone do it for you ..........no .
Bit calmer now but ive taken monday and tuesday off work to have some quiet time to do the rack and a full service along with some other niggles, now i have the time off and no rack...................

D

[Peter.N.]

Oh dear. I thought I had problems with mine, one of the pipe connections was a different size and I had to trawl the breakers and get a pipe with the right ends - but that was all. Couldn't do that now though, there aren't any at the breakers.
Hope they get it right next time Dean.

Peter.

[demag]

Dean I have a new rack you can have. I bought it off Techmanagain for 50 quid but didn't need it as managed to get mine repaired. Problem is I'm off on my hols first thing in the morning for a week. But its here if you want it. Does 40 quid sound ok if you can't get fixed up? I'm taking the laptop with me so will be able to login here. If you're interested I'll see if there's any way I can get it to you while I'm away. My son might be able to get it couriered down. Best I can do I'm afraid.

Dave.

[Dean]

Very kind of you, i will see how i get on in the morning, if they cant get another for tuesday morning i will see if i can get my money back and i will keep the rack i have in place of the exchange one i handed in and repair it myself, if that wont wash a may well be calling you

D

[onthecut]

Dean I have a new rack you can have. I bought it off Techmanagain for 50 quid but didn't need it as managed to get mine repaired. Problem is I'm off on my hols first thing in the morning for a week. But its here if you want it. Does 40 quid sound ok if you can't get fixed up? I'm taking the laptop with me so will be able to login here. If you're interested I'll see if there's any way I can get it to you while I'm away. My son might be able to get it couriered down. Best I can do I'm afraid.

Dave.

Hi Dave.

If Dean doesn't take you up on the rack, I will be interested. Only thing I'm not clear on (which might be pertinent to Dean as well) is that there are several different part numbers for the racks, depending on engine fitted. I don't know how significant any differences may be -- hopefully someone will ! Do you have the part number for the one you have ?

Mike.

[Dean]

Thats got me thinking, there were two different types of Ram bolt from citroen one a larger diameter than the other, i wont scare you with the price difference between the two
So maybe there is at least two different steering gear setups then but the 7 or 8 setups ive seen on 2.0 engines N/A, turbo'd, auto or manual have all been the same at least.

D

[onthecut]

Thats got me thinking, there were two different types of Ram bolt from citroen one a larger diameter than the other, i wont scare you with the price difference between the two
So maybe there is at least two different steering gear setups then but the 7 or 8 setups ive seen on 2.0 engines N/A, turbo'd, auto or manual have all been the same at least.

D

Hi Dean.

Thankfully, so far, I've had very little grief with racks, but on one of the S1 cars I had, the centre ram bolt fell out. In the course of doing that, I changed the bush in the eye of the ram. Had something similar on a S2 and when I came to look, there was in theory no replacement bush listed for the eye. Maybe this is the larger piece ? It's always frustrating when basically the same item is part numbered differently and it's not possible to tell whether any difference will stop you using it, in the event of being stuck.
Your experience so far with the rack supplier is appalling, especially for an absolutely safety critical item.

Mike.

[Dean]

Yes their slapdash approach is worrying but thats nothing, The rack i took out of the 95 turbo has suffered the same as yours did, the bolt has at some time snapped, someone has managed to get it out and wound a stud into the housing in its place and used a standard nut to wind down onto the ram (inner fixing point, where the feed pipes connect), the trouble is, apart from the fact they didnt use a nyloc nut is that the threaded bar used, by the looks of things, has a courser thread, so its gone in all wonkey and mangled. Also the bush you mention
has totaly parted company on the ram, so when i took it off it just fell out and i cant find one from citroen.
Maybe like bearings, the manufacturing company can be found to supply the correct sized bush?

All the parts man said at citroen is that two bolts where listed, one looked smaller and was something like £7 the larger one was something stupid like £40 but from the picture was of a plain bolt :shock, it was a while ago but im sure thats what it was.

D