505 leaky power steering

pontarriere

pontarriere

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Our 1984 wagon power steering leaks like a sieve - not the pump but the part on the rack. I had the seals replaced some years ago but it soon started leaking again. I'm seriously considering taking it off and fitting an early 505 manual rack (4.5 turns lock to lock). I can see that the lower part of the steering column would have to be swapped also since it's longer with the manual rack. Would welcome any thoughts on this. Also, is the 504 rack the same as the early 505?
 
Very common. Just blank the power head off on the power steer rack and remove the ram as can get air lockages and hydraulic lock the steering. . That way you don’t have to change the rod that goes to the uni joint in the cabin.

Also don’t have to get a wheel alignment. Isn’t too heavy. I’d say equal with the Gr 505 rack for heaviness and not so many turns. 3 turns.
I ran the power steer rack blocked off with no ram in the race car for ages. Dad had the same in the rally car before got smashed. It’s a big improvement than 4.5turns.

95% of power steer that sit with no fluid are need to be rebuilt. I just put power steering on the race car and went threw 4 racks that had with no fluid and there now in the tip. Had to get one out of a car that had fluid in it.

Remember everything is 40 odd years old.

BP


Hope this makes your mind up
 
BP505v6Turbo said:
Very common. Just blank the power head off on the power steer rack and remove the ram as can get air lockages and hydraulic lock the steering. . That way you don’t have to change the rod that goes to the uni joint in the cabin.

Also don’t have to get a wheel alignment. Isn’t too heavy. I’d say equal with the Gr 505 rack for heaviness and not so many turns. 3 turns.
I ran the power steer rack blocked off with no ram in the race car for ages. Dad had the same in the rally car before got smashed. It’s a big improvement than 4.5turns.

95% of power steer that sit with no fluid are need to be rebuilt. I just put power steering on the race car and went threw 4 racks that had with no fluid and there now in the tip. Had to get one out of a car that had fluid in it.

Remember everything is 40 odd years old.

BP


Hope this makes your mind up
Click to expand...
Surprised that you found the steering not too heavy with the power assistance removed. I might give that a try - it saves a lot of work.
 
How heavy it feels will depend on whether there are standard or wider tyres.
 
I run 7” wide X 16” 225/50 Dunlop semi slicks and there is no difference in heaviness whilst driving but the lock amount is much better with power rack blocked off. Car park parking could be a little bit harder not sure but try it. End of the day it’s up to you pontarriere.
 
Would be too heavy for parking on concrete. Once underway will be OK.
 
pontarriere said:
Our 1984 wagon power steering leaks like a sieve - not the pump but the part on the rack. I had the seals replaced some years ago but it soon started leaking again. I'm seriously considering taking it off and fitting an early 505 manual rack (4.5 turns lock to lock). I can see that the lower part of the steering column would have to be swapped also since it's longer with the manual rack. Would welcome any thoughts on this. Also, is the 504 rack the same as the early 505?
Click to expand...
Late 504 rack should be the same as early 505. Late and early 504 racks sit at different heights (to allow for the PAS ram in later models) Cross member drilled to compensate and has different spacing so you can't put the wrong rack on and have incorrect rack height. Of course people file out the holes so have sub standard steering!
 
Hello
Any idea what makes the difference in the number of turns (3 vs. 4.5) ?
Would it be the pinion ?
How do I get 3 turns if I don't want PS ?
Thank you in advance :)

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The reason manual rack has more turns is to reduce the imput effort by the driver, the ratio change is different rack bar and pinion, think of it as a transmission (changing number of teeth).
 
I had mine leaking, took the ram to our local Engineering shop, they removed the top of the ram fitted new seals and made a screw on end to re fit, had no problems after.
 
As part of the fight to get to the cambelt on my 505 GTi recently I've had to loosen off the power steering pump & remove the veebelt which was nicely soaked in ATF. There's a small but steady drip from the "input" shaft into the pump behind the pulley. I'm now in that dangerous territory of "while I'm here I might as well ....." The backstory to this is that about four years back the local-at-the-time garage discovered a leak from the same place - they removed the pump, stripped it down, and told me they'd replaced an "O ring." Remember thinking at the time that an 'O' ring didn't seem very hi-tech for the job it has to do. Does anyone know if there's a proper lipped seal on the front end of the pump? - better still a reference number?
Thanks,
Rob
 
pontarriere said:
Surprised that you found the steering not too heavy with the power assistance removed. I might give that a try - it saves a lot of work.
Click to expand...
In my rally car for many years I used a 505 power steer rack without the hydraulics and a smaller steering wheel , under way it was firm but very responsive to road inputs , however maneuvering in car parks etc on a slope where the brakes need to be used to stop the car rolling away it was a bit heavy , but not impossible , just plan ahead .
 
Race and Rally cars have the worst steering at low speeds. You either have power steering, I like electric powered hydraulic BTW, or grow muscles like a steroid fueled weight lifter!
Worst case is a certain VK Rally car with Swampy Marsh, lump of Holden V8 with a Perkins 2 turns lock to lock rack (and lots of caster!). Break into a sweat reversing out of Supermarket Car Park.
:drink:
Brendan.
 
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