Access to steering rack gaiter

[Beddau]

Looking at my Citigo this morning noticed that the steering rack gaiters inners which had no circlips were not connected to the rack itself, infact you can see the working part of the rack. So I jacked up the front of the car & put it on stands. Tried access from the wheel arches to push the gaiters into place but found it impossible to push the gaiters back & secure them with nylon ties. I don't fancy working underneath the car & access looks a bit limited anyway.  I will have to take it to a local Garage & put it up on a ramp. Has anyone changed their steering rack gaiters on the citigo & how did they manage it, any advice would be much appreciated

[rum4mo]

This can be an issue with most cars, access is very limited so you normally do need to safely support the raised front end and work with the wheel off and the steering turned so that the side you are working on has a compressed gaitor, I've used two ties as trying to fit the proper clips had proved to be too tricky, some people have fitted narrow worm drive bands though. One other slightly annoying thing is, one side has a soft rubber sealing band over the rack end and the gaitor needs pushing over that and not just pushing that out of the way, so that the band tightens down the stiff gaitor onto the rubber sealing band and so the channel on the track.

 

Edit:- I'd always release the outer clips before trying to fit the inners as doing that allows you to push the outer further along the track rod.

Edited 3 February, 2020 by rum4mo

[Beddau]

Many thanks for this useful information

[Beddau]

Found easy way to secure my steering rack gaiters.  Took to my local garage they  repositioned the gaiters & fitted new strong ties up on the ramp job done cost £27.

[rum4mo]

As long as they did it correctly then that was money well spent as it avoided you getting a bit annoyed when attempting that from below the car when not up on a ramp.

[Beddau]

I have carried out a full check from above with a lamp & it all looks OK so I will check it weekly on my Saturday morning checks.