Steering rack boot / gaiter replacement issue

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Started the gaitor replacement job that is desperately needed ...

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My RockAuto supplied Moog gaiter’s mouth measures 46mm. All other options from rock auto are the same size. The bit on the steering rack that it’s supposed to clamp onto is 36mm!! I cannot take that much out of it without it scrunching (deeply technical term right there).

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Has anyone done this job using the Moog or other Rockauto alternatives and know of a trick to make it fit? Am I missing something obvious?

If not, does anyone have a correctly sized boot they would like to sell?

Also, any tips for separating the track rod end? I have ball joint separators but can envisage them destroying the rubber on the track rod end. Or should I just be replacing it even though it’s only done around 8k miles?


Edit: iirc I think someone once said Pug 206 ones fit well - was it JohnyMD?
 
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AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
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OK, it looks like there are some options out there, the moog and SKF ones look ideal with a slightly wider mouth on diameter 2.

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But still need to figure out how to separate the tie rod end joint without killing the rubber [emoji848]
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Ok chaps, under the car right now and found that once I had squeezed out the grease, my separator tool worked perfectly.

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But there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that the RockAuto part is going to fit, see below ...

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For now I’ve secured it on to avoid the rack getting dusty.

The smaller diameter of the one that came off is 10mm and the larger is 35. It is not an original part but I can’t find anything with those dimensions online.

The small part of the shaft on the rack is 12mm and the larger part is 36mm.

The Peugeot 205 ones I can find are 12mm and 40mm am I looking at the wrong model?
 

Faster Behr

Club Member
A bit of a thread revival I know but…

I have the same issue. I’ve just received AC Delco gaiters from Rock Auto and they’re also in excess of 40mm diameter on the inner end. As per AliK’s experience above, I need them in the region if 35mm.

Does anyone have a reliable part number for these? I am of course assuming that the racks across S30s are all the same?
 

Nick Hedges

Club Member
A bit of a thread revival I know but…

I have the same issue. I’ve just received AC Delco gaiters from Rock Auto and they’re also in excess of 40mm diameter on the inner end. As per AliK’s experience above, I need them in the region if 35mm.

Does anyone have a reliable part number for these? I am of course assuming that the racks across S30s are all the same?
Hi, I have been told that the following will fit, not tried myself but from someone who fitted to their 240 and said it was perfect. It is a Euro Car Parts part number 612545001.

 

Faster Behr

Club Member
An update on this one.

The 612545001 from Euro Car Parts is a pretty good fit. The larger diameter end (inner) where it secures to the rack is a little bigger which results in a small curl once the zip tie is fastened, but overall not a bad fit and the quality seems reasonable.
 

Nick Hedges

Club Member
An update on this one.

The 612545001 from Euro Car Parts is a pretty good fit. The larger diameter end (inner) where it secures to the rack is a little bigger which results in a small curl once the zip tie is fastened, but overall not a bad fit and the quality seems reasonable.
Thanks for the update, looks like it could be a good option given the poor fit from the previous posts. Thank you
 

Jay.

Club Member
An update on this one.

The 612545001 from Euro Car Parts is a pretty good fit. The larger diameter end (inner) where it secures to the rack is a little bigger which results in a small curl once the zip tie is fastened, but overall not a bad fit and the quality seems reasonable.

Did you manage to get a picture of the curl?
 

Ian Patmore

Well-Known Forum User
What about the proper Nissan ones or the aftermarket S30Z ones, rather than some generic stuff which doesn't fit? Zcarstore i recall did some aftermarket ones...
 

Jay.

Club Member
Just checked the one I had from an order way back, and it's in excess of 40mm too. Guess I'll be ordering a different one!
 

Faster Behr

Club Member
The curl is pretty insignificant and flattened off with a zip tie. It’s not a big deal to keep an eye on them and to be honest we’ll more than likely remove them periodically to grease the rack and inner rod ends.

ZCarDepot offer genuine Nissan ones amongst three aftermarket options. They (genuine ones) are $69 each. I checked the “each” detail with them as the site doesn’t make that clear. If the car was going to be a daily driver or be used in poor weather then I’d say they might be worth further consideration but it’s not. I’d rather put the cash towards other areas and keep an eye on these as part of the maintenance regime.
 

Jay.

Club Member
The curl is pretty insignificant and flattened off with a zip tie. It’s not a big deal to keep an eye on them and to be honest we’ll more than likely remove them periodically to grease the rack and inner rod ends.

ZCarDepot offer genuine Nissan ones amongst three aftermarket options. They (genuine ones) are $69 each. I checked the “each” detail with them as the site doesn’t make that clear. If the car was going to be a daily driver or be used in poor weather then I’d say they might be worth further consideration but it’s not. I’d rather put the cash towards other areas and keep an eye on these as part of the maintenance regime.

If the smaller (~36mm) boots fit well then for £10 it's certainly worth it
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
To update the thread, I went with the pug 206 ones in the end. Not 100% perfect but 98% is good enough!

Post 287 on my main thread


has some info of interest and shows the ones I experimented with. But given how much I had to do ahead of me, I just gave up and went with the 206 ones.

The montego one was a beautiful fit at either end but rubbed on the mechanism it was hiding and I figured that over time it would tear itself apart.


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jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
another option found by @Graham Palmer :
I installed one of these today and it was a perfect fit.
 

candy red

Club Member

Robotsan

Club Member
Judging by this thread, are the boots from the regular sources no good?

I'm doing a z-services.eu order soon and thought I'd better add some boots, but there's quite the choice. Are they all pants? Also are all S30s the same in terms of these?

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