Grey Brits

What started as a steady run to Collingwood yesterday evening to attend the Georgian Bay British Car Club monthly meeting turned into an adventure.

As I was pulling into the parking lot a very loud crack from the front of the car was followed by a total loss of steering! Much help from various club members straightened out the wheels so that Grace could be moved out of the middle of the driveway, and eventually loaded onto a CAA flatbed to be returned to mechanic Wolf’s shop in Owen Sound.

Special thanks to George Allen, Allan Lewis and Jim Ellis among many others that helped at the scene of the near accident, and to Ron McCann for the ride home from Wolf’s – even though I wasn’t dressed for top-down MGB motoring at 10pm!

Our preliminary diagnosis was confirmed this morning – the pin & bushing that connects the drop link from the steering box and idler assembly to the steering arms had sheared. A quick call to XKs Unlimited, and a pair of new improved units are on the way. I hope to be up and running before too long.

It’s hard to argue with what the XKs Unlimited catalog has to say about this pin & bushing …

One of the weak points of early sedan steering is the two pin and bush assemblies that connect the steering box and idler arms to the steering linkage…

A last Thank You to whatever Guardian Angel arranged for the part to break while driving at walking pace near so many helpful people, rather than during the 65 km of mostly rural highway driving at 80+kph immediately before the incident. I feel very lucky.

UPDATE: May 20, 2010
The parts arrived from XKs Unlimited via UPS ground on Tuesday and were delivered to my mechanic early Wednesday. I picked up the car this afternoon (Thursday) and did a 40 mile town & country run (climbing back on the horse!) and can report that everything is working fine. The steering is a little smoother, though the “feel” before the incident was not noticably different from other Jaguar saloons that I’ve driven.

Wolf reports that the parts (pin & bush, part number 14-1025) fit with minimal effort. This is contrary to accounts from two Jag-Lovers.org posters about machining being required, which was a relief.

I have the broken and “whole” original parts, and the deterioration of the rubber on both is almost complete – I urge everyone to add this to their periodic maintenance checklist.