Rack & Pinion Steering Racks: Rolls-Royce & Bentley Technical

Driving a Rolls-Royce or Bentley is a testament to class and performance. The introduction of steering racks in these luxurious vehicles in late 1977 significantly upgraded the driving experience. But which one suits your drive? Let's dive in!

The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II took a leap in automotive engineering by introducing the steering rack. What made these racks unique? Their mounting technique!

• Early Versions: Boasting a square mounted foot, these were fastened right beneath the car's subframe. And yes, there was a threaded plate.
• Mid to Late 1980s: Transitioning to a threaded body, the threads were embedded right into the rack’s casting. But, in a twist, some early versions were mounted using kits due to stock shortage at the factory.

Eager to know which part is right for your vehicle? We've got you covered:

• Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Steering Racks:
  • Right-hand drive: UR70654
  • Left-hand drive: UR70655
• Bentley and Rolls-Royce Oval Mounts:
  • Bentley (Heavier steering): UR71818 (RHD), UR71817 (LHD)
  • Rolls-Royce (Lighter steering): UR71816 (RHD), UR71815 (LHD)

Do you yearn for a sportier drive? Stick to Bentley's heavier steering. But, if you wish for a lighter touch, especially while parking, Rolls-Royce has got your back.

Interestingly, the later models, such as the Bentley Arnage, innovated with 'active' steering, ensuring lighter touch at slower speeds and a heavier one when zooming on the highways.

Switching out your steering rack? Here's a pro-tip: When you initially start your car post-installation, expect a noisy growl. This is air trapped in the system. Turn the steering lock-to-lock to fill the voids. But beware of an overflow if you shut off too soon!

While we offer kits like STEERRACKKT, which includes gaiters (CD5906) and internal seals (RH3010 & RH3000), dismantling and replacing all the seals in a rack is for specialists. If unsure, better safe than sorry! Check out our local specialists page. Want the steering rack seal kit? Whilst the internal seals differ slightly on the different racks, our steering rack kit (STEERRACKKT) includes all the seals required for both types - it is more comprehensive than any other on the market. For tools required in steering rack overhaul click here.

Steering racks in these models use a Dexron (DEXRON5 & DEXRON1) fluid, which essentially is an automatic transmission fluid. Always be cautious while replacing.

Want more insights? Check out our comprehensive video guide and comment with any questions! Your luxury drive deserves only the best!

Matt explains which Steering Rack works better for your style of driving and how to adapt the new steering racks to older frames for Rolls-Royce & Bentley motorcars.

Steering Racks were introduced to the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II, in late 1977 and improve the handling of the car, a lot, as far as I'm told!

The way you can tell the different type of steering racks you might have is that the early ones have this square mounted foot which is mounted up underneath the sub frame underneath the car. There is a threaded plate that goes underneath so this is mounted in and the bolts go down through the sub frame through this mounting foot and into the threaded plate underneath.

In the mid 1980s and in the late 1980s they move to a threaded body so the threads are actually directly into this casting on this part of the rack so there is no plate. This is the early type with the square mount and this is the late type but I think they did run out of these at the factory and they supplied a mounting kit, so you had these little brackets off the sub frame that you would mount the later type of rack to so it's always worth checking what type of mounting feet you have.

Effectively the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow racks are part number UR70654 - the right hand drive one - and then there is a left hand drive version which is UR70655. There is a Bentley one which gives you slightly heavier steering but generally with the early cars you can get away with that.

For the oval mounts there is either Bentley or Rolls-Royce and they are significantly different in the weight of the steering - this is part number UR71818 which is the Bentley one and UR71816 is the Rolls Royce one. Part number UR71817 is the left hand drive version of the Bentley one and part number UR71815 is the left hand drive version of the Rolls Royce one.

If you do find that your Bentley has got particularly heavy steering and you don't like it, then you could fit a Rolls-Royce steering rack to make the steering lighter. The idea behind it is that in a Bentley you should be able to feel the road more because it is more of a sportier feel and the Rolls-Royce should be a lot easier to drive and park. The later cars (for example from the Bentley Arnage) ended up with 'active' steering so that at low speeds it was lighter and at high speeds it was heavier to feel the road. These are a bit tricky to take off the car because the bolts go up, done from on top, so they have a special tool at Bentley which is like a question mark so the socket is on the end of the hook that goes up and you end up putting a breaker bar on that and having someone do it.

There is another way around that, Snapon do a ratchet, a little stubby 3/8 drive ratchet with 3/8 holes at the end and in line with the actual drive so you can put it upside down and put an extension bar underneath it and then fit a breaker bar to the extension bar, that's generally how you do it if you don't have the special tools. You may be able to get to the bolts from on top but then you would have to have someone catch the rack underneath.

Apart from that the track rod is bolted to the front and there is a big block here which holds the track rods and two 11/16th bolts go through that lock tab, it is worth replacing that lock tab each time because it may not hold the bolts properly. We do also do a kit for these racks (part number STEERACKKT), which includes the gaiters (CD5906), and all the internal seals (RH3010 & RH3000). However, it is a bit of a specialist job so I wouldn't recommend anyone to just strip out a rack and try to replace all the seals.

These Steering Racks go all the way up until the end of the SZ range so they come in the Silver Shadow II and all the Spirits and Turbos have them, then they changed when they introduced the Bentley Arnage. The Bentley Arnage uses a ZF steering rack probably similar to BMW. The other thing to say is that the fluid that it uses is effectively an automatic transmission fluid. It is a Dexron (DEXRON5 & DEXRON1) fluid on these.

When you do change your steering rack what you will find is that because it is full of air when you fit it you will start the car and the pump will be really noisy... it will growl away for quite a while so you just turn the car lock to lock trying to work the steering through and to fill all the voids with the oil. Be careful not to turn the car off while the pump is still so noisy because what's happening is it's actually mixing air with the oil and when you turn it off the foam just starts to rise up from the pump and you end up just having a overflow of power steering fluid coming out of the pump. So be careful when you turn the car off if you just fitted a new rack because you can cause it to overflow like that. 

If you do have any questions please feel free to comment and we'd be happy to provide more information!