I recently had a steering rack reconditioned. At 60mph or above the car is very hard to steer straight, although it will go straight with hands off.

I can feel a faint notch when changing from right to left and with the engine off this can be heard clearly by twisting the steering column down by the spark plugs.

I'm assuming that this notch means I can't hold a zero position.

I took it back to the workshop. The boss and the guy that worked on the rack fiddled around for 12 minutes. One of them clearly said that he could see the spline moving - which I assume means that the slackness is NOT between the column and the spline, but is between the spline and the rack?

They were very non comital about it, but I got the feeling they knew what was wrong and that perhaps the rack would have to come out to be fixed.

They asked me to bring the car in next week so they can put it on a hoist and inspect further.

What I would appreciate for any experts here, is what the possibilities are?

Also, while stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam, when I assume the steering fluid got reasonably hot, the notch became really big and clunked from side to side while stationary. The next day it was back to a faint notch.

Appreciate any thoughts and comments from rack experts, I don't know much about racks, but it looks like I'll have to learn quick.

S'nut

 

What year?

 

1988Auto, I didn't mention it because the car is Right Hand Drive and they don't use a Corvette rack in the convertion - it's from a front wheel drive I believe. Still variable ratio etc.

The rack was fine for 3.5 years, this problem has come from the reconditioning - do you know how the spline to rack gap is adjusted? There's a light clunk clearly heard when rotating the steering column and it comes from the area where the column joins the rack.

 

Anyone?

 

I think the problem, as far as the steering at speed, is that you need to check your front end alignment. It sounds like you have 0 or neg toe in. It's very possible that you have a bad ball joint, or something else in the front end. It would be rare to have the problem you're describing in the steering rack. I'm assuming you double checked the steering column and the joints.

 

Don't know, can guess, but won't because it would only be a guess.

Instead try a 'google' for rack and pinion steering and see if there is an answer there.

 

I'd check the condition of your ball joints.

 

Did this start AFTER you had the rack rebuilt or reconditioned as you mentioned?
If so,the problem may very well be their work they did.

Im suprised they gave you back the car this way,unless you ahd ther ack rebuilt and you installed it yourself...wasnt clear on that.
Sounds like clearances or binding problems inside the rack possibly.

Just guesses..from your explaination,you can only bring it back and see if they can get it right this time around...also your power steering needs to be bled out properly as well after the repairs.if not,youre gonna have some serious stiffness or other problems as well.

 

Went back and re read some stuff...there should be a 10MM socket size bolt that screws into the rack and steering linkage...that holds the steering column joint part to the rack itself...are they tight and in the right place?Was an alignment done when it was finished?
Im also beginning to wonder if they had the center off and tried to adjust your inner tie rods way out to compensate for it.

I would also check the tie rods,ensure theyre tight and not missing cotter pins and inspect the ball joints,but doubt the ball joints could have become bad after a rack job.

 

Hi Bill, yes the problem is new after the recon, I have taken the car back and they are booking it in next week, reluctantly. I need all the info I can get, If I can work out whats wrong then there'll be no chance of getting shafted, if you know what I mean.

I had an alignement done immediately after the recon rack was put in.

I then drove on holiday 3000 miles

When I took it back one of the guys said he could see the spline moving while the other rocked the column, and I assume this means that the steering column is tight to the spline, but thanks for the info I will check that myself.

Your comment about the rack not being centered is very interesting, because that's how it feels, too much assist or ratio in the centre. I still feel that this looseness between spline and rack is the problem, because it means I can't hold the rack in any one place, it will drift slightly to the L or R side of the groove in the rack, which may only be a small distance but is magnified at 60mph and above.

As mentioned, the rack is not a Corvette one, but obviously must be very similar to fit everything, even though it's the other way round. What I'd like to know is how the spline is held onto the rack, and how that is adjusted - ie internal shims, a threaded bolt, a bearing?

I don't think these guys want to take the rack out again, to fix whatevers wrong. I need to know the problem and be very firm from the start.

S'nut

 

I hope they clear it up for ya..Im no rack expert but had a some experience when doing the jobs...its very true that some remanufactured racks,like here in the states,when you swap your old core for a new one,the center is OFF..the vette does use a very similar FWD rack and pinion system found on other cars,at least thats what I learned over the years.

Im pretty sure some time back here on the forum,someone said they installed a new rack and the center to connect to the column shaft was off by a bunch of degrees.If I can recall what they said,I believe they had to take the center out of the rack and then re-install it the correct place.

I did read online,and a friends car,there have been racks were the center was way off when installing and the inner tie rods,one side was adjusted way too far.Dont recall hearing about the noise you have but maybe theres something inside thats loose.

Can you go under your car and measure the outer tie rod lengths,tape measure,then note number of screw turns on each side as they are installed on the inner tie rods?
Is one way off compared to the other? They should not be too far off from each other.

See when I changed my rack on the Vette,(core swap)I took the rack out with the outer tie rods still on and made a measurement and noticed how many thread turns were on each side,to get it close enough to the last measurement of the alignment,so it was driveable to the alignment shop and didnt wander of give me hard problems all over the road.

I managed to get it pretty close too.This may not be whats wrong but wanted to share whatever came to mind about the rack replacement when I had to do it on the vette.Do check everything else to ensure nothing came loose,wether tie rods,ball joints or etc.

You can also have someone start the car,while you put your hand on the steering column to rack joint and see or feel for movement if related to the noise you hear.It will give ya an idea where to look for a problem too.

 

Hi Bill, thanks for your info.

I found the bottom joint of column to rack and can see the bolt but a 10mm socket won't fit on and a 11mm socket is just too big. I had the socket on a long wobble bar extension but it's very hard to get to it.

I don't need to run the engine, just rotating the column down by the plugs gives a very audilble knock sound in the area of where the rack and column meet.

I don't think this is the column hitting anything, I think it is inside the rack, like when two gear wheels are not close enough. This knock also corresponds to no movement of the rack ends - ie there appears to be some slack as would be expected if the spline was not tight enough on the rack. I bet if I jacked the car up, there would be no tyre movement through this 'notch'.

I think this is highly likely the cause of the difficult steering at speed, because although the car will drive straight with hands off, it is very difficult to maintain a chosen course as there's a tiny gap between left and right.

HOWEVER, your mention of the rack not being centered is another probability that I was already aware of, because the workshop told me the original rack was not centered, and they fitted unequal rack ends to adjust this. Remember this is NOT a Corvette rack, but one from a FWD that has been turned round and shoehorned into the available space, with the steering column threading through everything on the RIGHT hand side of the car.

I have questioned them and asked them are they absolutely sure the rack is centered twice - they replied yes. But it is a possibility, especially as I have only one full turn of the wheel to the right and one turn plus 60 degrees to the left, but they put in spacers to prevent the tyres hitting the wheel well, so maybe there are too many spaces in RH side.

They thought they were doing the right thing, re-centering the rack, but I've talked to a RHD conversion expert here and he reckons they've got it wrong. He says there should be a 30mm spacer on the RH side, and that's it. When I got the car back, after the recon, the steering wheel was 1/3rd of a turn out - because of the uneven rack ends which are supposed to centre the rack. I took the wheel off and put it back styraight, but now my RH turn indicator won't cancel because the cancelling machinery is 1/3 of a turn out.

You can see why I was looking for a rack expert - no workshop likes to re-do their work, and these guys thought they'd done a really good job on an unusual car. Unfortunately the result was disappointing. I really need to know what goes on, INSIDE the rack, so I can understand what's happening and be able to talk with the workshop.

S'nut

 

My Steering problem is FIXED!

It turned out to be a loose bolt on the bottom of the steering column. The workshop also fixed my lack of turning circle - they'd adjusted it while the wheels were unsupported and had put in too many spacers.

As you said Bill Spot on - I did try and tighten it myself, using 3 extensions, but could only faintly see it with one eye and couldn't get the socket on the nut - the workshop had to remove one of the rack ends to get at it. I can see how it might have seemed tight enough to them at the time, then it loosened up with driving and also because the turning circle was reduced I was hitting the stops all the time, backing out of the garage, and that would have helped it get looser.

I'm very relieved to have everything working properly again.

S'nut