Steering rack damaged by walking balancer
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 31
Likes: 12
From: Kingsport, TN
Steering rack damaged by walking balancer
Hi all,
At VIR a few weeks ago my balancer moved a lot, to the point where it was being kept on by the steering rack. I got to turn 1 in my third session and the steering started making some ugly noises and I had to limp all the way around to the pits/paddock. The OEM balancer was grinding a few grooves into the rack. The rack appears to be intact, not breached, but there's a lot of material missing in a few locations. Any thoughts of putting this one back in? I'm not looking to spend another $500 on a reman rack but i will if I need to.
Thanks
At VIR a few weeks ago my balancer moved a lot, to the point where it was being kept on by the steering rack. I got to turn 1 in my third session and the steering started making some ugly noises and I had to limp all the way around to the pits/paddock. The OEM balancer was grinding a few grooves into the rack. The rack appears to be intact, not breached, but there's a lot of material missing in a few locations. Any thoughts of putting this one back in? I'm not looking to spend another $500 on a reman rack but i will if I need to.
Thanks
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2021
Posts: 774
Likes: 375
From: Old Dominion - VA
Without seeing the damage it is hard to say, but I would probably replace it. FYI, I sent one off to Turn One back in Jan, and all in it was over $500 including shipping, and that without procuring a rack. Turn One was very fast though, I had it back in under 2 weeks. I have a spare leaking unit if you need one to get rebuilt, I was going to keep it but not sure why, lol.
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 12,791
Likes: 4,614
I agree with replacing it. If it's eaten into the wall enough, it may crack from fatigue and vibration. If you're in a dragstrip or auto-x event, it could dump a lot of fluid on the track, jeopardizing your life, or someone else's. Even if just driving down the freeway at 70mph could be a bad situation with a sudden dump of fluid. My .02.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2021
Posts: 774
Likes: 375
From: Old Dominion - VA
I just found my Turn One invoice, it was $508.70 with return shipping and I paid $75 to ship it to them via our company UPS account, so closer to $600 plus the cost of the rack I bought for around $250 on eBay.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 31,976
Likes: 486
From: Guinness Its whats for B'fast JAWGA
CI 3-4-5-9 Veteran
I'd tend to agree with taking a good look at it and then keep an eye on it. However, given that the damage was caused on VIR, I'd be very careful if the car sees track time and wouldn't be able to make my call on it unless I see it in person. Power steering fluid getting under the car while loaded up in a turn on track would not be fun.
Turn One is the go to for rack rebuilds.
Turn One is the go to for rack rebuilds.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 31
Likes: 12
From: Kingsport, TN
Thanks all. I cleaned it up and it looks ok so I’m reinstalling it. Now I have another problem! When I was getting everything out of the way for the balancer and radiator jobs, I moved one of the ps cooler lines out of position and. I can’t figure out where it goes now. Does anyone have pics of the line from the cooler to the rack?
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 862
Likes: 714
From: SW Desert
Thanks all. I cleaned it up and it looks ok so I’m reinstalling it. Now I have another problem! When I was getting everything out of the way for the balancer and radiator jobs, I moved one of the ps cooler lines out of position and. I can’t figure out where it goes now. Does anyone have pics of the line from the cooler to the rack?
over the inner tie-rod end and to the OUTBOARD port on the rack. I have a screwdriver pointing it out in the pic. Obviously the top cooler line runs to the reservoir. Hope this helps.