Re: [DMCForum] Steering rack adventures

["Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxxxxx>]

The deepest I've been into racks so far is replacing boots &
tie-rod ends & adding oil.  I've seen the lock-to-lock
stops.  You can see them clearly with the boots off.
Someone said before that they modified these stops to make
the rack travel farther lock-to-lock, but this was of no use
because on a properly aligned car, the tires will rub the
sway bar at about the same time the rack reaches its end of
travel.

I've had the cover plates off of racks before since this is
a convenient place to add oil from the top.  The plate for
the input shaft apparently goes on the same way.  I am
suspicious that whoever rebuilt your new rack didn't put the
gear in the same way, i.e., 2pi/3 radians off.  This makes
me wonder if you could just pull the cover plate off and
reposition the gear.  This would be my first choice to at
least try.

I can warn you that pulling steering wheels can be a major
pain in the ass.  Whatever special tool you can borrow
probably won't fit unless you find some unusually long
metric bolts.  Even then the threaded part of the steering
wheel can strip out.  Like Marc said, it may be easier to
disconnect the universal joint from the firewall and
reposition it.  If you are in this area, check your steering
column bushing.  You'll need to have this connection apart
to replace the bushing anyway.

On my daily driver, I installed Darryl Tinnerstets heavy
duty universal joint.  (I suppose they are available from
Toby now.)  It works a lot smoother than the one I took off
my car (which really wasn't bad anyway).  It connects
differently to the steering column shaft.  It uses a set
screw instead of a perpendicular bolt.

Walt

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