Re:Rack & Pinion Rebuild

[wingd2@xxxx]

The bearings you are talking about that hold the upper and lower pinion 
shaft in the steering rack are what is referred to as a "spec" bearing. What this 
means is these bearings were specified and made specifically to fit this 
steering rack and are not a "standard" off the shelf, or even special order item. 
I've gone thru thousands of cross reference bearings to try and match these up 
and they just don't exist. What I do when I rebuild a rack is actually make 
the bearing myself. The balls are available at most bearing stores, and I 
machine new inner and outer bearing races, heat treat them and then put everything 
back together. The other critical thing with rebuilding a steering rack is the 
preload settings you must maintain on the rack and pinion and the inner tie 
rod ends. If they aren't set correctly, the steering will not feel and operate 
correctly. This all takes a lot of time to do correctly, thus the cost to have 
someone do it, but you do end up with a new/rebuilt, stock steering rack.

One other thing I have done, because the rack was in such bad / worn / 
unusable shape, was to take the pinion gear and shaft and machine them down to a 
smaller ID. I then sleeved the shaft back up to a standard bearing size. The 
inside of the steering box then had to be machined out to accept the OD of 
these new "standard" bearings. This one rack, which will now except "standard" $15 
bearings, is still working great, as far as I know. Only thing is, you are 
still spending the time and money on custom machine work to get to this point.

One thing for sure. The steering rack is a VERY important part of the car 
and you don't want to be cutting corners or taking short cuts with it's 
repair. Trying to save a few bucks here can end up costing you a whole bunch more in 
other repair bills later.

Marty 


From: "TalksToGod" <5n-@xxxx>
Subject: Re: Rack & Pinion determination

I agree that the rack and pinion is (if not the most) one of the most
important parts of the car. I would not be so upset to pay the 350-400
for a new rack if mine was in poor condition. The fact is that when I
examine my rack, it is discovered that there is very little wear on
the rack in the center. I am simply just trying to find what the
bearings cross reference to. 


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