Hey guys, I've never had to be concerned with the steering rack before, so this area of the car is new to me. I'm hoping to get some opinions of what I might need to do to fix this.

Symptoms: (1) rather quickly, the car has started to 'wander' on the road requiring constant wheel input to keep the car straight. It almost feels like tramlining, without the grooves in the pavement to cause it or when the control arm bushings are deteriorated. (2) After getting the front end up in the air, Left-Right movement of each wheel creates this rather significant noise and play, which appears along the inner tie rod, and thus the rack. I used a prybar to move the joints and bushings on the control arms and they're still really tight (even with weight of each corner supported) Take a look/listen at the videos, will ya?

 

Looks like a worn rack if there is no corresponding movement of the steering wheel.


With the wheels on the ground, do you get this type of movement on the wheel?

 

Ok, I just checked what you asked, and there is absolutely zero play in the wheel itself.

 

OK, looks like you need to pull the boots back and check for play on the inner tie rod.


When I changed my rack one of the inner tie rods was still tight and there was a very small amount of play in the other, may have just been that the leaking fluid had thinned the grease in that one.

 

H20 Boy,

What was the solution to this?

I just finished my front suspension rebuild and noticed my rack acting just like your videos when I was tightening up all of the nuts.

Is it Inner Tie rods or the rack itself?

 

Can jump in and just ask a newbie jacking question? Is it safe to put jack stands in that location as in video? I didn't find that as approved location, so curious if this is a regularly used without issues spot I can use.