stump
Aurora Newbie
Posts: 10 
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Post by stump on Jan 2, 2016 18:21:10 GMT -6
So, I've been in south-eastern Michigan visiting family for the last week for the holidays and go figure, the day before I leave for Milwaukee to return to work, the steering breaks. Here's the symptoms, Steering wheel wouldn't turn left any further than straight. When turning, the front passenger side corner would lift up and there would be an extremely loud clunk. Crawled under the car and noticed the bracket holding the steering rack seems to of broken. (See picture). My fix to get home (hopefully) was to install some 5"-7" hose clamps. The clink went away but the car doesn't turn left very well anymore. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated. What part is it that is broken? Can I replace just that strap, is it the rack and pinion. Please ask any questions to help diagnose this. imgur.com/dyPjnHs |
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Post by sempar on Jan 3, 2016 17:59:59 GMT -6
That bracket appears to be welded onto the tube, or possibly pressed on. I doubt it can be replaced but I'm not certain. Perhaps someone else has some better info, otherwise you'll have to replace the rack.
John
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stump
Aurora Newbie
Posts: 10
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Post by stump on Jan 4, 2016 23:30:44 GMT -6
So I tried several temporary fixes (hose clamps, u bolts, plumbers tie), all to no avail. The correct fix here is replacing the rack and pinion. I'm about halfway through it and calling it a night. Will wrap up tomorrow.
Thank you John for the input.
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stump
Aurora Newbie
Posts: 10
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Post by stump on Jan 6, 2016 0:15:58 GMT -6
Bit of an update. Not sure if the mods want to move this to somewhere else or not. I'm not really any further than I was yesterday. I can't get the rack and pinion out from under the car. I've followed the steps posted by Sall, here: aurorah.proboards.com/thread/16159 and haven't gotten anywhere. The sub-frame didnt really drop all that much. Maybe an inch. We resorted to trying to remove the sway bar and I broke the sway bar link, which is when we called it a night. Any advice would be immensely appreciated. Can the rack be slid out the drivers side? The intermediate shaft housing thing seems to be preventing it from coming out the passenger side. |
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RCA1186
Administrator 
Rob
Go Pack Go!
Posts: 4,837
Staff Member
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Post by RCA1186 on Jan 6, 2016 7:40:26 GMT -6
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stump
Aurora Newbie
Posts: 10
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Post by stump on Feb 23, 2016 7:36:30 GMT -6
So, I was able to replace the rack. I fought with seized bolts for way longer than I would've anticipated when first going in. The nuts on the subframe bolts also came out of their housing, so that was a fun project to work on when I was putting everything back together.
About a month and several thousand miles later (a few trips from Milwaukee to Detroit and back), the rack broke again. Same spot, same mount, exactly the same. I shouldn't have done it but I used a used part to replace the broken one. It was $50 and was able to get me back on the road with limited money invested. Well, now I have to do it all again. This time I purchased a reman from Rock Auto.
That all being said, is there something else that may be leading to this? Or was I just unfortunate in my timing? I want to be sure that this isn't going to happen again.
Also, when I replaced the rack the first time, I replaced the inner tie rod ends, and the new rack will be coming with new ones as well, so if anyone needs inner tie rod ends, let me know and I'll send them to you (you pay for shipping and they're free).
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stump
Aurora Newbie
Posts: 10
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Post by stump on Jul 8, 2016 14:11:56 GMT -6
So...it happened again. Same spot, same bracket. Any thoughts as to what might be causing this? I bit the bullet and bought a new car. I'd ideally like to permanently fix this and keep it as a second car, but at this point am ready to fix and sell.
Any thoughts as to what might be causing this bind and eventual break would be extremely helpful.
P.S. This time I noticed it going in the neighborhood at home, no high speed recovering needed this time (thank God!).
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Post by sgtdanny2142 on Jan 23, 2017 4:51:46 GMT -6
Did you ever figure out what was causing this? I'm about to replace my second rack today to the same problem..
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bobsblue95
Super Moderator 
Scars of pleasure, scars of pain. Atmospheric changes make you sensitive again.
Posts: 3,125
Staff Member
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Post by bobsblue95 on Feb 11, 2017 18:02:23 GMT -6
bad motor mounts? I think the engine/transmission can actually contact the rack or metal power steering lines.
I had that happen too, but only once. Salvaged rack was fine while the car lasted.
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Post by sgtdanny2142 on Apr 13, 2017 2:47:55 GMT -6
In my case, it turned out that faulty subframe bushings were binding the rack and shearing the mounting flange that isn't so well welded to the tube on the passenger side right off. 600 dollars and 3 too many trips to the dealer later and she's all buttoned up.
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Post by sgtdanny2142 on Apr 25, 2017 19:29:23 GMT -6
Just discovered (on viewing stumps recent posts) that I now own his car! What a coincidence!
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RCA1186
Administrator
Rob
Go Pack Go!
Posts: 4,837
Staff Member
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Post by RCA1186 on Apr 26, 2017 6:03:21 GMT -6
That's kind of cool that we at least know what the final cause of the problem was. Sorry you had to be the one to figure it out though haha.
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