Blew my steering rack!

hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 22, 2006

#1

• Dec 22, 2006

• #1

Woah guys, I was pulling out of my driveway today and as soon as I went full left wheel, the steering wheel bounced back and I heard a "SNAP", looked under the car and power steering fluid was pouring out of the rack! Upon closer inspection, it looks as though the steering rack exploded out the back, right underneath the oil pan on the backside of that line that goes into the center.

Anyone ever heard of this before? This is the first time I've seen one completely blow out of the casting! Yikes!

 

Tape

Banned

Dec 21, 2006

41

0

0

Birmingham

Dec 22, 2006

#2

• Dec 22, 2006

• #2

never heard of one Exploding but had to replace mine, got one from AZ for $189 an exact rebuilt replacement with LLT warranty.

 

hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 22, 2006

#3

• Dec 22, 2006

• #3

Yeh I've replaced many steering racks but I've never seen one blow out like that, maybe it's the solid offset rack mount bushings!?

 

Tape

Banned

Dec 21, 2006

41

0

0

Birmingham

Dec 22, 2006

#4

• Dec 22, 2006

• #4

glad it didn't happen while you were going 70 down a busy interstate!!!

 

LaserRed01GT

Banned

Oct 3, 2006

739

3

0

Clearwater, FL

Dec 22, 2006

#5

• Dec 22, 2006

• #5

hotpony said:

Woah guys, I was pulling out of my driveway today and as soon as I went full left wheel, the steering wheel bounced back and I heard a "SNAP", looked under the car and power steering fluid was pouring out of the rack! Upon closer inspection, it looks as though the steering rack exploded out the back, right underneath the oil pan on the backside of that line that goes into the center.

Anyone ever heard of this before? This is the first time I've seen one completely blow out of the casting! Yikes!

Click to expand...

Wow, I have never actually seen the rack assembly or rack gear housing come apart. That is very unusual. Though, it is not uncomon for the inner rack seal and/or the plastic piston seal to give way on these.

Could it have been one of the transfer tubes?

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

 

hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 22, 2006

#6

• Dec 22, 2006

• #6

I'm going to pull it off right now and I'll post pictures asap!

 

hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 22, 2006

#7

• Dec 22, 2006

• #7

Alright so here's the pictures, looks like the passenger side motor mount is getting weak so with the torque of the motor it's rubbing on the oil pan, the offset rack mount bushings push it up just far enough to where it makes this possible, I got a set of new Energy Suspension motor mounts sitting right here, guess it's a good time to put them in Wanted to wait to get my LT headers but guess that just not possible, safety before performance!

 

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hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 22, 2006

#8

• Dec 22, 2006

• #8

A pic of the bushings and oil pan

 

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Tape

Banned

Dec 21, 2006

41

0

0

Birmingham

Dec 22, 2006

#9

• Dec 22, 2006

• #9

OK HotPony, you can tell us the truth. we won't rant you a left turn, I guess that's your story and your sticking to it

 

mransr

Founding Member

Nov 3, 2000

1,188

36

98

Riverside, SoCal

Dec 22, 2006

#10

• Dec 22, 2006

• #10

yikes...

good thing it didn't wear through the oil pan...that'd be a lot more expensive to fix

 

LaserRed01GT

Banned

Oct 3, 2006

739

3

0

Clearwater, FL

Dec 22, 2006

#11

• Dec 22, 2006

• #11

Wow, it's a good thing your oil pan didn't wear through as well.

 

hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 22, 2006

#12

• Dec 22, 2006

• #12

AHah, yeh well I guess that full left turn (when the pressure goes all to the right of the rack), is the straw that broke the camels back ya know? Definitely a good thing it didn't wear through the pan, actually I took a good look at it just to make sure, but it's a steel pan and the rack is aluminum so thank the heavens for chemistry! You know these offset rack mount bushings don't even really make that big of a difference I don't think, and I have the bumpsteer kit, so maybe I can just go back to a set of polyurethane's while I do my motor mounts..

 

blacksheep-1

Member

Oct 21, 2006

322

4

18

Dec 23, 2006

#13

• Dec 23, 2006

• #13

Try these and skip the rack bushings.
http://www.steeda.com/products/bumpsteer_kit.php

 

hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 23, 2006

#14

• Dec 23, 2006

• #14

Yeh, I got the bumpsteer kit already, and I can re-shim it to where I don't need the rack mount bushings, I think I'll reuse them anyways though, I got brand new polyurethane Energy Suspension motor mounts so that'll raise the motor a bit and they'll last a hell of a lot longer..

 

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hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 23, 2006

#15

• Dec 23, 2006

• #15

Oh, by the way, I took the entire subframe out of the car today, just felt it would be easier to do the motor mounts this way, and then while I was at it, I decided to just go with longtubes, so the exhaust is off, just waiting for my LT's to come in, take a gander!

 

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blacksheep-1

Member

Oct 21, 2006

322

4

18

Dec 24, 2006

#16

• Dec 24, 2006

• #16

Well, while you're at it, nows the time to replace the front subframe with a light weight unit, You can't imagine the difference that will make in handling just by losing the weight off the front end.
Or maybe, get out the hole saw time.

 

hotpony

Founding Member

Feb 26, 1999

922

12

38

Lee County, KY

Dec 24, 2006

#17

• Dec 24, 2006

• #17

Yeh I was thinking about a tubular K-member, I actually had one but I sold it along with the extra parts I had... It was a D&D but I think something was cracked on it... I heard they're a real pain to get your alignment right after install? True?

There was somebody selling an AJE here on the classifieds that was for a FOX 4.6, I was thinking maybe I'll see if this will work by matching it up to the stock one...