My steering had been degrading for a while. It started out as sometimes hard to turn left. Like I could turn the wheel 35 degrees with a load on the front and the wheel would go to a manual feeling. If I turned harder, it would go normal and I could turn in more with power. After a while it started to become impossible to take any turn with speed without steering lockup. Then I got slow steering response immediately off center. Meaning, I could turn the steering wheel a little off center in either direction and it wouldn't steer the car much. It was loose.

I didn't diagnose properly and blamed the electric motor, so I swapped that out and the condition persisted. Before I even installed the motor, I knew it was probably not the cause. I just didn't pay much mind to the steering play until then. For the last couple of months, I have not enjoyed driving the car tremendously. Today, it has all been restored. The steering is perfect now. It drives straight as an arrow, too.

My diagnosis on the rack? Something wore out. For whatever reason, the driver side tie rod can move out of the rack without resistance from the pinion. I peeled back the boot and watched it. It was not the ball joint on the tie rod. I thought steering racks were a single bar running the length of the rack housing with threaded ends. Are the threaded ends of the rack rod fastened on somehow? How does the driver side move independently of the rest of the rack assembly?

Really easy job.

 

Just got done doing the same thing about a month ago its surprisingly easy job to do once you actually diagnose it

 

Are all the racks between the models the same? Ratio, etc? As in I wonder if there would be any advantage to using the ss/tc rack.

 

All racks are the same besides the 08-10 LNF. They have a different ratio and i believe are shorter than the rest.

 

The LNF does NOT have a different steering rack. The LNF knuckle steering arms are shorter however, which changes the effective steering ratio.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I knew it was something with the ratio.

 

sure it wasnt just the inner tie rod joint?

did you peele back the rack boot or the balljoint boot

 

It definitely wasn't the ball joint. There was no play in that while the tie rod could move in and out of the rack.

 

Anyone know of anyone selling aftermarket wheels? I cant find used wheels to purchase anywhere haha any luck here?

 

Odd that you would choose this thread to ask about wheels for sale. You do realize that there is a classifieds forum, don't you?

 

Only 2 posts for him, so a new guy unable to post a thread in Classifieds

 

I guess posting in a thread with a low reply count is better than not posting anything at all.

 

true, but it did bring me into the thread. Did you ever have loose feeling steering prior to replacing the rack?

 

I looked at the view count and was a bit surprised. So maybe there was some good strategy in his post selection.

For the steering rack, I replaced it after it had started feeling loose. It was the original rack and the problem developed slowly. It was hard to turn the wheel well before it was noticeably loose.

 

Hmm mine hasn't been hard to turn, but I get a little loose feeling on the highway sometimes where the steering doesnt seem to respond as it should

 

Could just be the tie rods in your case. When checking for play, I would slide the boot away from where the tie rod connects to the rack. That way you can see if the play is in the ball joint or coming from within the rack.

 

Mine was loose and wandered alot before i replaced it.

 

Well at least it will be easier to get to since I've already dropped the subframe before, unless you don't have to drop the subframe

 

No subframe drop needed. After disconnecting the column, disconnect the ends at the spindles, remove the 2 bolts that mount it to the subframe, and slide the rack out of the driver side wheel well. Very easy.

 

That is much easier.

 

I might need to do this as well. Im replacing the intermediate shaft first and hope that fixes the sloppy on center feel and wandering on the highway.

 

Not the type of rack I wanted to see

 

Could a bad steering rack cause my car to wander on the road i feel like sometimes its hard to keep the car in a single lane straight. Ive already changed tire and done an alignment

 

How do your rear trailing arm bushings look? That'll do it...

 

Also if i hit a bump in the road or get on a bad road the car almost wants to lose control ill have to correct it and get the steering wheel back to the middle