Steering Rack Gear Shaft Play

[Texaspettey]

I've been diagnosing a clunk in the car and found excessive play and noise in rack when moving the driver wheel. Steering rack bushings are OK. They are aluminum. Outer tie rod was OK, so I thought inner might be worn. As I was replacing the inner, I noticed that the shaft from the rack and pinion gear to inner tie rod had a lot of up/down play within the rack and pinion housing. I could easily move the end of the shaft by hand through at least 1/8". I would expect that the tolerance there would be tight and that the range of motion on that shaft is an indication of internal wear. I don't have any fluid leaks. The car has seen a lot of track time before it came to me. After replacing the inner tie rod, the play and noise is still there. Before I go through the pain of pulling the rack:

1) Is play in that shaft normal or indicative of wear? I would expect it is wear.

2) Are there any rebuild kits that have the internal components, bearings, etc. vs just the seals? I didn't find anything online and not sure it's worth the hassle.

3) Are there any rebuilds that are more trustworthy for a car that will see track time several times per year? Wondering about quality of internal parts so that I reduce the likelihood of needing to do this again in a couple years.


BTW, www.bestpartsonline.com still has the inner tie rods per other threads. They are an exact match for the stock measurements. $20 each. Fast shipping and quick responses to my email.

[RyanLS.GEN2]

That big plastic plug with a allen slot in it (1.125 iirc i v enever found one) should have a spring and a plastic thing inside that pushes against the worm gear to keep it feeling tight.

[GTS Dean]

Hey Chris - long time no hear!

[Texaspettey]

That big plastic plug with a allen slot in it (1.125 iirc i v enever found one) should have a spring and a plastic thing inside that pushes against the worm gear to keep it feeling tight.

Thanks. I'll take a look.

[Texaspettey]

Hey Chris - long time no hear!

Hey Dean, it's good to be back! Running the Gen2 on the track is so much better than the Gen1. Still working the kinks out of the car, but I've done Edge Addicts at COTA. Such a change from running at TWS, but do miss the old track. Time to find some other Vipers to run with.

[dave6666]

To make a 1-1/8 "allen wrench" just take a 3/4" standard hex head cap screw, thread down a couple nuts on it, then put the head of the screw in to the plastic cap and turn with a wrench. Or just skip the extra nuts and put vise grips on the shaft of the screw.

[Texaspettey]

To make a 1-1/8 "allen wrench" just take a 3/4" standard hex head cap screw, thread down a couple nuts on it, then put the head of the screw in to the plastic cap and turn with a wrench. Or just skip the extra nuts and put vise grips on the shaft of the screw.

Nice tip! I wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks.

[Pauler85]

I have the same clunk. I already replaced inner and outer tie rods, bushing and upper control arms. Any ideas?

[GTS Dean]

I don't know what the guts look like, but I'd assume there is a bushing sleeve of some sort at each end of the rack housing that is probably worn out.

[My98RT10]

Not exactly your problem but at least shows the trick with that plastic nut for adjusting the preload...

https://driveviper.com/forums/threads/18686-A-little-steering-leak-and-fix?highlight=Steering+leak

[Texaspettey]

I have the same clunk. I already replaced inner and outer tie rods, bushing and upper control arms. Any ideas?

I suggest starting with the slowest speed motion that you can replicated it with. In my case, it's any front/back momentum shift with the steering turned. From there, I brought the car up and started moving with the tire to see what was shifting as well as trying to move other parts of the suspension. I also had a friend stand next to the car while I triggered the clunk to help pin down the area it was coming from (helps that it could be replicated at very low speed). That combo got us to pinpoint slop in the rack, but not the steering rack bushings. That was after I replaced my control arm cam bolts as they were stretched and not holding under load well. Didn't fix my clunk, but needed to be done.

[Pauler85]

Thank you.