Steering Rack Play

[g300d]

Hi 80stech, there is a link to a company offering a kit for our racks. It has a list of included parts too. Since you have experience with racks maybe you can tell if the needed parts are there?

I was trying to, but I dont have experience opening steering racks so I couldnt tell.

[80stech]

It looks like I need to register to get a look at what is in the kit, so I will do that. It will be a bit of a crap shoot regardless because we can't tell for sure whats needed till we have one apart. Definitely a good place to start though!

[g300d]

^that would be neat, thanks!

Maybe we will finally reach the point that we can do these racks ourselves. I see a lot of remans, but they always seem to concentrate on leaks. I emailed one of the better known sellers to ask if they did the bushings and they never answered. Since I was looking at remans because of the clunk and not leaks, I wanted to be sure they did work in those areas. I'd hate to get a reman that clunks or will clunk soon after install!

[80stech]

I see a lot of remans, but they always seem to concentrate on leaks. I emailed one of the better known sellers to ask if they did the bushings and they never answered. Since I was looking at remans because of the clunk and not leaks, I wanted to be sure they did work in those areas. I'd hate to get a reman that clunks or will clunk soon after install!

That is a really good point! I avoid reman stuff as much as I can exactly for those kind of reasons. Have you taken off your end boot and observed the movement as in the video? Out of curiuosity, did you change your inner socket joints some time before this problem came up?

[g300d]

Originally Posted by 80stech

That is a really good point! I avoid reman stuff as much as I can exactly for those kind of reasons. Have you taken off your end boot and observed the movement as in the video? Out of curiuosity, did you change your inner socket joints some time before this problem came up?

Yes I've taken off the end boot. Rack is moving up and down as it goes in and out of the housing. And yes, this was also after I did most of the front suspension including new OE socket joints with tie rod end assemblies.

[80stech]

Taking the socket joints off really worried me. They are on really tight and there are no flats on the rack shaft to hold. I was almost sure I must have damaged something but everything seemed fine after. I actually didn't tighten the new socket joints nearly as much and put a little lock-tite on instead. Maybe we squished the teflon bushings when we changed the socket joints ? I can't seem to get much more info from that link you posted but I have a feeling they are only selling the seals. We need what is shown on that E46? picture that is linked. Maybe the bushings are the same? It might be a good idea to look for parts according to the rack not the vehicle.

[g300d]

^Possible! Yeah, there would be a lot of force on those bushings for sure.

Your idea sounds like a good approach to it, will be looking around for more details.

Offhand, I remember checking if there were other vehicles that use the same rack but it looks like it is E53-exclusive.

Hopefully there are racks with parts that interchange though.

[Blackjetvette97]

Hi all,
I had my rack rebuilt by one(ZF Steering?) of the ONLY 2 Co's in U.S(at time I researched-maybe 5 years ago) that did rebuilds for our racks. They would NOT accept my rack directly from me.....forced me to go through one of their "Authorized" vendors(Pep Boys) to get it fixed :rolleyes
I had "Play" in mine(no leaks) and removed it/pkg'd it up myself/sent it off through PB and got a swap out(reman'd) one in return( I KNOW it wasn't my exact one cuz I signed mine in an inconspicuous place to test if they rebuilt MINE). Anyway, I had to pay PBs between $600-$700 for rack......New one thru BMW was $3000+(JUST the part!)
PBs actually did ZERO and prob earned a pretty penny off me. Rack is still going strong!
Interesting if this fix works!!!!


Steve

[EODguy]

Just saw this thread.

Don't know if it helps but over here in the Middle East racks are pulled and the teeth are cleaned up (mill work) and then new seals replaced. As I understand it by the time the gears are adjusted (lash) it's been too long and the teeth on the rack are screwed too badly to allow you to actually adjust them hence the teeth cleaning.

Maybe you can tighten the lash up enough to be good but I'm not sure how big a risk it is if the teeth are mildly toasted...

[g300d]

Blackvette, it would be cool if we could get ZF rebuilds, not some random parts guys pick and pulls.

EODguy, I played with lash adjustment but it also tightens steering up too much. A proper fix would be much preferred.