Steering rack died?

[husam22]

So I was heading out for an evening ride with my daughter, and as soon as I hit 50, the steering wheel immediately started shaking profusely. I immediately pulled over because I thought a front rim came off! The wheels where still on and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so I slowly drove back home.

The car seemed fine all the way up till about 50 - then all of a sudden crazy shakes! I slowed down and the shakes continued till about 30 mph then faded. I didn't hit 50 again, and the shakes didn't return.

When I got home i examined all the bolts on the front end, and they are all there and tight! However I noticed a ticking which comes from the steering rack... It seems that maybe a couple of teeth broke or its somehow jumping the gears.

Is that what happens when a steering rack dies? I've never had one go out - it is common? I have the power rack - with no power.

It looks like I'll be taking suggestions on the type of rack to get - however I want to make sure that I'm not missing anything...

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[edwardb]

What steering rack are you using? New or donor? Speed sensitive shake in the front end could be from other sources, including loose or failed front end components like ball joints, inner tie rod ends, wheel bearings, maybe a wheel balance weight came off?

[Todd Buttrick]

Check to see if any wheel weights have been jettisoned first. Then you need to check everything from lug nuts to steering wheel and everything in between. You should be able to check the rack for such failures by statically turning the wheel from lock to lock. Breeze has all the manual rack stuff you'd need.

[CraigS]

I suspect you pitched off a wheel weight. Make sure everything is tight,turn the steering while parked from lock to lock. If it all feels good,get the front wheels balanced.

[ajt725]

Originally Posted by husam22

So I was heading out for an evening ride with my daughter, and as soon as I hit 50, the steering wheel immediately started shaking profusely. I immediately pulled over because I thought a front rim came off! The wheels where still on and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so I slowly drove back home.

The car seemed fine all the way up till about 50 - then all of a sudden crazy shakes! I slowed down and the shakes continued till about 30 mph then faded. I didn't hit 50 again, and the shakes didn't return.

When I got home i examined all the bolts on the front end, and they are all there and tight! However I noticed a ticking which comes from the steering rack... It seems that maybe a couple of teeth broke or its somehow jumping the gears.

Is that what happens when a steering rack dies? I've never had one go out - it is common? I have the power rack - with no power.

It looks like I'll be taking suggestions on the type of rack to get - however I want to make sure that I'm not missing anything...

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

I have the non powered rack that came with my complete kit still in the box that I would make ya a good deal on. I ended up using the Fast Freddies set up. PM me if you are interested

[husam22]

Upon further inspection, it appears that my driverside ball joint boot is ripped the entire way across. I'm not sure it that means its defective, however I'm going to change it.

It also seems that either the driver side wheel had no weights, or it's gone. So I guess thats getting rebalanced.

Lastly, the ticking that I heard seems to be coming from the universal joint connecting to the rack. I havent fully removed it, however upon loosening, the ticking has gone away.... so I'll be inspecting that as well.

Thanks for the input.