imported_Nefarious

i got a buddy, we've been tryin to figure this out for some time now... he lost all steering in the car, you could take the steering wheel and turn it one way like 100 times with out catching the gears...... now i thought it was messed, i bulled the plastic boot off under the dash (driverside) and sure enough the pinch bolt was loose.... tightened it up and BAM steering....... now what we cant figure out is that from 60km-100km/h u can feel it loose, and i think its the whole steering rack... i checked the tierods, they are tight... and i got under the car and tried wigglin the steering rack and it didnt budge really...i have no idea WTF is loose, maybe if i take the pinch bolt out again and try wigglin the rack maybe then it'll wiggle.............

so anyways im askin you guys what we can do for his car, i told him i would fix it, im thinkin now that he might need a new rack...... iv checked the bolts on the rack mounts and they are fastened on tight so that isnt loose.............. ANYONE have any suggestions???? would be greatly appreciated, thanks

imported_Nefarious

cmon... surely someone has had this problem or similar... someone share their experience wit me before i tell this guy to take it in for a steering rack

Cynikal.Mindset

how about he takes it to a mechanic to look at...I've never had or heard of this problem...is it power steering or manual?

imported_Nefarious

no power steering

Cynikal.Mindset

like how loose is it? could be inner rack ends, those are a lil more tricky to move by hand or it could be suspension bushings

imported_Nefarious

u only feel it when driving the car.... lots of vibrations in the steering wheel...... i thought it could be bushings, they do need to replaced in the car....... but it seems to be the rack...i think all those vibrations is what loosened that pinch bolt, from the midshaft vibrating up n down... where abouts are the inner rack ends located?? on either side of the pinion gears?

Cynikal.Mindset

the inner ends are right on either end of the rack...they are what the outters screw on to

imported_Nefarious

aight im definatl;y gonna check it out tomorrow..i looked where the tierod ends screw in they were tight... how do u recommend seeing if the inner ends on the rack are loose.... stick a wrench on it and wiggle the shyt out of it? if i cant solve the problem tomorrow im having a shop take a look at it............ aight so basically the tierods screw on like so ///[]/// <--- and the inners screw onto that........... that diagram is threads by the way.... should the threads be fairly uniform? lol any idea.. save me some questions tomorrow, because i believe the was more thread showing where the inners would screw in

imported_Nefarious

days before he lost his steering he had the tierods done.... and the shop he had the alignment done at happens to be a shady transmission shop........... what u think about all this??

Cynikal.Mindset

well since he had the outters done all the slop can now be transfered to the inners

imported_Nefarious

true that..... so is this your guess on it?? u think thats what up?? how can i check for the inners for loosness?

1sloweg

The same way u check the outers for play. Wiggle the tire at 9 and 3. Sounds like you are in over your head.... pm me and I can take a look at it for you.

Cynikal.Mindset

its gonna be hard to get movement out of them with the outters being new and stiff...you might be able to get some movement with grabbing the wheel at 9 and 3 and pushing and pulling on either side or by getting right under the car and grabbing the inner end and shaking in hard pullin on it etc.

imported_Nefarious

nice... ill check it out tomorrow and see what i can figure out.... appreciate your input

Danno-7

I may be way off base here, but isn't there no master spline on an ef steering column, meaning the steering wheel can be placed in any position? If a shady alignment was done at a shady shop, maybe they moved the wheel on the column and didn't retighten properly.

imported_Nefarious

yea your right there is no master spline... it wasnt the wheel that spun loose..... they loosened the pinch bolt on the midshaft and didnt tighten it properly.... i could not figure out why his car was slipping like that i thoguth maybe he chewed the gears in the rack or the splines on the wheel... i had the wheel off n it was fine....... his car sat in my driveway for 4 months, i got frustrated with it and told him to replace the rack... well went out there one day and got an idea about the pinch bolt and thought id check out the steering components... well the ones i could see anyways.... ripped the boot off by the firewall inside the car and sure enough the pinch bolt was sittin there hangin on by a thread about ready to rattle out..... tightened the bad boy up and there it was......... i was in the car when he lost the steering comming off the highway onto an off ramp round-about hittin it at 120... he slowed down tapped the ebrake few times then hit a ridge in the pavement the car hopped a bit front wheels went straight while he had the wheel turned... heading straight for a guardrail.. cranked the wheel to the right again and we made it out.......... by the time we got from barrie to wasaga (he lived in owen sound) we stopped by myplace went to turn into my driveway and lost ALL steering... could spin the wheel 100 times in either direction and it wouldnt turn.......... had to get out and manually turn the front wheels get back in the car pull in... straightin the wheels n pull up......... i told him to go back into this shop and let them hear it.... these guys were fu<kin wit our lives... and he asked who to speak to who was doin the work on his car and it turns out 8 guys were doing a simple fu<kin alignment on the car.... nobody knew what they did... months after we finally realized what had happened.........bs eh.... so yea if your ever getting work done in collingwood... dont take your vehicle to mr. transmission... for real

imported_Nefarious

and cynikal.... checked everything out... turns out it was the inner rods... and they were sloppy as a mothaaa......... thanks for the info man... much appreciated