Steering Rack Replacement
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thebrandon
New member
Sweet video. The steering rack replacement on these is sooooo easy compared to other vehicles.
How do you know if you need to replace your steering rack? How differently does his truck drive now?
mtbtim
Elite Member
When do you know it's time? Basically when you've exhausted other more affordable possibilities that could be causing steering issues like inner and outer tie rods, steering rack bushings, steering rack guide bushings, or steering shaft play.
You can buy a rebuild kit for the rack which is basically a huge set of seals and o-rings but I wonder how well it turns out if you do all that labor to rebuild it. Once you get done buying new inner tie rods, that seal rebuild kit, new guide bushings and all that time invested to rebuild it, a new OEM rack might be the better choice. People put aftermarket racks to save money but they don't usually have the best reputation for lasting that long. Buying an OEM replacement, though it's more expensive, seems like the smart choice over the long haul.
Dave's steering is more responsive and tighter now after the replacement. I think he misdiagnosed the steering rack leak, because from what I had seen, the steering rack was coated in engine oil leaking down from the valve covers, not ATF from the rack. He's happy with the result so I reckon it was money well spent.
LittleCaesar
New member
Looks great. Knock on wood, bi yearly suck and fills for a decade of Mobil 1 ATF have kept my rack working well.
mtbtim
Elite Member
Maybe just have the tire shop check the balance for you. Many times it's just simply the tires are out of balance. If that doesn't do it, I'd look into the tie rods and lower control arm bushings.
mtbtim
Elite Member
YES! Preventative maintenance can take your vehicle components a long, long way. I like the suck and fill method too using a turkey baster.
Suck and Fill. Sounds like a porn movie title.
Chuckles89
New member
What's your intro song? lol
Nice video btw! I'll be doing my rack in a couple weeks
Nice video btw! I'll be doing my rack in a couple weeks
Mgyver1
Member
A HUGE thank you for this video. [MENTION=73515]ajonesnv[/MENTION] and I just replaced our racks yesterday as they were both leaking. Having your video qued up was a definite time saver & confidence booster.
I noticed on the video though that would help save a lot of time if someone had it is that removing the diff drop is not necessary for removing the long bolt on the driver side of the rack. Well, technically it is necessary to remove the bolt, but the bolt doesn’t need to be removed. We found just sliding the bolt out (towards front of truck) as far as it will go was more than enough room to slide the rack back and off. Also we removed the bracket holding the hard lines on the first truck but not the second time & it didn’t make it much more difficult.
Thanks again for making these videos!
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