Steering rack tighten/adjust?

[WayneM]

I've been chasing down a "new" clunk in my steering. The air-quotes are because I had previously done the collapsible column tack welds. Turns out, my tack welds were too small, and broke. So my "new" clunk was just a return of the old clunk... I hope.

Anyway, in the process, I found that my LF wheel has a tiny bit of steering play. Like 0.5-degree or less. It's about like what you'd expect if the wheel bearings were starting to wear out, except it is only side-side, not up-down.

I tracked it to the left tie rod entering the steering rack. There's about 1/32" of dead-band slop. That's really not much, and I'm not really concerned about it. But... is there a way to adjust and tighten it up? Or does it require rebuilding. If it requires new parts, I'll probably just forget about it for another decade.

I have been scanning this thread, but any adjustment procedure is not clear to me.
How to: Replace steering rack guide- Pictures

 

[NachesPass4x4]

If I understand what your saying, it sounds like the inner tie rod should be replaced.

 

[phattyduck]

There is pre-load on the guide behind that large hex plug. There is a chance there is play there, but as the other answer said - inner tie rods are at least as likely to be the source of play.

You can see what's inside here:

How to: Replace steering rack guide- Pictures

-Charlie

 

[T4R2014]

Verify the ITRE. If it's not, get a new rack. I think the adjustment in the guide is more for manufacturing purposes. By the time it has worn in and gotten play, an adjustment won't fix the root cause of the wear. If one side has play and the other doesn't, and playing with the adjuster affects both sides, then aren't you excessively tightening one side just to get play out of the other?

 

[WayneM]

Thanks for the suggestions. Agreed, could probably be inner tie rod end. I'll pull the boot back and check it.

 

[alia176]

Thanks for the suggestions. Agreed, could probably be inner tie rod end. I'll pull the boot back and check it.

1/32" of play is just noise to me. I don't know if I'd lose any sleep over it but if the inner and outer TREs + bushings haven't been replaced, why not have an adventure!

 

[mtbtim]

It would also be my vote that a steering rack guide replacement/adjustment might be in order. [MENTION=148218]JZiggy[/MENTION] and I have a video on the subject matter.

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I'm sort of doubting you have inner tie rod play. When it comes to figuring out if you have a bad tie rod, you're looking for the joint popping. If the joint is simply loose feeling, and there's no popping in the joint, the inner tie rod is still good. I've seen many people equate a floppy feeling tie rod as a bad tie rod. The new tie rod joints start out stiff, but then they loosen up, which it totally normal. But, if you do find you have a tie rod with joint play, I've got a video for that job as well.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/--HcOQlv03U?si=RT7Mh0_WWbfOI2WJ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>