Steering rack seems to have failed. Still trying to troubleshoot.

I was driving last night doing 50 mph and the steering started pulling right further and further, so I pulled it over and inspected the tie rods and suspension but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary mechanicaly.

However the tires were toe out a lot and both way off of where they should be with reference to the steering wheel.

I Got back in my truck and drove slowly to my mom's house that was nearby.

The drive there made it worse until the steering wheel was 90° left to drive straight and the tires had camber and were starting to squeal as I pulled it up to my mom's place.

It sits there for now until I can figure out what is happening...

With visual inspection of the tie rod bellow length it looks like my rack has the problem and not the tie rods or suspension. They are out different distances.

(2x6 for reference)

This seems to be a hydrolic leak or complete failure of the rack. I don't know jack about steering systems though so I am shooting in the dark here.

There is no or very little play in the tires when lifted up, the steering wheel has very little to no "slop" either, steering is still responding fine. Just WAY off...

I need thoughts and ideas, what would you do in my situation? Check other components, disassemble the rack and attempt repair, replace rack entirely?

Thanks.

 

Bump

 

The amount of thread visible on your outer tie rods should be close to equal. Is that the case here? Can’t tell from your pics.

I always thought the inside of the rack was all one piece but I may be wrong and it’s falling apart inside. Either way it’s sort of a replace the whole thing kind of part. There is a write up on here somewhere about rebuilding it but I think it’s pretty involved

 

You said the tires had camber and starting to squeal? Do you mean toe-in? If you have a camber problem it is not steering related...

 

It looked like it had a camber, when I jacked it up the bottom of the tire moved inward enough to notice, maby 1/2" or more. But since it is toe out quite a bit, it may be just the force of the tires wanting to pull outward.

 

If it is a solid piece then I may have a different problem, it's toe out 10°+ within the span of 5 miles and it wandered as I was driving...

So if the wheels are directly connected via outer tie rod, inner tie rod, to the shaft and back again with no break in attachment it shouldn't wonder, something else threw off the alignment.

But if it is built like this:


I can see a seal failing and the rods loosing position.

Inner tie rods, steering fluid lines, and LBJ will be looked at again later today after work.

Will update.

 

Check the LBJ’s well. Use a prybar and try to pry it apart (with truck on jacks), any play is too much. If it all moved when you jacked it up something seems very wrong.

Also check the connection between your steering shaft and the rack.

 

She be solid inside.

Only thing that could have come apart is the tie rod ends, inners and/or outers. Inners (inside the boots) have a "relatively" fool proof locking washer to prevent unscrewing. The washer is keyed to the shaft then the washer is bent over flats on the end. That being said, it can and has been screwed up.


I would be looking at everything else.

 

Ok, thank you for the images.

I'll check the inner tie rods and the LBJ first thing when I get off work.

 

I'll check out the LBJ for sure, also I did look at the connection of the steering shaft to the rack and it seems tight with no play, if it did slip would that throw off alignment this much? The tires would stay aligned but the steering wheel would loose center right?

 

Yeah it would not affect toe-in, just mid-align the wheel to where the wheels were pointed, or worse you would lose control (kind of sounded like that in your first post).

 

In this pic it appears the jam nut for the outer tie rod end is not tight against the inner tie rod. If that is the case the inner tie rod is free to turn on it's own, which would affect toe in/out condition.
When performing an alignment that jam nut is loosened and the inner tie rod is rotated in order to achieve the desired position, once complete the jam nut must be tightened or the inner can move. Check it, it may be just the angle of the pic.

 

I Know what you mean, however I just did the outer tie rod replacement a month ago and had it aligned.

The jam nuts on both tie rods are tight and not moving. Besides the loss of steering happened quickly, if a jam nut loosened slowly it would be less noticeable.

I'm I'm no mechanic. So take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

Jam nuts tight answers the question, no problem.

 

if anyone sees anything out of the ordinary let me know, the inner tie rod balls are a bit dirty but I don't think that would be causing this much loss of alignment that fast.

It almost felt like a Leak in the power steering system but I can't find any large amounts of power steering fluid anywhere, besides if the wheels are tied together on a single shaft on the inside of the rack it wouldn't make it toe out that bad right?

So in theory it's one of a few other things...

UCA bushings, LCA bushings, LBJ, UBJ, CV axle, failed piston in the coil over?

hit me with ideas because I'm stumped

 

I don't know anything about first gens but @thefatkid does