Rack & Pinion replacement

If it's leaking, there are a couple options, but first you have to know where it's leaking from. Have you jacked it up and looked? I got so sick of getting (err, paying for) advice that I dived in myself and started working on it.

If you can do struts you can definitely do the rack on your own. There's some fiddly bits getting the TRE's off and getting the rack to disconnect from the shaft without messing up the rag joint, but it's do-able. If your shocks are leaking it's a quality issue. Bilstiens are the recommended choice. Your drift problem won't be related to shocks though.

If it's drifting that much you have a safety issue. I can't point at one thing or another, but depending on your second opinion, it could very well be a rack but it could be something else. With it on a smooth surface crawl under with a good light from behind the rack and have someone turn the wheel left to right like I did here at about :30 in the video. Look for any unexpected movement of the rack or TRE's and other areas (a arms, TRE's, ball joints.) The rack will move a little like in my video but major movement could mean rack bushings. A sloppy oil change can cause engine oil to blow back onto the bushings, causing them to rot.

The other tests in the video are a decent benchmark too, check for play in the upper/lower bushings, check the ball joints, but the first goal is to see if your rack is moving around or there's slop in the inner or outer TRE's. And of course find the leak. :-D

 

$360 after the core charge was fine with me considering I needed it same day and it was labor day weekend. Labor was free!