jengis 0 Posted March 20, 2009 In diagnosing a knocking from the front it turns out that I have obvious looseness in the steering arm as it goes into the rack. I bought a new rod thinking it would be the inner ball joint. But when releasing the gaitor lots of water came out .It looks more like the play is in the rack itself. Should the steering arm move up and down when you grab it? Is this the rack that's damaged? Rod ends are fine by-the-way. Cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,627 Posted March 20, 2009 no it shouldn't move up and down, my car failed its MOT when I first had it because of this, replaced the rack and all is fine now Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,000 Posted March 20, 2009 Whenever I've seen play in a steering rack it's always been on the N/S Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chris-stdt 0 Posted March 20, 2009 I had the same thing on my old stdt ,thought the rack was f***ed so spoke to my mate who is a mechanic and he said the racks very rarely go and it will be the inner tie rod ball joint and it was Saved me a costly time consuming job changing the rack Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jengis 0 Posted March 20, 2009 (edited) OK so different exeriences. I shouldn't have assumed it was the track rod inner balljoint but like above thought the rack is unlikely to wear before the balljoint. But itis not the ball joint on the track rod, the movement is definitely from inside the rack. When I grab the rod it moves the steering arm up and down as well (only able to tell when the gaitor is pulled back). So it definitly should not move. The drivers side is solid, so pretty sure its a fault. From Welshpugs advice a new rack should fix it. GSF? Euro Car Parts? £££ ? happy to fit it myself, just never had problems with steering racks before. Cheers. edit: by steering arm I mean the part of the rack that joins to the rod, not the hub carrier! Edited March 20, 2009 by jengis Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pugdamo 111 2 Cars Posted March 20, 2009 I had this problem on one of my old 205's,like welshpug says,new rack is the cure,i got a second hand one from a mate,but its always a gamble with second hand parts,could end up with the same problem again. Definatly shouldnt move up and down Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jengis 0 Posted March 20, 2009 I had this problem on one of my old 205's,like welshpug says,new rack is the cure,i got a second hand one from a mate,but its always a gamble with second hand parts,could end up with the same problem again.Definatly shouldnt move up and down Cheers. Will get one ordered next week. Hate anything to be wrong, gotta be perfect. Its never ending with old cars though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites