Manual rack help
Manual rack help It feels like I have a tiny bit of play in my steering wheel after installing my BMR manual rack. You can ever so lightly turn the steering wheel back and forth with no steering response and no resistance. It almost feels like it rocks back and forth in the middle before any engagement. This effect is amplified when it goes from zero resistance to manual resistance. And it is annoying as hell. I was hoping for a solid connected feel at the steering wheel.
Ill try to get under there sometime soon and try to retighten everything. I feel like the problem might be with the connection into the steering shaft. BMRs instructions said to use the stock bolt and the supplied nut. Well there was no supplied nut so I went and got a regular hex nut from the hardware store.
Anything special I missed? I just dont feel like this is a solid connection like this. The steering shaft is so much bigger than the linkage. The bolts and nuts would be the only solid connecting point. If I can ever get anybody to come help me I could hold the steering linkage and have somebody wobble the wheel and see if the connection teeters.
Any other suggestions? You guys with bmr racks, did you connect with just a bolt and a hex nut to the steering shaft? Or did your linkage fit snuggly into the steering shaft?
Ill try to get under there sometime soon and try to retighten everything. I feel like the problem might be with the connection into the steering shaft. BMRs instructions said to use the stock bolt and the supplied nut. Well there was no supplied nut so I went and got a regular hex nut from the hardware store.
Anything special I missed? I just dont feel like this is a solid connection like this. The steering shaft is so much bigger than the linkage. The bolts and nuts would be the only solid connecting point. If I can ever get anybody to come help me I could hold the steering linkage and have somebody wobble the wheel and see if the connection teeters. Any other suggestions? You guys with bmr racks, did you connect with just a bolt and a hex nut to the steering shaft? Or did your linkage fit snuggly into the steering shaft?
I wish I would have known if this is normal. I did my homework and I never once came across this. I knew it would be harder to turn. More turns lock to lock. Hell I even knew I was gonna rub on the tie rods with 9 inch front rims at full turn. I was fine with all of that. I was seriously expecting a solid feel though. Maybe mine is worse, there has to be a way to make this better. I find myself constantly playing with the wheel when im driving down the road.
I hope its something with the linkage and not lash in the gears. The main benefit of rack n pinion is supposed to be a solid feel to the road so I dont know why this would be different with a manual rack n pinion. Maybe its there with the power rack but you just dont feel it with the power assist. Then again the stock connection to the steering shaft is much much much better.
I hope its something with the linkage and not lash in the gears. The main benefit of rack n pinion is supposed to be a solid feel to the road so I dont know why this would be different with a manual rack n pinion. Maybe its there with the power rack but you just dont feel it with the power assist. Then again the stock connection to the steering shaft is much much much better.
It's a combination of the steering shaft joints and the rack's "lash" for lack of a better term. There's some expensive military grade ujoints that you can get to build a steering shaft with, that will help a bunch but it's still not going to get rid of all of it. Nothing will, sorry.
Mines quite tight ive got a d shaft and a flaming river u joint at the end of the factory stub shaft out of the colum then the d shaft then another flaming river end at the rack side i got it all through bmr as a package when i bought the kmember,arms,brakes and struts i also opened up the plate on the rack and packed it full of good grease
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It's a combination of the steering shaft joints and the rack's "lash" for lack of a better term. There's some expensive military grade ujoints that you can get to build a steering shaft with, that will help a bunch but it's still not going to get rid of all of it. Nothing will, sorry.
Last edited by drone; Aug 13, 2011 at 04:36 PM.
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Verdad Gallardo Mines quite tight ive got a d shaft and a flaming river u joint at the end of the factory stub shaft out of the colum then the d shaft then another flaming river end at the rack side i got it all through bmr as a package when i bought the kmember,arms,brakes and struts i also opened up the plate on the rack and packed it full of good grease
I just got installing mine from paracing, where my intermediate shaft slides in the factory column there is play I am kinda up set there is no way as of right now that figure out how to loose the play. Beside weld the shaft to the column whice I would think maybe a bad idea.
I have some other issues with it but I guess that is the nature of the beast.
I have some other issues with it but I guess that is the nature of the beast.
Fwiw I took mine, drilled a hole in the D shaft and bolted it together. I don't know why there's a sliding connection in the rack.... Once I put a bolt thru that, like the stock one has there was no more play there at all.
5 pt harness If I hit something bad enough to have the column impale me, chances are I would be dead anyway.
The slide part, sounds like a factory safety thing. At the point that I am at it's certainly way past having anything factory safety, actually do anything.
The slide part, sounds like a factory safety thing. At the point that I am at it's certainly way past having anything factory safety, actually do anything.
From the couple manual rack set ups that I've dealt with it looked to me that the shaft was smaller than the end of the column. This allows some up and down movement in the shaft before it starts turning. I believe the slack you are feeling is caused by this free play in the shaft engagement. It may be possible to shim the slack and fix it without cutting and welding on anything.
I have a manual rack setup that I'm planning on installing on my car this weekend. I have always disliked the free play and will do my best to find and remedy it. If I find a simple solution I will report it back here.
I have a manual rack setup that I'm planning on installing on my car this weekend. I have always disliked the free play and will do my best to find and remedy it. If I find a simple solution I will report it back here.
Install it yet??
Can anybody point me in the right direction as to where I might find something to shim this with? I would need something that is the width of the flat part of the D shaft to jam in there nice and tight.
Can anybody point me in the right direction as to where I might find something to shim this with? I would need something that is the width of the flat part of the D shaft to jam in there nice and tight.
No man I didn't get to it. I decided to start with the minitub install instead. I will let you know if I find a fix.
Just run a u joint at the end of the stock colum to the d shaft then u joint from there to the rack i have zero sloppieness that way ill try and get a pic later this week fwiw i have a tubular kmember with manual rack mounts on it but i dont think that makes a differance
If you use our rack kit with steering shaft then put a 5/16 bolt thru the slotted hole in the column and tighten it. There is no slop at the column.