Steering Woes~

[blue thunder]

A quick question for the masses. Has anyone on their own replaced the universal joint assembly that is in between the fire wall in the engine bay and the rack and pinion. This is popping and squeaking and I believe is causing my tight steering. I just had a brand new oem rack put in and the steering didn't change. I may look for a used joint assembly and do it myself if possible. Thanks.


Mike

[Budfreak]

Originally Posted by blue thunder

A quick question for the masses. Has anyone on their own replaced the universal joint assembly that is in between the fire wall in the engine bay and the rack and pinion. This is popping and squeaking and I believe is causing my tight steering. I just had a brand new oem rack put in and the steering didn't change. I may look for a used joint assembly and do it myself if possible. Thanks.


Mike

Mine is shot too. no popping or anything, just an inch or so of play in the steering. good luck.

[blue thunder]

Thanks Bud for the reply. It's not popping much anymore but still giving me problems nontheless. The problem was analyzed as the rack and I had a brand new rack put in for close to 900.00 and apparently the old rack was good. I'm going in to Subaru tommorrow to haggle and complain. I don't know what to expect from them. It seems not to many people have replaced or had to replace this universal joint assembly. What a mess.

Mike

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by blue thunder

Thanks Bud for the reply. It's not popping much anymore but still giving me problems nontheless. The problem was analyzed as the rack and I had a brand new rack put in for close to 900.00 and apparently the old rack was good. I'm going in to Subaru tommorrow to haggle and complain. I don't know what to expect from them. It seems not to many people have replaced or had to replace this universal joint assembly. What a mess.

Mike

Mike,
I think you've got a good case...especially since rebuilt racks only run around $250.
-Bill

[blue thunder]

Yeah I had a re-built in I found on the net (The Steering Store) for around 6-8 months and figured it must have been low quality and opted for a oem new one instead of sending the used one back. I did have a three year warranty on it. What a happy holiday for me.


Mike

[svx_commuter]

I replaced the U-joint for the steering over the summer. The new one wore out in about 8 weeks. The inside spline on the rack side of the coupling were all torn up. So I got a new one under warantee. That one is working fine. I also tightened the piss out of it several times after driving for a week too make sure it stayed tight. I think the torque spec for the bolt is low.

[blue thunder]

I have a new one hopefully coming in on Friday. Did you install it on you're own and if so does the rack have to be moved to fit it in. Any special tools? I guess this part failing is pretty uncommon. Thanks.

Mike