My steering has gotten sloppy as hell lately, a lot of play before it actually starts turning. I've gotten it aligned a couple of times and it hasn't made much difference. While I was getting my car tuned for headers, the guy who was doing it said he thought it might be the steering rack.

Considering everything else up front is new, save for the tie rods, I think that may be the issue. Anyway, is there any aftermarket or other OEM options out there that are made with handling in mind? The only ones I see are manual racks with drag racing in mind. I would like to keep my powersteering, just looking for a better ratio or feel. Already have the Turn1 power steering pump.

 

never heard of a performance power rack for the f- body. just get a stock replacement. an alignmet will not fix any play in steering it just adjusts the font end angles back to factory spec. if you have slop in your tie rods a good alignment shop should have turned down the alignment untill the problem was fixed.

 

So if you go to all of the expense of replacing the rack and that turns out to not fix the problem, won't you be pissed off?

 

Yeah, I was thinking about that. However, I don't know what else could be the problem. I replaced the whole suspension earlier this year. New springs, shocks, tubular upper and lower control arms, and new ball joints all around. Handled tight for awhile. I had a bad power steering leak for awhile and have run the old pump dry a few times, plus at one point I had to drive it around with the pump dead for awhile till a new one came in. I also drive it fairly hard and open track it. I could imagine all this has put some excess wear on the rack and I have close to 90k miles.

I've had it aligned a couple of times since it's been acting up and they don't say anything about the tie rods being bad.

 

My car's been getting sloppy (free play) lately too. I just figured because it's turned over 185,XXX that it's getting worn out, one micrometer at a time.

Rack and Pinion setups are real good, but a little wear on the rack teeth or the pinion gear itself is magnified multi-fold.

My car is experiencing about a 3-5 degrees of slop. It causes the car to wander and its becoming an irritation.

How hard is it to replace?

 

I swapped over to a tubular k, so for me it should be cake as it's totally out in the open. When I was removing it form the stock k, it was a little cramped, but doable. I've read a couple threads on it where people say you have to cut off one of the bolts. I don't think that's necessary, but it's possible I might have had the engine lifted off the mounts at that point and had a bit more room to play with. What I haven't dealt with is removing it from the tie rods and boots.

 

With 256,000 on my '93 Camaro Z28, let me give my two cents : outer tierod
ends are most likely your problem, and at just 40 a side its worth the try. The
rack in my Camaro is the original, as is the hoses, pump etc. I swapped out
the front upper/lower control arms/balljoints from a Firebird at 226k. The slop
that I felt (a wander) still remained. The outer tierod ends get more wear in
them than the inner ones in the boots. The outers have to turn, where as the
inner just pivot slightly. Since you will want to do the outers anyway, I would
start there. You dont say how many miles you have on it.

Tom

 

Well, it definitely wouldn't hurt to try. I have close to 90k miles on it. Thanks.

 

I thought LS1s didn't have rag joints, I could be wrong.

 

hes a 95, no LS in his car.

 

opps wrong person.

 

you're right.

 

check the rag joint, and rod-ends. Also check your pre-load on the rack; the large nut and adjustment bolt opposite where the steering shaft enters. It may have either loosened up, or just needs adjustment for wear. If none of that helps, then it's time for a new rack. Nothing aftermarket needed, the stockers work great.

Get a new rag-joint though; or an eliminator if you want; personally the eliminators are a little harsh for me; but then again having 275s on the front is damn rough to begin with.

 

Turns out it was the passenger side front wheel bearing. It was pretty torn up. My steering rack was a little loose, but a majority of the problem lied with the bearing.

 

A proper diagnosis is worth a lot more than internet speculation. There are probably a lot of guys with significant front hub wear related handling issues who don't realize it. Glad you got it sorted out.