Steering Rack Question, For those knowledgeable about steering racks. Options

[richee3]

This is probably a stupid question. The answer seems fairly obvious to me, but I want to run it by you guys and check anyway. I ran a quick search through the threads, but didn't see anything useful. My car has 172k on it now, and it feels like it's been on some rough roads in the past. I had a '96 before this with tighter steering, my stepmom's '09 Camry obviously feels loads better, and one of my friends just bought a 2000 Celica GT-S that feels much sharper than my car. The age and wear of my car compared to the other 3 cars I mentioned says that it's obviously much older and shouldn't feel the same anyway, but it's not feeling a little worse, it feels a LOT worse. The steering is still responsive, just not tight, if that makes any sense to anyone. My dad doesn't take care of his truck at all ('97 GMC Sierra, 195K miles) and the feeling in his truck and my car is very similar. It feels like the steering is just looser than it should be. This car, from the day I've had it, has a tendency to pull whichever direction the road slants to.

As some of you know, I will be swapping a 3S-GTE into my car very soon, and I got a quote from my local Toyota dealership, and a rebuilt steering rack is only $300. I can get a brand new one for $900, but that's quite a bit of money. It seems like a good time to swap the new steering rack in, while I have the motor pulled.

My question is, is it really a worn out steering rack that I'm feeling? I have no doubt that this car was abused before I got it. It's likely seen some rough roads, since all 4 struts were profoundly blown when I bought the car with 93,000 miles on it. Would I be wasting my money to put a rebuilt steering rack in the car when I put the new motor in? Would that make anything feel any better? I just don't want to get a lot of suspension work done to the car to make it handle better if I can't steer the thing anyway.

Thanks for your input, guys.

[richee3]

Blu- There is no dead spot in the steering. The whole thing feels kinda numb, and slower to respond than it should be, but it's still responsive. I've had the tires aligned twice on this car (once after lowering it, and again after I raised it bad up- I curbed it and threw it back off.) It's entirely possible that I need to have it aligned again, but I've had it done twice in three years, and I'm tired of paying for it, but I'll go get it checked out. It's likely off anyway, since I am having the same odd wear that you are in the rear. This car has never felt as good as my ST did, which makes me think it was worn long before I got it. When I said the car likes to pull the way that the road slants, I meant it likes to do it more than it should.

I don't know if it's the steering rack or not, but it definitely feels like something is worn. It doesn't exactly feel like it's completely worn out, it just feels like it's on it's way out. I was thinking if it was the steering rack, I can get a rebuilt rack pretty cheap, and it would be easy to replace while I've got the motor out. Whatever the issue may be, I would like to get it lined out while I've got the motor out. No sense in having a fast car if I can't turn at all.

Samir- this is nowhere near that extreme. My car isn't exactly loose, just not as tight as it should be. It feels, in a word, numb. It still turns when I turn the wheel, it just feels very slightly delayed. The feeling is similar to my dad's truck, which I know has a worn steering rack.

I will take my car to a tire shop later this week and get everything checked out. I'll have them check the tie rod ends and the steering rack to see if anything has any play. I'll go ahead and have them do the alignment while I'm there. I just didn't know if somebody might know what the feeling is or how to fix it. I don't expect my car to feel brand new, but I'd like it to feel a little more crisp than it does now. Thanks for your input. Any other suggestions?