crx hf has 303k on it, just recently i noticed when i turned to the left leaving a parking space i could hear this noise & vibration from it. I took the rack off and when i push in the tie rod end...it's very unsmooth...click...click...click... and pretty loud. Is this the infamous rack end bushing? Is my pinion gear bad?

 

steering rack bushing? no, not really.

sounds like you need to take the rack out anyway and see if theres a tooth broken on the pinion or rack.

 

well i just replaced the whole thing with a reman. rack & pinion from pepboys. The steering feels a bit loose. Will adjust the steering Gearbox help this? the tie rods are all nice and tight so it's not them.

 

sure, worth a try.

dont forget to make sure the u-joint pinch bolt at the top of the pinion is tight.

 

**** well i didnt do that and i just drove to work. Will the rack & pinion fall apart if the bolts not tight? Thanks for the help.

 

um... youll lose control of your car? maybe, yes!!!

 

How much did you pay for the reman rack? Is the pinion gear or the rack available separately as a changeable part?

 

if the pinch bolt is the 'gold' bolt that goes into the thing with all the splines that attaches to the steering column... then yes i did tighten it.

the remanufactured rack was about $320...with a $95 core. i don't know if the gear or the rack is available separately. the rack came with everything including the inner tie rods.

 

Ouch! Hopefully, I can just adjust my pinion gear spring tension as Tyson suggested and that will take care of the play in my rack.

 

yeah it hurt paying that much...i tried the junkyard first but not a single honda w/out power steering.

 

Yeah, that's like almost half of what I paid for my 91 HB w/134,000 miles.

I couldn't lossen the pinion spring adjuster locknut. I'm going to take the whole rack out and replace the tie rods and rack bushing and hope that's the problem.

 

I have to remove the rack on my 91 civic hatchback. I've read that people remove the shift linkage and exhaust pipe to remove the rack. Is this really necessary?

I'm thinking there is enough room if I remove the tires, then shift the rack out one of the wheel wells, maybe even turn the hub outward to make room.

 

You may be able to get away with not removing the shift linkage but I think you'll still need to unbolt the exhaust from the cat. I'm not sure though. I removed both of them when I did mine.