ive got some severe rack play in my civic, ive been reading the faq's on how to rebuild the thing. i can turn the wheel 1 1/2 to 2 inch either way and the wheels dont turn. at this point should i just shell out the money for a new rack or go ahead and try to rebuild mine.

and i saw something about adjusting the pinion in one of those threads, hows that done exactly.

its an 89 std hatch.

any help would be appreciated.

 

from what I understand, unless you have a power steering rack, you can rebuild it for much less.

Just inner tie rods, outer tie rods, and rack end bushing.

 

thats what i was planning on doing anyway, ive found most the parts except the rack end bushing. im just worried about the inner tie rod removal. i read the description in the faq's about how to remove it, but i look at the part and start to scratch my head.

either way ill be pulling the rack out in a few days to see whats going on

 

If you are using a stock steering wheel there will be some play. Changing to a smaller aftermarket may eliminate some.

 

its alot more play than normal...trust me...if i try to accelerate from cruising itll want to swap lanes. not to mention all the rattling noises. plus i looked with my head out the window and moving the steering wheel it moves almost 2 inchs either way with absolutly no wheel movement

 

rebuild it . not that hard , just time and patience lol

 

guess ill figure it out after the rack is pulled, i mean how hard can it be

 

Famous last words

 

If you can pull out the rack, "rebuilding" it is just another step or two, and $10 in parts. And don't forgot to adjust the pinion.

 

oh i can defintely get it out, from what im reading it cant be extremely difficult. i just forsee having a problem extracting those inner tie rods

 

Those are extremely easy - the hardest part is the rack end bushing and even that isn't horrible. I still buy mine from the local Honda stealership (their prices are around 15-20% higher than the online dealerships - sometimes higher). If you can't seem to get the inkers out with it out of the vehicle they make a rental tool set for when you do it in the vehicle. I can assure you though - with it out of the vehicle it is a cake walk. Bend the tabs and unscrew it.

 

wow its that easy, ive got some of the parts on order now im going with moog. i know there stuff is top shelf, i guess ill go to the dealership for the rack end bushing.

 

i finally got the rack out of the car. i hit some delays due to rain. something that scares me. that rack end bushing. if its located on the passenger side where the holes are in the end of the rack. that joker has either fallen out or has disintegrated because i cant see one in there. and i can move the rack gear on the inside about a 1/2 in all directions. so i was thinking it fell out which is very bad i know

the only place i could find the rack end bushing was a place called Sons Honda (if this dealer is local to you, tell them im the happiest guy in a 100 miles radius)

i should have some pictures of it soon. i ran out of daylight

 

srry to threadjack but how do you do that? i put a new rack in my crx (manual) and the steering wheel has play.

 

look in the faq's thats where ive been looking

 

Read all the pages and you will know more than you ever wanted to know about it...

http://www.ht-archive.org/showthread.php?t=1117870

OP - Sounds like your bushing did in fact disintegrate.

 

yeah its gone completely. its on order. anybody gotta a picture of which way it sits inside the rack, since i didnt have the opportunity to remove it myself