Just went through this today so im letting you guys know about so you might be able to save some $$$.

After a recent accident, my car had been pulling to the right. The rack and pinion was fine so I didnt replace it. I replaced the LCA and the tie rod because they were bent in the accident. after i finish the whole car i drive it lightly for a couple days to make sure everything is ok and i take it to the shop to get it aligned. The shop aligns it and everything is straight, but when i drive it the car pulls to the right.

I take it back to the shop and they tell me that everything was in spec but they look further into the problem and find that the tierod seems to be loose. I dont trust shops so i take it to my grandpa so he can look at it. turns out that it wasn't the tierod, it was the rack and pinion that was all of a sudden broken now.

I take off the boot that the tie rod is connected to and wiggle the rod and there is alot of play and that meant that the rack and pinion was screwed. I call up honda and they want $572 for the rack and pinion! haha yeah right.

Before we go any further i look in the chiltons book and find that there's a bushing for the rack and pinion that is only on the passenger side. I go back to see if it was the bushing that was letting it wiggle and sure enough i find it broken in half in the boot. It probably cracked in the accident and wiggled out after driving it.

I just saved $500+ because the bushing only cost $13 at honda just thought I'd share it with everyone. I get so much information from this forum i wanted to give something back to it

Cliff's notes: If you think your rack and pinion is going make sure its not the end bushing that's broken. You can drive without the bushing, but your car will pull towards the right and follow the bumps in the road.

 

Oh btw i will be putting the bushing on, i just have to wait about a week for honda to ship it. If anyone changed the bushing or rack and pinion before ill appreciate and tips/help. Thanks

 

didn't do a damn thing for me, took me two days to get the rack apart, get the bushing and cram it in there.
do yourself a favour and get either a junker rack or an after market one for 200-300
stan

 

where can i get an aftermarket setup?

 

does anyone have an aftermarket one? how does it compare to stock?

 

go to shucks or napa and order a rebuilt rack for like 200 ..its just easier and every thing is replaced

 

my crx is doing the exact same thing yours was but mine pulls to the left really bad. My steering wheel feels really loose and it feels like its skipping gears in the rack or something....I've been waiting to order a rack but every time I call they are on b/o......I'm getting a rebuilt rack from BAP for $235 minus a $85 core charge, so its gonna run me around $150 for the new rack........not too shabby I guess compared to what Honda wants!

 

I used the Energy Suspension urethane bushing for the steering rack. It didn't do jack. Still ended up changing out the rack...

 

When he said "aftermarket" he meant brands from pep boys and what not....not performance like you took it. So it would compare exactly to stock.

 

You can probably pick one up from a junkyard for about $50. As long as the boots aren't torn(like mine), it should be good. I've had too many bad experiences with parts from Pep-boys and autozone. I'd rather buy OE or from a junkyard.

 

Great post!

Thanks!

 

sorry ,to bring this back from the dead, but my rack n pinion is fucked in my 89 civic hatch, so if i get one from the junk yard, i want a 89 hatchback, rack n pinion only? or can i use a 88-91 civic/crx or does it matter? my frame is a STD, standard.


i am gonna either call around tomarrow for rack n pinion prices or go to the junk yard, and pull one, anyone have good info, or tips for me? much apeciated

 

the bushing this person is talking about is not something that is replaced by polyurathane like ES or anything. its a white plastic bushing. and as he said, it only goes on the passenger side, opposite of the pinion (driver) side.

its pretty straight forward to replace, but youll probably end up needing to get an alignment done. basically unbolt the steering rack, but just let it hang, thats enough room to manouvre around. then pop the tie rod end ball joint. remove the steering rack boot and push outwards to reveal the inner ball joint. if you have a thin enough adjustable wrench, just get around the nut and twist it off. youll notice a crush washer around the nut, which is why an adjustable wrench helps since its not really a metric size anymore. also, youll notice that this crush washer is supposed to be replaced new since you end up destroying it. so make sure you buy this washer along with the bushing. then just pry out the bushing. it can be a bit tricky. but keep working at it. replacement is just reverse order. if you did not separate the inner tie rod with the outer tierod, then you might get away with maintaining your alignment. but i suggest you not separate the two, theres no reason to and youre better off not doing so.

 

This thread comes up a lot when I search for rack info so I wanted to add something for the guys who find this thread too.

TO REMOVE THE RACK:

I went to the junkyard to get a rack and fought with it for about 40 minutes till the yard closed and never got it out. I came here and searched for a while till I found the info I was looking for but when I found it, the info wasn't even for sure, it was someone's guess. This works. I've done it.

You have to turn the steering all the way to the left till it hits the stop. <----IMPORTANT
The subframe that holds the rack is boxed and there is a hole that limits the movement of the rack. Jiggle the driver's side down till the steering input shaft comes out of the hole then roll it over. You gotta fight with it a little bit but it comes out of the subframe. I haven't put mine back in yet so wish me luck. It was a pain to get it out. Something else to remember while you're at the junkyard, most of the cars don't have keys so it would seem like it'll be hard to turn the steering wheel enough to get it to the left stop. All you have to do is crawl under the dash and unhook the steering column from the rack. The column is what locks the steering, once it's unbolted you'll be able to make the rack turn left with the tie rods or by putting the ujoint on and sticking a screw driver through the bolt hole.