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Rebuilt steering rack (A-1 Cardone)

D

d.n

Experienced Member
Joined
7 November 2008
Messages
362
Location
Daly City
I'm in the market for a new steering rack (non-PS) as mine clunks badly (I verified the mounts are good and tight and can feel the rack internally clunk when I push on the tie rods). I notice Rock Auto lists a rebuild price for about 1/2 of the cost of a new unit from Honda. Has anybody gone this route before? I'm okay with the downtime of sending them my core to rebuild, but am unsure of the quality and also the condition of my current rack for rebuild as the play is quite bad.

Or would I be better off just looking for a used unit?
 
I'm sure your going to have mixed responses, but I say it shouldn't be a problem. Been riding with a cardone brake booster for 2 years without issues.
 
I don't have any specific experience with Cordone, but if you've got the time, look for a used one. I've had a lot of bad rebuilt parts in the last ten years by folks that at one time had a good rep. Would scare me, but i am a worry wart. I'm SO surprised your rack is bad.
 
Keep us posted. I haven't taken mine out yet so I'll just wait to see how your turns out first. Did you take off the tie rods and rod ends or just send it complete back to Cardone?
 
That's weird. When I checked on Rock Auto, they rebuild it on your core. If you do order from there, don't forget to search around for a 5% off coupon that's pretty much always available.
 
Have you any additional information on this thread?
I am looking to buy a car that has been diagnosed with a bad rack.

Never mind...the car has an electric assist unit to the tune of $6268. Though they can be had for less, it might be a deal breaker.
Thanks
 
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The turn around time was ~3 weeks door to door and when it came back, the rack felt "gritty" and I could feel some play when switching directions from right to left ( this is with the car in the air and everything hooked up) and could still feel the rack clunking internally once the steering shaft was hooked up and there was some load on the rack. There also seemed to be a "dead spot" in the center of the rack that I could feel even with the rack out of the car and playing with the steering shaft by hand. I think all these guys did was change the bearings, rod ends, boots and give it a paint job. I don't think they looked at the famous internal bushings or perhaps even the teeth on the rack are messed up on my rack. They did pay for return shipping and are looking at it again on their dime, but 6 weeks without the car has been dreadful.

To make a short story long, send it to D1 guy. I sent mine to Cardone literally days before his post and have been out of the NSX since.

[edit] just read your edit. You should pm D1 guy. He is apparently fixing EPS racks so it may be worth your while as a great bargaining chip with the seller
 
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d.n said:
The turn around time was ~3 weeks door to door and when it came back, the rack felt "gritty" and I could feel some play when switching directions from right to left ( this is with the car in the air and everything hooked up) and could still feel the rack clunking internally once the steering shaft was hooked up and there was some load on the rack. There also seemed to be a "dead spot" in the center of the rack that I could feel even with the rack out of the car and playing with the steering shaft by hand. I think all these guys did was change the bearings, rod ends, boots and give it a paint job. I don't think they looked at the famous internal bushings or perhaps even the teeth on the rack are messed up on my rack. They did pay for return shipping and are looking at it again on their dime, but 6 weeks without the car has been dreadful.

To make a short story long, send it to D1 guy. I sent mine to Cardone literally days before his post and have been out of the NSX since.

[edit] just read your edit. You should pm D1 guy. He is apparently fixing EPS racks so it may be worth your while as a great bargaining chip with the seller
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post. I will keep the possibility of contacting D1 guy in mind.
 
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Just to update this thread to be complete, I shipped my rack out originally 11/25/2011 and recieved it 2/2/2012 (it had to go to Cardone 2x as it was not fixed properly the first time). The shop is on the east coast (PA), so east coasters will have significantly better turn around time as much of the wasted time was due to ground shipping the rack from coast to coast.

It is working flawlessly now so far and all of the problems were fixed. I consider my rack to be one of the worst that I have ever felt - lots of play, felt like a bad ball joint when I would hit bumps, bad clunking was felt in the center of the rack when the car was in the air and the wheels were moved back and forth manually. All in all the rack was fixed properly, I just can't recommend them over other avenues as they don't test their racks first before shipping them out and the turn around time to the West coast was horrible.
 
D1 Guy has my EPS rack now. I will report back when the car is together. He reports that my bushings were totally trashed and that the rack was filled with, get this, sand and MOLD :eek:, something he had never heard of before. It's always nice, as a teacher, to provide someone with a new experience :biggrin:
 
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Hi, guys here in the land of Oz we have engineered a solution to the steering rack knock by using the Knock Bush.

What we have found is the rack knock is caused by the rack housing on the passenger side wearing - there is no bearing or bush on this end so after years of driving and off-side road pot holes the aluminium housing wears and the rack shaft has slop and causes knock.

Easy to identify where the knock is coming from - jack passenger front wheel up and check if there is sideways or top knock/movement. Any sideways knock/movement then the rack housing is worn which either requires replacement (very expensive) or fitment of the Knock Bush.

Attached is a pic of the bush only takes approximately 1/2 hour to fit and no special tools required. I will have a YouTube vid fitting the Knock Bush as soon as i find another NSX that has rack knock.

I have had my Knock Bush fitted for over 3 years know with no problems (approx 10,000kms) and 6-8 track days.

Please pm me if you require further info and pricing (got nothing to hide its $150.00 inc. freight and instructions)
 

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NSX-SA said:
Hi, guys here in the land of Oz we have engineered a solution to the steering rack knock by using the Knock Bush.

What we have found is the rack knock is caused by the rack housing on the passenger side wearing - there is no bearing or bush on this end so after years of driving and off-side road pot holes the aluminium housing wears and the rack shaft has slop and causes knock.

Easy to identify where the knock is coming from - jack passenger front wheel up and check if there is sideways or top knock/movement. Any sideways knock/movement then the rack housing is worn which either requires replacement (very expensive) or fitment of the Knock Bush.

Attached is a pic of the bush only takes approximately 1/2 hour to fit and no special tools required. I will have a YouTube vid fitting the Knock Bush as soon as i find another NSX that has rack knock.

I have had my Knock Bush fitted for over 3 years know with no problems (approx 10,000kms) and 6-8 track days.

Please pm me if you require further info and pricing (got nothing to hide its $150.00 inc. freight and instructions)
Click to expand...

Subscribed:cool:
 
Re: Rebuilt steering rack

grybrd said:
D1 Guy has my EPS rack now. I will report back when the car is together. He reports that my bushings were totally trashed and that the rack was filled with, get this, sand and MOLD :eek:, something he had never heard of before. It's always nice, as a teacher, to provide someone with a new experience :biggrin:
Click to expand...


The rack is back and it is a DREAM! Cannot say enough good things about d1 guy: great to deal with, excellent results, amazing resource to the community. I am thrilled with the results.
Many thanks, Matt. (d1 guy on Prime)
Michael
 
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Hi Grybrd (grey bird or grey beard hmm?)

I don't know why it took me this long to figure it out, but I assume this means you went through with the purchase of that NSX with the bad rack? If so congrats!
 
d.n said:
Hi Grybrd (grey bird or grey beard hmm?)

I don't know why it took me this long to figure it out, but I assume this means you went through with the purchase of that NSX with the bad rack? If so congrats!
Click to expand...

I did, in fact, buy the car. d1 guy's ability to do the rack rebuild made the deal for me :biggrin:
(Grey Beard)
 
Hi guys I’ve had numerous inquiries re: my NSX steering rack knock bush so I’ve produced a first take YouTube vid of how to diagnosis and fit the NSX knock bush to eliminate passenger steering rack knock on a NSX.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV_SphimJcc
 
NSX-SA said:
Attached is a pic of the bush only takes approximately 1/2 hour to fit and no special tools required.
Click to expand...
This is absolutely NOT true!
Just wondering how you remove the old bushing without disassembling the whole rack. It is pressed in there and you need a lot of skills to take it out and put it back together as you need special tools (have a look in the service manual) and so on. I can see a bushing installed in the video but can absolutely not imagine how you took the old one out. Taking it out takes more than an hour if you haven't done this before. Just a warning to the DIY guys. It's the steering column you're working on. This should be done only by a professional who has done this before and has the special tools. I've done it and know what I'm talking about.
 

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