General Miata Chat A place to talk about anything Miata

Broken steering rack?

Old 08-10-2016, 01:46 PM
  #1  
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
oregonmon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 205
Total Cats: 12
Default Broken steering rack?

While parking in the paddock for a recent track day, the steering wheel made a clunk and ended up 1/4 of a turn to the left while the wheels remained straight.

History is a fully depowered rack, seals removed and pinion gear pressed pinned, like so.

Name:  3MwrUcMl.jpg
Views: 46
Size:  30.0 KB

Superpro bushings, R tie rods. Works Bell hub adapter, NRG QR.

At a complete stop, the steering is very hard to turn until you start moving, this time I really forced it and something moved or jumped. We poked around, didn't see anything, Aidan's advice was RUN IT, I recentered the steering wheel with the QR and cautiously ran 2 conservative sessions with no problems.

Before I start tearing apart the rack, has anyone experienced this or have a guess what caused this? Did the pin snap? Can the rack slip in the bushings?
oregonmon is offline  
Old 08-10-2016, 01:57 PM
  #2  
SADFab Destructive Testing Engineer
iTrader: (5)
 
aidandj's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Beaverton, USA
Posts: 18,642
Total Cats: 1,866
Default

I looked at the splines on the ujoint on the steering shaft and they looked ok. Couldn't think of anywhere else it could have slipped. Most of the splined collections wouldnt have jumped, they would have just stripped out.
aidandj is offline  
Old 08-10-2016, 02:54 PM
  #3  
Senior Member
iTrader: (3)
 
90 Turbo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Plano TX
Posts: 595
Total Cats: -1
Default Alignment bolts

Did ur alignment bolts slip maybe?
90 Turbo is offline  
Old 08-10-2016, 05:11 PM
  #4  
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
oregonmon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 205
Total Cats: 12
Default

Originally Posted by 90 Turbo
Did ur alignment bolts slip maybe?
So both wheels were turned the same direction. \ \

A good, maybe,15 degrees. So could they really be toed out/in that much?
oregonmon is offline  
Old 08-10-2016, 08:21 PM
  #5  
Senior Member
iTrader: (1)
 
Bronson M's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,104
Total Cats: 217
Default

Do you have an aftermarket steering wheel? Most hubs are made of pot metal so you could have slipped that spline.
Bronson M is offline  
Old 08-10-2016, 08:56 PM
  #6  
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
oregonmon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 205
Total Cats: 12
Default

Originally Posted by Bronson M
Do you have an aftermarket steering wheel? Most hubs are made of pot metal so you could have slipped that spline.
Yes, Momo wheel, Works hub adapter and NRG qr.
oregonmon is offline  
Old 08-10-2016, 09:22 PM
  #7  
SADFab Destructive Testing Engineer
iTrader: (5)
 
aidandj's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Beaverton, USA
Posts: 18,642
Total Cats: 1,866
Default

I highly doubt it could jump splines like that and then work fine again. If the splines let go they should have all stripped.

Alignment bolts might make sense. Thats still a lot to slip though.
aidandj is offline  
Old 08-10-2016, 10:46 PM
  #8  
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
oregonmon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 205
Total Cats: 12
Default

Originally Posted by aidandj
I highly doubt it could jump splines like that and then work fine again. If the splines let go they should have all stripped.

Alignment bolts might make sense. Thats still a lot to slip though.
Curly will probably be looking at it tomorrow at AR, 3pm appt.
oregonmon is offline  
Old 08-12-2016, 02:03 PM
  #9  
Senior Member
iTrader: (1)
 
huesmann's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Silver Spring, MD
Posts: 659
Total Cats: -16
Default

When you turn the wheels--regardless of the steering wheel centering--do they turn angularly more in one direction than the other?
huesmann is offline  
Old 08-12-2016, 05:46 PM
  #10  
Supporting Vendor
iTrader: (1)
 
turbofan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Lake Forest, CA
Posts: 7,947
Total Cats: 1,002
Default

"Tomorrow" was yesterday, que paso?
__________________
Ed@949Racing/Supermiata
www.949racing.com
www.supermiata.com
turbofan is offline  
Old 08-12-2016, 05:48 PM
  #11  
SADFab Destructive Testing Engineer
iTrader: (5)
 
aidandj's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Beaverton, USA
Posts: 18,642
Total Cats: 1,866
Default

They couldn't find anything wrong with it
aidandj is offline  
Old 08-12-2016, 05:59 PM
  #12  
Elite Member
iTrader: (6)
 
ryansmoneypit's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: A cave in Va
Posts: 3,395
Total Cats: 456
Default

I have taken my rack apart twice to weld the pinion, because internet. I don't see anything to weld, it looks like one machined piece. Do I haz a dum, or is there such a thing?
ryansmoneypit is offline  
Old 08-12-2016, 06:02 PM
  #13  
SADFab Destructive Testing Engineer
iTrader: (5)
 
aidandj's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Beaverton, USA
Posts: 18,642
Total Cats: 1,866
Default

You haz the dumb



aidandj is offline  
Old 08-12-2016, 06:04 PM
  #14  
Elite Member
iTrader: (6)
 
ryansmoneypit's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: A cave in Va
Posts: 3,395
Total Cats: 456
Default

Well crap. I hate this game sometimes. I hate taking the rack out of this thing.

Potato likes Better Homes and Gardens more than your welds.
ryansmoneypit is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
project-na
WTB
3
08-10-2016 03:06 PM
aarongdl
WTB
4
08-05-2016 04:05 PM
kypn
Suspension, Brakes, Drivetrain
19
07-22-2016 08:11 PM
darylat8750ft
MEGAsquirt
8
07-21-2016 05:32 PM
KaiserM715
Wheels and Tires
11
07-14-2016 08:00 PM


Thread Tools
Search this Thread
Quick Reply: Broken steering rack?



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:02 AM.