Obviously the first non-power steering miata I drove seemed hard to me, coming from a p/s equipped one.

After buying my new I thought nothing of it.

Got in the same manual steering miata again this weekend, and compared to mine, it feels like it has power!

So trying to figure why it would be easier I factored out, tires and steering wheel size. as they are both the same.

Is there any servicing I can do to my manual rack to make it a tad easier? Because it's obvious, compared to the two, mine is harder to turn. Now I wish I never drove his, cause it's been bugging me, otherwise, I'd be non-the-wiser. Possibly lubrication the ball joint?

 

Air pressure makes a pretty big difference on my car, for daily driving i run north of 35 psi on my Azenis and ran more with **** tires.
You may want to check out your joints as well, I found that I had a bad lower joint and after replacing it turning was waaaaaaaaaay easier.
I also wonder if you can lube the rack with marine grease?

 

Air pressure, steering wheel size, tire size, tire compound, and alignment all hugely effect the seteering effort.

 

I'll have to check my tires...

But the things we had in common:

same surface the test was on
350mm steering wheel
205mm tires (205/45/16 vs 205/50/15)
similar camber

 

He's probably running a lot more pressure in the 16" tires than you do in your 15". Switch the front wheels out and go again.

I've been driving this current miata for over 2 years now and absolutely do not a car with p/s.

 

Caster has big effect on steering effort and the cars ability to track straight.
If you suspect rack or some other mechanical part has extra friction, that could be ruled out by lifting the front ends up on both cars and testing the steering effort then.

My bet is on the caster.

hrk

 

yeah both turn easy with no friction on the tires...I'll dig up my alignment spec sheet and see what caster I have. Might inspect the lower joint just incase.

I don't mind it as is, it's fine. But if I could still have easier effort and no power, that would be cool too.

 

If any of your joints are shot your steering effort will suffer.

 

steering racks in general (power or non) don't really need too much servicing. kind of like what you said, it's just all the stuff connected to them you have to keep an eye on.

i'm a big fan of the way a manual rack feels. i have yet to drive a miata with a manual rack, but i've been on the lookout for one so i can see how i like it.

would you say it's worth seeking out a miata with a manual rack vs. power?

 

I absolutely love it.


but there are times i miss my cushy leather seats and power everything....then i remove the ***** from my ***.

 

I just swapped out a manual rack for P/S this past weekend. While I had both out, I turned the input shaft by hand. With little to no fluid in the system (but hoses connected), the powered rack felt smooth. However, the manual rack felt stiff and like it was too tight. I have read that there is an adjustment for the pinion; I'll open it up and look at it later this week. It also felt like it needed lubrication. Who knows, maybe it got thumped and was bent, or just had a bad seal and is dirty inside?

I do know that is was harder to turn than the power rack, which doesn't seem right. I have not found any information on lubrication, so I assume it's not meant to be opened up in normal circumstances. There were no grease fittings on it that I could find.

When the P/S was installed, but the front wheels still up off the ground, I could spin the steering wheel easily with one finger and very little pressure. It was smoother and easier than the original rack. Ball joints look good, but I did replace the outer tie rod ends, which were going. Maybe you need to check those?

 

I have one new ball joint end, and one I reused from my power rack....service manual says to look at the ball joint (lubricate), pinon preload, steering gear for damage, shaft joint, and tire pressures.