Hi Everyone,

I have been trying to figure out the play in my depowered rack to no avail. I have a decent amount of play in the steering wheel and have traced it down to the rack. It feels like backlash between gears as it takes very little weight to jiggle the steering wheel. See below for a video of what it looks like at the rack:


I've tried tightening the adjuster beyond factory spec and it only seemed to increase the steering weight once i got past the dead zone. I've also tried welding the steering pinion, but that did not make a difference.


Anyone experienced this or have any idea on how to fix it? At this point I am considering finding another rack to depower.

 

Did you actually weld the correct part of the shaft? I thought it was to that lip above your weld, but I always check it In a vice.

 

You probably already checked this, but I had huge play in my depowered system and thought it was in the rack at first.
But then I traced it to the coupler between the rack and the column. The bolts were tight, but it had slipped a bit, so not enough of the upper splines were engaged above the divot made for the clamping bolt. (The region at the top of your picture)

 

I'm fairly certain the correct area was welded. I checked where the male and female splines interface and welded at that joint.

It also seems to match up with the other images I've seen online. (Attached)

 

Looks to me like the play is in the coupler where it clamps to the splines, like IceDawg said. I'd check that first.