rack and pinion

[hN!]

Hey guys went for a road worthy today and they said my rack and pinion was stuffed it does leak... me and the old man are still deciding wether or not to change it because the guy said the whole thing was stuffed but we think it could just be a seal cause it only leaks on the right side rubber he said it was stuffed because when you would turn a corner it wouldnt centralise but we were like wtf cause its never happened to us just wondering if anyone had any hints on changing the rack "if" we have to..

[Don Sutton]

There are things that can happen to a steering gear that will cause it not to self centre but given the age of the vehicle this is unlikely. Generally self centering faults are caused by wheel alignment or worn stiff ball joints. I would check the valve trim pin covered by the steering coupling on the input shaft to the steering gear. This should have no movement and usually manifests itself in weird ways such as over boosting. Dont replace this pin with anything else but a proper 4mm dia dowel pin ie never use roll pins unless you want to kill yourself. Stiffness in the column will cause the steering to be slow or not self centre as it keeps a torque on the steering gear input shaft and energises the valve causing the power steering to fight the caster wheel force. If the seal is leaking at the right hand end it could be the lower pinion seal or the inner rack seal. Your best bet is (unless you are mechanicaly minded) is to obtain an exchange steering gear from a reputable remanufacturer such as 'Reliable', 'Australian Power Steering' or suchlike.

[jas98]

hi, i apologise about this being a thread dig (MASSIVE DIG) but i just wanted to know if anyone knew of this pin that "Don Sutton" mentions in his reply to this thread? i want to know how do you change this pin on a VS commodore?

and could this pin be causeing over sensitive power steering (i dont have a calis)

again sorry for thread dig but rather making new thread with a link to this one i mayaswell just type in here

cheers

[detox_nath83]

i would try the vs section mate as this is the vl section. ppl might have more understanding of the setup

[jatsvl]

I agree with the above,
but there's no harm in PM'ing don sutton if he is still around.