At what point does this screw up my alignment?

Sadly, I paid good money to have TRE do a full alignment/corner balance only 1,500 miles ago...

When you alter the length of your tie rods.

You can remove your steering rack and tie rods as a unit, that should not change your toe. Even if it does, toe is easy to adjust and should not cost you very much.
A non issue, since you cant drive your car anyway.

Here is a pic showing the black cover that the steering shaft lives under. I do not recall how it lifts off. Which means I probably did not remove it completely.:)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1146757859.jpg

why now cruise down there and have TRE have a quick look....

I would not drive that car....

Judging by the rust ring on the bearing surface in your picture, the upper steering bearing probably is shot (inside the rubber sleeve that your removed). That could account for some noise, as the you turn the wheel back and forth, since that bearing guides the "load" on the rack. If you do a search, you can find the replacement parts. Don't know if this is your whole problem, but it would appear to be a problem of sorts.

Doug

I won't drive the car like this.

TRE is pretty far from here - maybe a 40 mile flat-bed. I have the towing (AAA+), but I'd rather take a shot at it myself. In six hours, I will start digging again... thanks for the advice (and pics!).

What I did was, with the front end jacked up, drivers side window down, wiggle the wheel and hold the wheel still with your foot (or hand if you can reach). If you feel play, try to isolate it by touching the steering shaft and wiggle the wheels with your knees or have a helper that you trust gently move the wheel side to side. My coupler (disc shaped rubber thing just above the rack) was toast. It made a gentel clunk when turning the wheel and had about 6mm play of dead steering in each direction. New coupler mad the care feel dreamy. But it was visualy worn out. You could see where the play came from as soon as the steering linkage was moved.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1146756281.jpg

remove the part held on by the two red bolts ( in safes pic above) and tighten the nut in the pictures below. See if it cures the problem.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1125159809.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1125159752.jpg

Are we looking into the smuggler's box... with the upper U-joint removed?

Yes. The lower u-joint goes over the splines at the top. The lower shiny part is where the rod is held into place by a rubber bushed needle bearing.

I just figured it out - smugglers box with no a/c. Mine has a/c and all the associated junk, so mine is a bit more crowded.

Update:

My mechanic is estimating it will be about $800-1000 to fix this (rebuilt rack $300 + labor + alignment). Ugh. I'd rather spend the money on DE's, so I am going to attempt to tackle it myself.

I got the wheels down on blocks, so I have weight on them yet I can still get under the car. Moving the steering wheel about 15 degrees either way gets a "click" noise - sounds like it is coming from the rack... but I can't really isolate it. I put my head right next to the rack, and the metal carries the sound down the length. Would one of those "stethoscope type" devices help me isolate the source?

In the above pic, is there anything under the rubber boot that could be an issue? There is a spring clip holding the end of the boot - I think I can get that off and take a look... it really sounds like it is coming from under the car, not the linkage up top (they seem to move perfectly smoothly.

I had a very similar problem. One click (clunk) each time I changed direction with the steering wheel. I never figured out the problem, but I did pull the rack, open it up, replace the main bearing (in the rack, which looked fine by the way), and regreased. By the time I was done, the problem was solved. I also took the opportunity to install turbo tie rods and an upper rack bearing, as I mentioned before. The click was definately coming from within the rack, though, not the rod ends. Do a search on steering racks and you will get all the info you need to pull and refresh. Not really a hard job, and once done, you will know a lot more about the front end of your car.

Doug

Check out this rubber connection between the rack and steering column.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1147103219.jpg

If you want to remove the rack you need to have the wheels on the ground to remove the red painted bolts.
After you have removed those you can raise the car and remove the tierods from the steering arms (at the hub) and remove the 2 bolts that holds the rack to the crossmember.

You should not need an alignment after this if you don't alter the length of the tie rods.

na2ub,

I am pretty confident I have the turbo tie rods already. :D

Sounds like this is the best approach. Where did you get the "rebuild kit" for the rack? How much time did it take you?

safe,

Sounds like my plan will be to start pulling apart from the top (I will have to yank my blower from up front, as it is in the way). The closer I get to the wheels, the more I screw the alignment - something I am trying to avoid, if at all possible.

- Mike

Mike, The rack ( the part that the tie rod end screw into) moves side-to-side within the rack housing which is bolted to your crossmember. To guide the rack within the housing are 2 bearings ,one on each end. These bearings ( which are about 1" sleeves) are held in place within the housing by either a circlip or what Porsche calls a Seeger ring. The Seeger ring is one of those castellated (sp?) ,one-way, push-to-lock type retainers. I have seen them break and cause a scraping or grinding noise as the rack moves by the broken end. Later Porsche opted for a circlip instead but I don't know the changeover year. Get under your properly supported car and see if you can move the rack within the housing. Try grabbing the boot and tug up and down. If you have movement chances are that the rack bearing is out of the housing allowing freeplay between rack and housing.

I will try that this evening.

(Before I get under the car, I support it with two jack stands. Then, I used two more jack stands as back-ups. Then, I put the heavy jack under it as a third back-up. I think I will die of natural causes under there before I get crushed.)

:D

I guess I did break the rack.

Friend and I cut off the boot on the driver side this afternoon - it was already torn (pic). We found a loose rubber gasket (pic) and the bearing floating freely up and down the shaft. Looks like I blew them completely out the side. Ugh. :(

I ordered a re-built steering rack, and a new turbo tie-rod kit (may as well replace it while I am in there).

The tearing down and re-build starts this weekend... and I will have questions.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1147397615.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1147397635.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1147397649.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1147397667.jpg