Steering Rack - *New Question in Quote Box*

2k1MotorSport · Post by **2k1MotorSport** » Tue May 20, 2008 4:35 pm

About a month or so ago i replaced my passenger outer tie rod since it was making noise on that side when i would turn.. and for the most part the noise stopped except when you turn the wheel all the way to the right.

I went to have an alignment done after the tie rod went on and everything thing was running smooth. I even had my friend (who does AutoX) drive the car hoping that i would hear good things... when he got back he handed me the keys and told me that i needed and alignment. This was only 2 days after i had it done. But now, after i had the alignment done about a month ago, the car is handling like shit again and the camber is off on the passenger side.

I went to the dealer and the guy told me (after listening to the noise) that my steering rack would need to get replaced. I don't think however that the whole thing would need to get replaced...

Can just the inner tie rod get replaced or would i have to put a 'new' steering rack in? And would any 2gn rack work in my R/T?

Sorry for the long post... time is running out before carlisle and it's crunch time.

EDIT

Would the rack out of a 1gn R/T work the same in my 2gn R/T? Are they the same part number?

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Tue May 20, 2008 4:54 pm

look for an ACR or RT steering rack from any 2gn.

2k1MotorSport · Post by **2k1MotorSport** » Wed May 21, 2008 6:37 am

so the r/t / acr one is specific?

Toast · Post by **Toast** » Wed May 21, 2008 6:52 am

I'm a newbie on this so please exuse my ignorance if I'm incorrect. Before I owned my Neon I owned another Mopar, a 96 New Yorker. It's steering rack had press in rubber bushings in the mount where it bolted to the unibody. They more or less disintergrated and needed to be replaced. Your symptoms mirror those of my old NY. Could the Neon's rack also have these same bushings? Take a look.

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:55 am

2k1MotorSport wrote:so the r/t / acr one is specific?

They are interchangable, but the steering ratios are faster, IIRC, on R/T's and ACR's. Other than that it is my understanding that they are a direct swap. If mine ever goes, I plan on replacing it with the quicker ratio unit.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:22 am

The ratio is faster on the R/T & ACR racks. The R/T racks also had a limiter in them because of the larger wheel size.

The inner tie rod isn't available from Chrysler...you would have to source one from Moog, TRW, etc.

The rack mounts are a lot like some of the older K-cars...two mounting tabs on one side and a U bracket with a rubber bushing on the other. It wouldn't hurt to get the car in the air and take a look at their condition as well.

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:25 am

You can replace the inner-tie rods. Moog makes parts for the base, and RT neons (regular vs. Firm feel). dodge says you cannot change them, but it has been done. i've done it in my car and grambo has done it in his. there are 2 how-to's about this in the chassis section.

my advice to you is before you change these or the rack, make sure you don't have something else simpler, yet less obvious such as wear in the ball joints or something like that. clunk noises in the suspension could be easily misleading , and could be anything... the rack, and inner tie-rods are very sturdy, and will very rarely go bad....

good luck !!!

srtminime · Post by **srtminime** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:03 am

Or go to a crazy fast 14:1 setup with a Dodge Shadow. You can pick up a rack from autozone and bolt it right in, keep PS too...

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:15 am

^^^f'real???

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:27 am

srtminime wrote:Or go to a crazy fast 14:1 setup with a Dodge Shadow. You can pick up a rack from autozone and bolt it right in, keep PS too...

Sweet, if thats true I have 2 of them somewhere....

srtminime · Post by **srtminime** » Wed May 21, 2008 2:14 pm

It might be the Shadow RT, but I found that info on neons.org, search and yee shall recieve

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Wed May 21, 2008 7:11 pm

Wouldn't surprise me if it is the rack. I have to buy one to replace after I get paid this week.

INVUJerry · Post by **INVUJerry** » Wed May 21, 2008 7:14 pm

The shadow rack only works on 1gns.

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:19 pm

Knew it had to be too good to be true! Guess I'll have to settle for looking at shadows of racks!

01NeonSnooZer · Post by **01NeonSnooZer** » Mon May 26, 2008 10:45 am

Okay, you can replace the inner tie rods with after market ones but before you do make sure that you really don't need a rack. Take the inner tie rod boots loose and make sure that a bad inner tie rod didn't tear up the inner rack seal. if it did and this seal is leaking, then you really do need a rack because you can't replace the seal. if the bushings are bad as one member suggested, you can usuall find aftermarket replacent bushings and press the old ones out and new ones in.

EDIT: forgot to tell you to check your lower control arm bushings and ball joints. If these are bad, it'll affect your alignment and it won't be straight no matter how many times you align it. If the bushngs and ball joints are okay, then move to the tires. if it has a continuous pull to one side or the other, swap the front tires side-to-side and see if it pulls the other way. If so, get new tires or even just rotate the front tires to the rear to hold you until you can afford new tires. the other really obvious thing to check is tire pressure. i set mine a little higher (2-3psi) than factory to help with my mileage but if one is low for whatever reason (temperature change or leak) then it'll usually pull the whichever side is low due the the slightly larger contact patch and the lean of the car towards the low side.

EDIT AGAIN: If your tires are directional (arrow on them that says which way the tires should spin depending on the side of the car they're on, or say "This Side Out' or "Outside" or "Mount This Side Out") then you can't switch them side-to-side and they must be moved to the back. At which time, the pull should either greatly decrease or go away all together.

2k1MotorSport · Post by **2k1MotorSport** » Wed May 28, 2008 11:13 pm

bump for a new question..

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Thu May 29, 2008 10:14 am

Nope. I don't know first hand what the difference is, but the part #'s are different.

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:13 am

i've wondered myself what the differance is between 1gn nd 2gn racks.......cause i want a real manual rack, not a ps rack with looped lines, lol

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:15 am

Funny you should say that...I'm removing the P/S from my car. But I'm just capping the lines.

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:30 am

i refuse to use my rack without PS...i did in the past by just removing the belt and i blew both seals...the rack had to be replaced cause both inner boots were blown up like baloons full of fluid and had a LOT of BAD play in them

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:41 am

Yeah, that's why you don't run it with just the belt off. Drain most of the fluid and then cap it off

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:52 am

i cant imagine thats much better for it honestly...

ok, were clogging up this thread, takin it to pm's...

01NeonSnooZer · Post by **01NeonSnooZer** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:17 pm

Question: Is there and aftermarket MANUAL rack for our 2gns or just the SRTs and 1gns?

01NeonSnooZer · Post by **01NeonSnooZer** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:37 pm

Umm, friggin BUMP! Man I hope someone does cuz that'd save me a shitload more fuel.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:48 pm

01NeonSnooZer wrote:Umm, friggin BUMP! Man I hope someone does cuz that'd save me a shitload more fuel.

Hahah, you would hardly notice the difference. The PS pump isn't doing much at highway speed. Only really works during slow speed maneuvering.

Here's a question, any way to easily tell the difference between rack codes SBA and SBB?

01NeonSnooZer · Post by **01NeonSnooZer** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:52 pm

We're talking percentages. Nowadays, engines get pretty efficient and get much better fuel mileage while still doing the same job with the same or better performance and driveability. So even small differences can pay off. See, where I live now, I drive about 22 miles to and from work, each day and it's almost all highway. But the apartment I just payed for and will be moving into this weekend is about 3 miles from where I work and so I will be doing a lot more short trip driving and stop-and-go type stuff so I would see a gain in my in-town mileage.

But it's not so much the mileage I care about and it is ease of maintinence. Without the pump and lines, there's less to leak.

2GN.ORG

Steering Rack - New Question in Quote Box

Steering Rack - New Question in Quote Box