3rd Gen Steering Rack

[SirFrancisDrake]

Looking for some opinions/advice... this is a tough topic to find info about.

Back when I bought the truck it was diagnosed with a leaking steering rack. I changed the fluid out that was in there with Redline PS Fluid with a turkey baster over the course of a week of driving, and then drove for pretty much a year with no steering issues whatsover. Recently I went to the dealer to get the transmission fluid flushed, and of course one they are done with their service they give you the rundown of what else they found wrong. They brought up the steering rack and said it was failing, but also mentioned the tie rods were bad and needed replacing. Which is funny because I had just replaced those a month before. So I don't know who to believe anymore.

So then I have to ask what are the signs and symptoms of a bad steering rack?
If it fails am I going to go flying off the road or will I just lose power steering?
And if it truly is bad then is it better to replace with new or rebuild existing rack?

Thanks

 

[montypower]

New rack is crazy expensive (OEM). I wouldn't buy remanufactured or rebuilt. Buy used or spend money on new. They do have a low failure rate.

You have inner and outer tie rods and both can fail. There is also a boot covering the end that can fail. Most aftermarket steering parts are junk. I've had them fail in less than 10k miles with trail use.

Are you losing fluid? If it is staying full and the steering is tight then I wouldn't worry about it. However, make sure to replace the inner/outer tie rods with quality units (OEM). Mine nearly completely separated on road (scary). Inner and outer tie rod completely separated in the driveway and the tires did this \ /.

The rack seems extremely durable from my experience so far. I do have replacement hoses (all high/low pressure) and eventually will get around to replacing them. They are the last of the rubber hoses to replace on the truck. I don't trust rubber hoses after 10yrs and 100k + miles.

 

[SirFrancisDrake]

Yeah I saw that it was at least $2k for the OEM steering rack. I did replace tie rods with aftermarket Moog brand, they had held up well on other cars I've had before. The fluid level hasn't really changed since I've swapped the fluid to Redline, you can see stains on the rack of old leaks but nothing is leaking currently, garage floor is clean. I guess I have to make some decisions on whether or not I want to keep the truck for the long haul or not.

By chance to you happen to have a list of all the rubber parts you've gone over and replaced? I don't think I've seen a list of that before.

 

[montypower]

I'm sure I could go through the list (lots of receipts). I rebuilt the heads and did all the heater hoses, trans cooler hoses and have the power steering lines.

Older rigs do require more replacement parts but hopefully worth it for the places they take you.

 

[Michael Brown]

Another note to your question about the steering rack failing. The Gen 3 uses a rack and pinion system which is always connected even if the power steering quits working. The only way to truly break it is for the tie rod ends to fail.

 

[SirFrancisDrake]

Thanks for the info. Seems like the steering got really heavy today, like driving my grandpa's old F100. Hadn't driven the truck in a while so maybe I'm just so used to driving my tiny car. Will give it a go again this weekend and see how it feels.