Rutger Gert-Jan

Hi,

Just thinking of replacing the steering rack mounting bushes as well since I am replacing the anti roll bar bushings with Powerflex items.

Does anyone have them on their 993? Experiences?

Aneumann

No I'm also looking for info I have a slight vibration on the steering at certain speed could be the bushings of the a arms anybody has had the same problem? It's a 1996 TT mine since new with 45k miles but I understand 17 years may have a toll on rubbers.

OverBoosted28

Replace your front lower control arm bushings (Walrods or monoballs). Even if original rubber bushings look fine, they're bad. That's most likely your vibration that comes on at about 50 mph.

therossinator

Just like every Crown Victoria should come with a handicap hangtag, all 993s these days should come with a set of Walrods and updated shocks.

OverBoosted28

Just saw this older post and thought I'd chime in. I put these on my car. Very easy to do and once you pull the 20 year old rubber out, you'll see it was a "needed" item.

pp000830

I replaced the steering rack mounting bushings, the u shaped ones that fit under the clamp holding the rack. Once I got the old ones out it seemed that they could have been reused. If you do decide to replace them you will need to purchase the 4 bolts. Here is my experience mounting them:
"• Bolting up the rack in the final position takes upper body flexibility and ingenuity. I used a scissors jack and a block of wood to gently force the u-clamps into position as the new rack mounting bushings and the rack to body sealing doughnut needed to be compressed slightly for the U clamp bolts to line-up and thread in.

Install the proper new bolts and washers, with the washer face with the rounded off edges facing the bolt head.

This is standard procedure with any washer used with a cap screw. Washers have sharp stamped edges on one face that can score the small fillet on the bottom of a cap screw head where it meets its shank significantly weakening the screw.

In the proper position reinstall the strut that came off with the bolts if your car came with one of these. The strut is placed across the two bolts closer to the front of the car with the part number facing away (down) from the car body installed in conjunction with the two longer 80mm cap screws and washers. Do not reuse the old cap screws and use care to observe that the U clamps are in contact with their mountings and torqued to the proper value as listed in the shop manual when the rack is fully in place. Read the shop manual instructions carefully on this:

Tighten fastening screws of rack as follows:
“First screw down the screws evenly until the fastening brackets almost touch the cross member. During final tightening, start with the screws for the short leg of the cross member and pull them tight, so these surfaces will be the first to fit tightly. Tightening torque: 45 Nm” or (33 ftlb).

Using a torque wrench to seat the bolts is very important as the OE fasteners’ threads have been treated with thread locking compound and this in conjunction with the elastic nature of the rack mounting bushings make it very hard to tell when the cap screws have fully seated in the u clamps by feel. Conversely the bolts are threaded into soft metal and using too much force can easily strip the mounting threads.

In my case one of the bolts made a galling (loud creaking) sound as I tightened it so I removed it and used a very small amount of ant-seize on the bolt. It seemed that the pre-applied thread locker still offered considerable resistance even with the anti-seize applied. For this reason I used anti-seize on the shafts and threads when installing the remaining bolts."

Hope this helps,
Andy

frankv

What are the symptoms that would indicate that these need changing. I have a slight clunk/creak in my front end (usually occurs at slow speed when turning on a grade .. ie entering my underground parking) that I am trying to diagnose

- Frank

pp000830

I don't know, I changed them when the rack was rebuilt, a once in the life of the car event. If they were a little soft I am not sure they would make any sound at all. Other things like the A arms would seem to be suspect to me if you are hearing things.
Andy

frankv

OK, thanks Andy. I have done a new suspension, walrod bushings, front sway bar bushings and tie rod pinning not really to solve this problem but as upgrades and still have this clunk. I haven't touched the steering rack (no leaks) yet.

- Frank

pp000830

I hope to not sound too silly here:

Spare tire, tire pump, tools or jack sliding around in the frunk?
Something loose under a seat?
Something sliding around in a door pocket or glove box?
a loose tool left somewhere in the frunk?
Engine or transmission mount?
Something loose in the dash, do you have an aftermarket audio system?
A loose speaker or speaker magnet or some other part rocking around inside a door?


Just some guesses.
Andy

Rutger Gert-Jan

Thank you for the feedback, just bought a set on Ebay (blue polyurethane ones).