barelyrunshalfthetime

Hello all,

I have an 86' 944 Turbo and my steering rack has more play than I would like. Since I bought it, I have replaced the steering intermediate shaft, inner/outer tie rods, steering rack bushings/sway bar bushings but I still have steering play. Also, the wheel bearings feel good as do the ball joints. The shop who did my last alignment commented that pinning and centering the rack was difficult due to the wear in the rack, confirming my suspicions.

So, my steering rack doesn't leak, but it has play. I am assuming some hard parts have worn inside the rack causing this play. If I buy a cheap ~$300 rebuilt rack, they have most likely just changed the seals, correct? The only way to get one with the worn metal parts replaced is to buy the ZF reman rack, right? These go for $1,000+ which is a big hit to my budget for improvements to the car. Does anyone have experience with the different price-point racks? Is it worth it to spend the high dollar to get it right the first time? Or, does anyone on here have a known tight and leak-free rack available for sale?

Thanks in advance!

Chris

CyCloNe!

Get a rebuilt unit, usually rebuilt units for any thing will replace all worn metal parts and give new seals and internals. I have taken apart my steering rack and it's very basic I'm sure they put new seals and bearings in it at the least.

Techno Duck

1k miles on rebuilt rack from CarSteering.Com , most of that track and auto-x.

Cost: $250

jeffrsmith

I picked up my rebuilt rack at Rack Doctor and have been very satisfied. $219.95 plus $18 shipping and $95 refundable core charge. Rack arrived with 5 days, received core charge within 5 days of receipt of core. Very good experience.

Dean924s

Autozone use to sell rebuilds for around $150 + refundable core with a lifetime warranty. I have not looked lately but that was my go to source for them for many many years.

por944s2

It may take you a few tries to get a good rebuilt rack, and if it's not leaking, I would hold onto it. A buddy went thru 3 (1.5yr) before, I sold him one from my stash, that was rebuilt a long time ago, when apparently, they knew how to do it. I have owned many 944 and the rack never caused any play, but my cars had no rubber in them. Good Luck.

raleighBahn

I got one from dc automotive and have had no problems. Didn't have to send core so can rebuild my other.

Holytin

Rebuild yourself. Cost $80. You know what you got. Bunch of junk racks out there. The one I bought for $280 was missing an internal o-ring, didn't support steering to the right and started leaking shortly after...

Easy to do, plenty of DIY's available online. I did it you can do it!

Best!

divil

Last I checked (a few weeks ago) they were NLA. Still showing on the website, but it wouldn't let you order one. Same thing in the actual store.

I bought a rebuilt rack from Zims...came with a 1 year warranty, leaked badly after just under 2 years. I ended up buying a used rack from Lart. If it leaks I'll rebuild this one myself. I haven't installed it yet.

barelyrunshalfthetime

Thanks for the replies! Looks like the cheaper ($300 range) rebuilt racks are the go-to for most people. It looks like there are still quite a few failures from these however, kind of hit or miss. I'd rebuild mine myself but I would want all new hard parts (rack and pinion pieces) since I have so much play. I think the rebuild kits out there pretty much just have seals and o-rings. Good for fixing a leaky rack, but not fixing on-center play.

Sounds like at the very least none of you got a rebuilt rack that had a lot of play, which is my primary concern. Leaks are annoying but can be fixed by rebuilding with a diy kit. I'd love to hear from someone who actually bought the $1300 rack from pelican that was rebuilt by zf themselves. I feel like the amount of confidence you get from it might be worth it.

Holytin

Reached 300k miles and no play. Pull, open and verify before spending $300. Easy to do and doable...

kwikt

So.... what did you do about the steering rack??? I have a little too much play in my 968 rack also 170,000 miles.

NoRush993/951

I paid up last year for a Pelican ZF rack. I think it was a little less, but not much. The last oem rack lasted 70k miles. The oem rack prior to that lasted 110k miles. I paid up so I don't have to touch it for a while. Was it money well spent? Probably should have got one from Lart, but he didn't have one when I needed it and I didn't plan ahead. So stock up when you see it. So one year later now and no issues with the zf rack.

PorscheDoc

Not necessarily. While the ZF rebuilt racks are typically pretty solid, I did have a 928 rack that I put in a customers car lose the spool valve to the left after about 1000 miles. Oddly enough, the next zf rack I put in, the steering in general was much lighter, so something was going on in that first rebuilt zf rack. Many years ago I had a ZF rack leak shortly after installing it as well on a 944.

I've used both cheapies and zf's many times over. Have had some failures with both and have had some great luck with both.

Taymar

Here's what I was told by ZF when I was looking into this:

"ZF remanufactured steering gears will be built using genuine ZF parts and seals. The standard of which will be as near to OE as possible. Tolerances of strightness to the rack bar for example would be measured and other internal / external components inspected, the rack bar would also be visually inspected for damage and or rust marke. Yoke clearence between the rack and pinion would be adjusted according to customer OE specification, and a final test to ensure functionality, internal / external leak, valve balance and noise would be carried out as a final test."

I ended up sending mine to Zim's and they rebuilt it. Have not installed it yet.