Dougs951S

I have a bit of an issue with the steering on my 951 that I am now addressing as I rebuild the whole front end. Steering is sharp, except that at any given point while I'm driving straight, my wheel may be perfectly centered, a little off to the right, or a little off to the left. It tends to change as I drive and turn, brake, and accelerate but not violently all at once. Just that it may be straight, and if I get on the boost, then make a few turns and bring the front wheels straight, the steering wheel might be off a bit in a random direction. In any case the car always tracks straight and steers normally, I could live with an off center wheel except that its always changing orientation so something isnt right. I checked to make sure the rack was bolted securely to the cross member, because if it isnt it can cause a similar issue. I'm thinking most likely it is slack in the U-joints in the intermediate steering shaft. Barring that, how likely is it that it could be slack in the rack's worm gear its self and still steer well? With a new shaft being 300 dollars and a pain in the *** to remove off the rack, I'd like to know before I dug into it.

931guru

Check with Rennlist regulars Van and Dean924S. They both rebuild the ujoints for quite a bit less than that.

Scott H

New shafts are actually NLA from Porsche, so if you can find a new one, grab it, otherwise Dean924s on this forum rebuilds them. Here's some more info: http://www.emotorsports.org/prod02.h...ilding_Process

I would think the bearings in the int. shaft would wear out long before the worm gear in the rack.

Dougs951S

Scott, me too. The only time I've ever taken a rack apart and seen visible wear was on an old VW that had 350k+ miles on the factory rack. So my issue does sound like its the intermediate shaft? I wasn't sure if there would be others issues/sounds/vibrations present if the joints were worn bad enough to cause the issue I'm experiencing. At times I can be going straight and the wheel will be as much as ~20-25 degrees off. I don't really know, I bought the car like this and it really hasn't gotten any worse in the year I've owned it. 200 dollars is a great deal though for what looks to be a nicely rebuilt unit.

User 52121

My guess is either (a) the rack moving or (b) the shaft bearings are worn out.

A few years ago when I took my 951 in for an alignment, the shop found that the rack was moving slightly. I never noticed anything (certainly not as drastic as you describe) but it is possible that everything may look and feel fine until you put some force into it.

As for the shaft bearings - I just put in a rebuilt shaft (from Dean as described above in Scott's post - I haven't driven with it yet but it was very nicely redone). The old shaft had some "slop" in it. Parked, car off, I could wiggle the wheel right-left a little bit without it actually moving anything in the rack.

If your wheel is tight with no slop, but you notice that the center point moves from time to time, I'd say your rack is moving.

User 52121

25 degrees? That's not a worn steering shaft. That sounds like the rack is moving.

Dougs951S

Hmm, its bolted in tight!! Perhaps the bushes are shot, I'm going to go jack the car up right now and start yanking on things.

86 951 Driver

Steering rack bushings are shot. My car was the same way. Does it clunk around?

Dougs951S

some of the bolts holding the rack in vibrated loose. No doubt having solid motor and tranny mounts are partly to blame. I reinstalled them with a lockwasher and some blue loctite, don't think it will be an issue now and my wheel is centered the way its supposed to.