Rich Sandor

BoostBuggy,

The power steering racks are only about 20-something inches long tip to tip.

48" and 51" MUST include tie rods, think about it. (I know that the website SAYS it does NOT include tie rods, but it's possible they have two part numbered listings for the identical part)

It's more likely that whomever made the database for the websites was confused by the whole offset change from 86-87 and they were just playing it safe by adding a duplicate listing for an alternate application.

OnlineAlias

That site is incorrect. My rack, of which I have 2 on a bench right now, with tie rods, is exactly 48.5 inches long. Tie rod end to tie rod end. I have an early offset car.

I'm telling you, there is a lot of confusion about long and short, because the rack replacement industry uses "long" and "short" to define a configuration, and our cars actually do have a physical "long" and "short". Think long block, short block, and then physically longer and physically shorter, 48.5 vs 51.25 for the "long" rack.

The rack itself (the "short" rack, if you will), is the same for all cars and is only 23 inches long.

cruise98

I ran across this when getting a rebuilt rack too. Many rebuilders include the inner tie rods and they are different between the years. The actual racks are the same. I have installed late offset racks on early cars after changing both of the tie rods. Plenty of confusion though.

OnlineAlias

Yep. I'm going to include a pic only because if I had seen this 2 weeks ago I wouldn't have spent 2 days trying to figure all of this out.

Behold, the public service pic:

BoostBuggy

@OnlineAlias, I don't even follow what that is a photo of... A bolt?

And I'm not following what the inner tie rods are. As far as I can tell (looking at PET) there is only only one tie rod on each side. To call it an "inner" would imply there is an "outer" and there isn't.

FWIW, I called about half a dozen rebuilders yesterday and every single one asked if I wanted the short or the long rack.

Thom

Perhaps we should sticky this thread.

Jfrahm

When referring to a long rack the rebuilders are asking if you want the inner tie rods which are hidden in the bellows and are staked on. They are not hard to replace nor expensive, and in some cars they seem to last forever while in others they get pretty sloppy.

A "short" power rack with no inner or outer tie rods should interchange between all LHD 944/968

cruise98

Online: you are measuring to the end of the inner tie rods. There are two tie rods on each side, an inner and outer. I agree with Rich. If they are giving you a length of 48 or 51, they are including the inner tie rod and bellows. This is understandable from a rebuilders perspective, because it is easy to damage the rack if you do not properly install the inner tie rods by counter holding the rack while tightening the "nut" on the inner ball joint. If you remove the rubber bellows you will see what I am talking about.

OnlineAlias

It is for reference, note the 48.5 inch length. This is measuring from inner tie rod to inner tie rod. Anyone who is referring to a "long rack" in the rebuild world will need to know "long rack, 48.5" or "long rack, 51.25".

Here is a site with this confusion very much indicated:

Long? Short? 51.25? 48.5? WAT?

Rich Sandor

Isn't it obvious.. that's an end of one of the tie rods..

The tie rod ends (balljoints) are the "outer" tie rods.

BoostBuggy

No it wasn't obvious to me as I don't recall ever seeing a bolt as the end of a tie rod. I recall the end of a tie rod being threaded so you could screw on the tie rod end.

(and this may just be my personal experience) but I had not ever heard anyone refer to a tie rod end/ball joint as an outer tie rod.

I'm just trying to understand this. And as you may well have noticed in the link I previously referred to, in both cases i.e. the short and the long rack, it stipulates neither comes with tie rods. As we now know there is only one rack and it is only one size and it is the tie rods that change in length relative to the early vs, late offset, this makes the info available from the rebuilders rather confusing. And clearly, they don't seem to have a clue...

BoostBuggy

Ah, I just re-viewed the photo. I can see its a tie rod with a nut screwed on. It's not a bolt