Rack & Pinion Play in Steering

[whtbronco]

I have replaced my steering rack twice now. Both were Motorcraft reman'd racks. The first was swapped at 194k miles in 2016. That one wore out and was replaced under warranty at 221k miles in 2018. This one had a power steering pressure hose port that was bored out. I played hell trying to find an o-ring that would seal it up, getting that o-ring in there was very difficult because it was too big, but every other o-ring sprayed ATF.

I generally prefer factory parts new or reman, in this case I was not impressed but I paid a premium price of course. At least the warranty replacement request was honored without issue.

 

[Eightiesrock80]

I installed a reman ford rack a year and seven months ago so far it’s still tight

 

[Underdog66]

I'm in the midst of replacing the rack on my 2005. The bolt heads got chewed up a bit while we tried to remove them. I learned the hard way that a 6 point socket would have been better than my 12 point. We had to heat the nuts to remove them, thus ruining the nylon inside. I'm having a difficult time finding OEM nuts and bolts at a REASONABLE price. The dealer only sells them in packs of four, even though TWO is all that's required. They wanted 60 bucks for 8 nuts and 4 bolts! What's worse is the fact that the through bolt that holds the bracket to the frame is no longer manufactured.

Would it be alright to use equivalent diameter and length grade 10 nuts and bolts? The only ones I could get locally do not have the flange head on either the bolt or the nut. Also the bolt that holds the rack to the bracket doesn't have the 'catch' to hold it from spinning while tightening.
Thanks

 

[Eightiesrock80]

I would use whatever you could find at Menards or Home Depot Lowe’s and just make it work. Anything will work as long as it’s tight don’t be afraid to try to make it work with custom nuts and bolts

 

[whtbronco]

I'd go with grade 5 minimum, grade 8 preferred. Nylok nuts aren't too hard to find and add a washer if needed to replace the flange. Otherwise whatever will work is fine in this case, it would be for me. You can get a local machine shop to weld something to the bolt head to keep it from turning as well.

 

[Underdog66]

I found these flange nuts. They have 10 stamped on them. Are they class 10.9? Or do they have to be or just the bolts?
Thanks

 

[whtbronco]

Based on this it appears to be a class 10 nut.

Nut Grades, Identification Markings and Strength (Metric)

 

[Underdog66]

My neighbor is a diseal mechanic and helped me complete the replacement of the rack. We ran into what may or may not be an issue with the steel plate that "holds" the lines into the rack. First it doesn't seem to sit flush to the rack. There's a small gap, maybe 1/8th of an inch. Second the lines seem to be kind of "loose.". We filled the system with ATF, bleed the air out and test drove the truck. There are no leaks.

Any input to boost my confidence that we did it correctly would be appreciated.

 

[whtbronco]

Yep that dang little plate doesn't sit quite flush which is a bit irritating when you notice it. If you have power steering and no leaks you're good to go. Keep an eye on it for a few days though. I twice had one of the o-rings behind that retainer plate that started leaking after 2-3 days. I ended up installing a larger o-ring which was a real pain to get fully seated without tearing the o-ring.

 

[Underdog66]

Everything seems fine with no leaks. However upon sharp radius turns, the tires seem "squirrelly" if that makes sense. It's almost as if they're binding like in four wheel drive. Could that be due to a miss alignment?