steering rack leaking

[Grimor]

Ok, so i took my truck to shop to get an alignment. i was leaking no fluid from anyplace, steering was fine and smooth, had a squeal from the power steering pump (i think) that probably needed replaced but not leaking.

so i get a call from the shop and the guy says they can't do the alignment because as soon as they started working on it, the steering rack started dumping fluid. that there is no possible way for them to align it, and they can't even do a half ass alignment to make it drivable.

i plan on asking them to show me where its leaking Monday, I'm pretty sure they messed something up. having just done an engine swap and lift, i had a good chance to look at about every angle on the rack recently.

so, 2 questions ;
if i have to get a new rack, are there any upgrades available?
And what the hell part of an alignment would cause the rack to dump fluid and not be able to align at all?

at this point I'm thinking they either caught a hose or ripped a tie rod off.

[The Roadie]

I don't know of any upgrades. The typical leak places are the input tubing o-rings, or the rack end seals. You might have had a leak at the end that was hidden by the bellows, which the shop has to push back to be able to rotate the inner tie rod end to adjust toe-in. You need more details from the shop, as you know.

[Grimor]

Ok, steering rack and ball joints replaced, truck is aligned with camber and toe in spec, but caster is off a bunch. My steering wheel is also at the 2 o'clock position going straight. Drives pretty good even at highway speeds.

Couple of issues I'm having still. The front drivers side is making a clunk, kinda like the noise you hear when going over a railroad track, whenever I go over any bump or drop at all. It's also the side with a rubbing issue, the passenger side has no issue with rubbing at all. I'm going to trim the fender a bit this weekend to get rid of the rubbing, but I need to find out what the clunk is and why the drivers side is so much worse than the passengers.

If I can tie a bent/broken part to the accident, it should be getting replaced by the insurance.

The alignment shop said they were running out of tierod for adjustment, are there longer tierod ends or can the threaded portion be replaced with just longer threaded bar?

[Moots1288]

Or they need to adjust the other side and start over with the tie rod ends, and it could be your sway bar links or shock bushings.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

[Trail X]

Oy. Sounds like the shop doesn't know how to do an alignment, if you ask me.

Caster shouldn't really affect your straight-line direction of your steering wheel. Are you saying that it drives straight if you hold it straight, and that it's pulling the wheel into the 2oclock position? Or are you saying that it self centers at 2 oclock? If the latter, they really suck as an alignment shop, because that just means that they didn't adjust the tie rods right.

Where's the rubbing issue? Back of the wheel well? If there is an appreciable difference in the distance from the wheel to the rear wheel well, then they likely didn't set the caster right on both wheels.

Running out of tierod adjustment?? I'd be surprised unless your entire subframe was tweaked. I wonder which way they are running out? Do you have your UCAs flipped?

[Grimor]

Oy. Sounds like the shop doesn't know how to do an alignment, if you ask me.

Caster shouldn't really affect your straight-line direction of your steering wheel. Are you saying that it drives straight if you hold it straight, and that it's pulling the wheel into the 2oclock position? Or are you saying that it self centers at 2 oclock? If the latter, they really suck as an alignment shop, because that just means that they didn't adjust the tie rods right.

Where's the rubbing issue? Back of the wheel well? If there is an appreciable difference in the distance from the wheel to the rear wheel well, then they likely didn't set the caster right on both wheels.

Running out of tierod adjustment?? I'd be surprised unless your entire subframe was tweaked. I wonder which way they are running out? Do you have your UCAs flipped?

the wheel centers at 2 and the vehicle goes straight

[ErikSS]

Run away from that shop.and never go back. Lol

[navigator]

on your DS clunking, make sure your upper spring mount is tight and that your shock is tight. Either of those could cause clunking as well as the end links and bushings mentioned previously. We've seen a few members when installing the lift didn't tighten down the shock enough.

[Grimor]

i checked the spring mount and shock, both sides seem tight. i have about 3/8" of thread above the nut


uca are flipped an swapped sides

[Grimor]

found the reason for the clunking, and I'm more than a little annoyed. The caliper was missing a bolt on the bottom and top one wasn't even finger tight. It was already riding on the inside of the rim. It's lucky that I have fairly small rims so it couldn't get a better angle to bite and bind up the front, trash the rim/tire and possibly cause an accident. There are also cotter pins missing on both of the tie rod ends just waiting for the nut to work loose.

I started hearing the clunking less than 5 miles after leaving the shop and didn't hear it at all on the way there. Gonna have to say this is 100% on the shop. Unfortunately it's one the guys at work use all the time and recommended and they're friends with.

[Moots1288]

found the reason for the clunking, and I'm more than a little annoyed. The caliper was missing a bolt on the bottom and top one wasn't even finger tight. It was already riding on the inside of the rim. It's lucky that I have fairly small rims so it couldn't get a better angle to bite and bind up the front, trash the rim/tire and possibly cause an accident. There are also cotter pins missing on both of the tie rod ends just waiting for the nut to work loose.

I started hearing the clunking less than 5 miles after leaving the shop and didn't hear it at all on the way there. Gonna have to say this is 100% on the shop. Unfortunately it's one the guys at work use all the time and recommended and they're friends with.

Just cause they know your friends doesn't make em good nor stops em from making mistakes.. I'd find a new shop, thats what I did after Mavis stripped one of my lugs.

[Trail X]

Why did the shop touch your caliper bolts if they were just doing an alignment?

[Grimor]

Why did the shop touch your caliper bolts if they were just doing an alignment?

Replaced the steering rack and some ball joints too

[Bacnbit]

thCAOGYGBP.jpg (13.23 KiB) Viewed 15907 times

Try to recover some of your money and move on. Apparently these fellows lack a few basic skills when it comes to alignment. Judas most of us can get these trucks almost dead on before they even hit the rack.
2 O'clock wheel position which one of these guys kids test drove it? Ok Ok I will stop. I could go on for awhile!!!