From: Wally Plumley [wplumley@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 5:29 PM
To: 928
Subject: [928] Re: Inner tie rod end movement

At 02:09 PM 1/20/01, Constantine wrote:
>Question to the list gurus, are the tie rods coming undone at the steering
>rack or did they just go bad?  I can't believe that both would go at once
>in the same manner.  I will crawl underneath today and pull the boots back
>to check them out, but I wanted some advice as to what to look for.  The
>manuals are not very helpful.
>
>Steering rack was replaced @ 60,335 miles with a rebuilt, now @ 79,900
>miles


At 02:09 PM 1/20/01, you wrote:
>Question to the list gurus, are the tie rods coming undone at the steering
>rack or did they just go bad?  I can't believe that both would go at once
>in the same manner.  I will crawl underneath today and pull the boots back
>to check them out, but I wanted some advice as to what to look for.  The
>manuals are not very helpful.
>Steering rack was replaced @ 60,335 miles with a rebuilt, now @ 79,900
>miles


There are a couple of possible wear/looseness areas:
1) The bushings that support the rack in the rack housing may be worn, 
allowing the rack to move up and down. Requires a new/rebuilt rack - I am 
not aware of anyone who can supply parts and seals for a 928 rack.
2) The inner tie rod joints are worn. Requires new tie rods.
3) The tie rod ends are loose on the rack. Requires tightening.

Jack and safely support the car. Loosen the clamps on both ends of each tie 
rod boot. Clean the tie rod outside of the boot, and slide the boot outward 
on the tie rod.
Check for fluid in the boot. Fluid here means worn bushings and seals, 
which requires rack replacement to cure.
Clean the rack.
Check for vertical movement of the rack in the housing. Movement indicates 
worn bushings, which requires rack replacement to cure.
Check for movement of the tie rods in the inner ball socket. Looseness may 
be either wear in the joint, which requires replacement of the tie rod 
assembly; or may be caused by the tie rod assembly being loose on the rack, 
which requires tightening. Be sure to counter-hold the rack while 
tightening the large nut, so as to prevent the rack from torquing over 
against the pinion gear and damaging it.
Grease the rack ends before replacing the boots.

It is possible that the tie rods were not replaced with the rack assembly, 
and are now worn. If the fault is with the rack, I would check the warranty.

Wally Plumley
928 Specialists