Manual Converted Steering Rack Play?

[GTRON]

Hey Guys, I converted a steering rack into a manual one, following a tutorial on here. I left in the certain valves to help with the rack play, but it's still too much for me. First off, it's noisy and makes a clicking sound, every time I go over a bump it feels terrible. I think the play is causing me to feel a vibration in the wheel when accelerating. And most sucky of all it feels terrible on the highway when you're going straight, there's a considerable dead spot, and it zaps a lot of confidence when going fast.

All suggestions welcome! I was wondering if there's something I need to jam in that valve hole thing to keep that pin from hitting inside.

[Rilas]

Alright, so after driving all summer with play in the wheel, and reading your post here I decided to think about this for awhile. Well the thinking part only took maybe 30-45 minutes, once I actually got the car jacked up. Today I took apart the housing that bolts onto the rack. I disassembled it, and was trying to figure out exactly how the springs work and where the play comes from. Well after staring at it for awhile and figuring out what could be welded to make it solid, I had a shift in thinking. While welding the spring loaded pins would have locked it up, it requires a good bit of work and time. Not wanting to weld and grind and level, I figured there had to be another way to lock the larger shaft that the pin resides in. Low and behold I had some washers laying around from my double OEM lip project. I put a 6mm washer on each end of the larger shaft and reassembled it all, and put the car on the ground.....

Still play in the steering wheel. I jacked the car back up and took it all back off and apart. I added 2 more 6mm washers. Now for a total of 2 on each end of the shaft to keep it centered and reassembled and put the car on the ground. BAM!!!! No more play in the steering wheel, so this is the end all be all fix to lock all play out of the steering wheel. The best part is, the cost is under $1 at your local hardware store, and the time involved is about 15 minutes if you already have converted to manual rack. I went for a drive this afternoon with my son 50 mile round trip, the wheel was rock steady all the time.

[Bunta]

Since it's on topic I'm curious, does simply looping the lines and leaving the rack internally stock increase the play? I haven't noticed any noise and I have enough worn bushings and fairly squishy tires that I cannot narrow down any play to the rack itself.

[Rilas]

I remember having play even when I had looped lines years ago. Honestly fully locking up the rack mechanically has been the best steering feel I've had in my Accord for years now. Even better than power steering feedback imo.

[cp[mike]]

Now for a total of 2 on each end of the shaft to keep it centered and reassembled and put the car on the ground. BAM!!!! No more play in the steering wheel, so this is the end all be all fix to lock all play out of the steering wheel. The best part is, the cost is under $1 at your local hardware store

6mm in thickness, or 6mm in diameter? does the size of the center hole matter? I am very interested in this mod, so any more info would be helpful. Thanks!

[Grumpys93]

6mm in thickness, or 6mm in diameter? does the size of the center hole matter? I am very interested in this mod, so any more info would be helpful. Thanks!

Hey Mike here is some clarification, after talking with Will tonight we have determined that it requires about 3.2-3.3mm thickness on each side to eliminate the play. You place the washers on top of the shaft

Here is the shaft that Will is referring to:


So in the housing it would be washer, washer, small rod, then housing, then on the same thing on the other side. Ill have a picture tomorrow when I perform this mod on exactly what Will is saying.
The two small rods I am referring to can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of the picture I posted.

[Rilas]

Final clarification!!!

Place the washers on the end of the shaft that I have circled below in Nick's picture.

Manual Rack Conversion (Place washers here to eliminate all play in the rack / steering wheel.)


The washers used, were 1.6~mm thick per washer. I placed 2x washers on each end of the shaft. The washers you buy just need to be smaller diameter than the shaft. You are shooting for 3.2-3.3mm of thickness per side.

Nick, put the small pins back in place as well. Just place the washers directly onto the end of the shaft circled in red.

Nick, Mike, Gtron and anyone else, I hope this eliminates any and all confusion related to what I have done. I know pictures are usually better but I had to test fit on the car multiple times, and once it was on the car and working I really didn't want to take it back off again for pictures.

[cp[mike]]

Hey Mike here is some clarification, after talking with Will tonight we have determined that it requires about 3.2-3.3mm thickness on each side to eliminate the play. You place the washers on top of the small rods that hold the springs in.[/img]

So in the housing it would be washer, washer, small rod, then housing, then on the same thing on the other side. Ill have a picture tomorrow when I perform this mod on exactly what Will is saying.
The two small rods I am referring to can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of the picture I posted.

Manual Rack Conversion (Place washers here to eliminate all play in the rack / steering wheel.)


The washers used, were 1.6~mm thick per washer. I placed 2x washers on each end of the shaft. The washers you buy just need to be smaller diameter than the shaft. You are shooting for 3.2-3.3mm of thickness per side.

this is great info, and perfect clarification! makes a lot more sense now. It seems that in essence you are making the rod longer, or (assuming there are springs on either side?) you are making the springs tighter. Thanks for the info!

[Rilas]

Basically just making the rod longer, to use up all the excess space in the housing.

[cp[mike]]

Basically just making the rod longer, to use up all the excess space in the housing.

I added some text to the picture, to make it an all-in-one piece of useful info that is easy to save to your computer/phone.

Thanks for taking the time to play with this and figure it out!

[Rilas]

The thing that honestly surprises me is that after 27 years, no one else has figured out how to fully lock up the rack. The civic guys have figured out a few different methods to lock up their racks, just nothing for the Accord's until now.

[Grumpys93]

Here are the two washers:


Thickness of both washers:


Two washers on the valve side:


Two washers on the cover side:


I dropped it to the ground and sure enough no more play. Great job Will figuring this out.

Ill be posting this in the DIY as well. Mike are you able to add this to the first page? So people don't have to go through the whole thread to find this?

[Bunta]

well now I have a new project to plan for.

[GTRON]

Yay! That's a super easy fix! This steering play has been driving me nuts. I'm so happy I don't have to take the rack out of the car, I was dreading that, LOL!

Thank you so much Rilas for figuring that out, you're my hero.

I'll be doing this very very soon.

[GTRON]

A year later I'm actually trying this, and it did nothing for me. In fact, there was no difference between when the valve body was attached, or unattached to the steering rack. So I think my problem is actually inside the rack.