I am most of the way through the process of mounting my Cavalier rack and pinion setup. Built it all myself, as I can't afford the aftermarket unit right now. Once its mounted on the car, I will finish building my bump steer gauge and find out how I have done.
Right now though, while making tie rods and the adapter plate from the centre steer rack to the tie rod ends, I noticed I have noticeable slop in the unit. Its a remanufactured unit. The slop is not side to side, the way the steering works, but rather a little slop rotational, as if the bracket was trying to rotate around the rack unit itself. Not a lot, but shouldn't it be fairly tight? It is probably accentuated slightly as the tie rod bracket is an inch and a half from the bolts in the middle of the rack. ON the original application, it is probably not noticeable, as the tie rods mount right on the two bolts in the middle.
Anyone experience this little bit of rotational slop? Thanks.
The housing will rotate some. Mounted and all tightened down should snug it all up.
Its not the housing that is moving. It is the centre bracket that goes back and forth in the middle of the rack. With the bracket I made, it rotates forward and back slightly. The bracket I made isn't really that big, no bigger than others I have seen. I only moves maybe an eighth of an inch or so, but curious if it should be tight, tight with no slop whatsoever. Thanks .
Can't answer that, too many years since I did the swap using that rack. It does seem like there would be a little play other wise things might bind up. Don't take it for gospel, just thinking about how things move....