synthetic corners
New member
So last year I replaced springs, struts, tophats, balljoints, transverse bushings, inner and outer tie rods, endlinks and swaybar bushings on our 01 Outback. The only items up front I didn't do were the steering rack bushings and the front control arm bushings. These both looked ok and I couldn't find any reason to replace them.
Of course right off the bat I noticed I still had a clunk or knock coming from both sides of the car. I've had it in the air dozens of times checking torque on all the components I installed. I've found nothing that I believe would cause the noise. I did noticed that when changing my tie rods the passenger side boot had a layer of power steering fluid on the inside. I figured no large deal, it isn't leaking enough to end up on the driveway and the car went down the road well at the time.
Over the winter I noticed a few times I was getting a speed related shimmy that would come and go at very random times but always above 55mph. I also noticed that when running between 20 and 40 every now and again I would feel a slight pulse in the steering when making long corners like the rack was moving around or something...
So I just got around to climbing under the car again and I noticed the following:
- When I'm under the car and my wife wiggles the wheel back and forth (wheels on the ground) I can feel the clunk/knock coming from the rack itself.
- The rack bushings aren't allowing the rack to move in the mounts and there is no play in the tie rods (w/20k on them)
So am I to believe the rack is bad and that is where my knock/clunk is coming from? I've heard some speak of pre-load in the rack that can be adjusted but I'm not familiar with this at all. Can anyone shed light on that?
The car went through two inspections (failed the 1st for unrelated matters) by separate garages and neither had anything to say about the rack.
The noise drives me crazy but I never drive the car and my wife could care less about it. She loves the car and always tells me she can't hear or feel anything. If the rack is bad I may just let her run it until it's fubar and then deal with it.
Thanks in advance for any input.
Of course right off the bat I noticed I still had a clunk or knock coming from both sides of the car. I've had it in the air dozens of times checking torque on all the components I installed. I've found nothing that I believe would cause the noise. I did noticed that when changing my tie rods the passenger side boot had a layer of power steering fluid on the inside. I figured no large deal, it isn't leaking enough to end up on the driveway and the car went down the road well at the time.
Over the winter I noticed a few times I was getting a speed related shimmy that would come and go at very random times but always above 55mph. I also noticed that when running between 20 and 40 every now and again I would feel a slight pulse in the steering when making long corners like the rack was moving around or something...
So I just got around to climbing under the car again and I noticed the following:
- When I'm under the car and my wife wiggles the wheel back and forth (wheels on the ground) I can feel the clunk/knock coming from the rack itself.
- The rack bushings aren't allowing the rack to move in the mounts and there is no play in the tie rods (w/20k on them)
So am I to believe the rack is bad and that is where my knock/clunk is coming from? I've heard some speak of pre-load in the rack that can be adjusted but I'm not familiar with this at all. Can anyone shed light on that?
The car went through two inspections (failed the 1st for unrelated matters) by separate garages and neither had anything to say about the rack.
The noise drives me crazy but I never drive the car and my wife could care less about it. She loves the car and always tells me she can't hear or feel anything. If the rack is bad I may just let her run it until it's fubar and then deal with it.
Thanks in advance for any input.
