Something wrong with DSE rack!!

[badazz81z28]

I was looking under my car looking for a shim in the spindle and noticed that the whole inner wheel lip all messed up!

i checked the steering, each side is showing 2.250" of threads, but on full lock turning right it hits the frame. Turn all the way to the left and the other side has tons of room. I tried to offset the adjustment (2" on one side and 2.50" on the other) ok after adjustment but after a few turns its hitting the frame again. It seems to me a inner lock in the rack itself is not working....help! Is the car safe to drive? It already destroyed one of my forgeline wheels!!!!!

[Alponcho]

Weren't you having problems with the steering shaft/coupler? Did you get that straightened out? Maybe the problems are related somehow,

[badazz81z28]

This seems to be more a steering travel issue. I have plenty of clearence on the driver side at full lock, on the passenger side it hits the lower control arm

[andrewb70]

What does DSE say?

Andrew

[badazz81z28]

Off the top of their head, haven't heard of the issue before. I sent them pictures and a description of the problem. I just don't think their is enough thread engagement on the tie-rod to adjust it out, but even so the little I tried to do still allows it to go that far.

The Forgeline wheel is pretty eff'd up!

[icemanrd19]

post some pictures.

[Z06vet]

It sounds like the rack wasnt centered before you slid on the steering shaft. A small movement in the rack will turn the splined shaft quite a bit. With the steering wheel centered, count how many turns to lock to the left, and then how many turns to the right. If its not the same on each side, the rack is not centered. I hope this helps, unless I'm not understanding your issue.

[badazz81z28]

It sounds like the rack wasnt centered before you slid on the steering shaft. A small movement in the rack will turn the splined shaft quite a bit. With the steering wheel centered, count how many turns to lock to the left, and then how many turns to the right. If its not the same on each side, the rack is not centered. I hope this helps, unless I'm not understanding your issue.

The only thing the steering shaft would impact would be the steering wheel orientation. At the rack itself, its even. Now the question is, is the rack on the frame even?

[andrewb70]

....Now the question is, is the rack on the frame even?

I think the previous post was asking just that.

Andrew

[Z06vet]

Count the turns of your steering wheel lock to lock to the right & left. The splines will affect it... If you have say 1.75 turns one way & 2.25 turns the other, you'll need to remove the steering coupler from the rack and rotate the output shaft a full turn to the short side. Then reinstall. its been almost 2 years since I installed my dse frame. Does the output shaft have a D or index on the spline? I cant remember. I just went thru this on my 67 when I swapped in my old wayne due subframe.

[thumper877]

Off the top of their head, haven't heard of the issue before. I sent them pictures and a description of the problem. I just don't think their is enough thread engagement on the tie-rod to adjust it out, but even so the little I tried to do still allows it to go that far.

The Forgeline wheel is pretty eff'd up!

that's funny that DSE said they have never heard of it because my car does the exact same thing. Haven't started to drive the car yet so haven't tore up anything. Interested to see some ideas to correct this

[badazz81z28]

Count the turns of your steering wheel lock to lock to the right & left. The splines will affect it... If you have say 1.75 turns one way & 2.25 turns the other, you'll need to remove the steering coupler from the rack and rotate the output shaft a full turn to the short side. Then reinstall. its been almost 2 years since I installed my dse frame. Does the output shaft have a D or index on the spline? I cant remember. I just went thru this on my 67 when I swapped in my old wayne due subframe.

I'm not following you. The steering wheel and the column are free spinning. The rack will only turn so much one way and so much the other way regardless of orientation of the wheel.


As for the rack...By looking at the rack, the mounting appears to be more towards the driver side. I'm interested to see what DSE says because they told me the tie Rod has 6" of thread, just checked....it's like 4"

[TheJDMan]

I'm not following you. The steering wheel and the column are free spinning. The rack will only turn so much one way and so much the other way regardless of orientation of the wheel.

As for the rack...By looking at the rack, the mounting appears to be more towards the driver side. I'm interested to see what DSE says because they told me the tie Rod has 6" of thread, just checked....it's like 4"

The DSE rack mount is asymmetrical in the DSE subframe so ignore that, it's not the problem. Next, forget about the steering column for a minute (we all know it spins freely but it still has a center position) and lets concentrate on the rack movement. Now presumably, you currently have the column attached to the rack input shaft so lets use the steering wheel to carefully count the total number of rack turns from full left lock to full right lock ignoring the steering wheel orientation for the moment. Once you know the exact number of steering wheel turns from lock to lock, turn the steering back to exactly 1/2 the total turns and your rack is now centered in its travel range. With the rack now centered, look at the steering wheel orientation. If the wheel is off center your steering shaft coupling splines are off and the couplings will need to be adjusted accordingly to center the steering wheel relative to the rack center. You also need to make sure the column is oriented correctly to cancel the turn signals. I have seen columns installed 180 degrees off and they wondered why the signals would not cancel. Once you have the column centered relative to the rack center then you can move on to adjust your toe settings again with the rack centered.

Once you have the steering column centered with the rack center and the toe set, we can move on to discuss installing rack travel stops so your wheels don't contact the LCAs.

[badazz81z28]

With the wheels straight foward, I get 1-1/2 turns turning left and slightly more turning right. Ignoring the steering wheel, with the rack centered, I tried to adjust toe on the driver side and it's affecting the travel.

It's weird, I can adjust the passenger side tie rod to get the travel where it doesn't hit the control arm or the sway bar spline area. I go to the driver side to take out what I put in on the other side and it messes with the passenger side. I don't get it.....

[badazz81z28]

I just pulled up the frame instructions and the 2-1/4 threads is what they call for. So I'm really thinking it's got something to do with travel stops on the track.

[MuscleRodz]

Counter the turns in the rack each direction and center the rack, then look and see where your wheels are. I bet they aren't centered.

[badazz81z28]

Counter the turns in the rack each direction and center the rack, then look and see where your wheels are. I bet they aren't centered.

come again? The wheels are both straight and the tie rods are exactly even

I know the right turn is going too far. The rack side tie rod pulls so far out of the rack the boot pops off the groove.

[TheJDMan]

You're not paying attention! EVERY ADJUSTMENT STARTS WITH THE RACK CENTERED. By your own statement "with the wheels straight you have 1 1/2 turns left and slightly more to the right". WRONG! With the rack centered, then you adjust your toe so the wheels are straight and the steering wheel is centered. Stop measuring the tie rod threads and center the rack first! You don't have a travel stop issue, you simply have not centered the rack before making your adjustments. I have been through all this with my DSE sub. Once you have equal steering travel left and right then you can add travel stops if necessary.

[badazz81z28]

You're not paying attention! EVERY ADJUSTMENT STARTS WITH THE RACK CENTERED. By your own statement "with the wheels straight you have 1 1/2 turns left and slightly more to the right". WRONG! With the rack centered, then you need to adjust your toe so the wheels are straight and the steering wheel is centered. Stop measuring the D*** tie rod threads and center the rack first! You don't have a travel stop issue, you have not centered the rack before making your adjustments.

I did that. What I'm telling you is even after you do that it will keep going until the the wheel hits the frame.

[badazz81z28]

I don't think some fully understand without seeing it. Even if you center the rack, adjust the tires to be straight again, you turn lock right and it will still hit acting as the steering stop