Hi all,

Im trying to get some help on my 90 740 steering rack. The symptoms. The steering wheel shakes back and forth substantially when driving. I determined I have a zf rack. When I hold the tire at 3 and 9 and move it back and forth I’m getting some play at the inner tie rod ball joint. But most of the movement is on the shaft
that goes into rack. Also, upon removing bellows boot atf was everywhere. Does that mean I need to replace that rack?

 

I think the racks can be rebuilt, but I've never done that (and I don't know if the rebuild kits are available anymore). our 240 rack was still fine at 500K miles, including a lot of pounding on rough roads, I did have to replace the inner tie rod ends once.

 

Where I drew the red line. That is the piece that is getting the majority of movement. I think it must be bad rack. I’m just always curious if someone seen something similar. I’m at 225k on mine. I’m starting to hear the torque converter to when I shut it down it’s a whirling noise. I think I’m going to try and pick n pull a steering rack bc I should be able to tell if it’s good. No leaking fluid no extra play. $50 compared to 200 for a rebuilt.

 

There should be movement there, hard to say how much is due to the rack teeth being worn or the tie rod. But the rack is definitely leaking if the boot was full of ATF. It's OK if you can find a good used one just keep in mind that it's a lot of work replacing the rack and with alignment afterward...

 

yeah, quite a bit of work, I think half the front end has to come apart to access it. and 30 year old hydraulic fittings for the power steering, ugh!

 

Not really: wheels off, tie rods off, steering shaft, couple of bolts holding the rack, two hydraulic hoses, that's it. But still, on the ground, fluid, mess, one hose is a pain... Not something you want do often... Last one I did, I didn't even have to align it.

 

So there is supposed to be movement! Then it might just be my inner tie rod then bc I’m definitely getting some movement at those ball joints. I know it’s a big job and I’m just a diyer but I’ve done a lot of work in the last 15 years and I read a lot / videos so I’m not to concerned about the job. I know how tie rods and ends can be.
But if I don’t have to do the entire rack that would be awesome. There was fluid but it probably wasn’t much oz wise.
When I was thinking entire rack I was going to try and junk yard the whole assembly and leave tie rod ends intact except for castle nut to see if I could squeak without the alignment.

Its an old car car so I’m really debating now on what I want to put into it especially with the cost of parts these days.

I think you guys guys helped me about 60 k ago when I did the head on this 740.

 

the inner tie rods are easy. I did that in my driveway with handtools and the front of the car on jack stands. I also aligned my toe-in with a tape measure, and when I later brought it to an alignment shop, it was close enough for jazz.

the tricky part with the tie rods was I apparently had weird ones, and I had to get the other style of booties to suit the replacements.

there's ZF and CAM racks, and I think you have a ZF.
https://www.ipdusa.com/products/8050...t-vm590-271389

Or, better, the lemforder kit which includes inner and outer tie rod things.
https://www.ipdusa.com/products/8049...mforder-273189
(lemforder makes the suspension bits for my Mercedes, they are top quality)

you need two of either of those to do both sides.

 

Thanks for the brand recommendation I was seeing those through rock auto seemed affordable.

Does anyone know though if there is a guideline on that rack play? It’s hard to say what is too much if you haven’t seen a bunch of these. I’m thinking I could hold up a tape measure and figure out how much it’s moving.

I would guess between an 1/8 and a 1/4 movement.

 

every RWD volvo I've driven, has had virtually no play at the steering wheel unless the tie rod ends are shot. its like the steering wheel is connected directly to the front wheels.

 

Rereading my earlier comment about "movement", I miswrote. What I meant was that the movement of the rack, left to right is normal, the "play", naturally, is not; what you have is due to either bad rack and or tie rod, or both, most likely the tie rod.

 

Ok well I learned something today. A bad tire can cause a steering wheel wobble at all speeds. This is not vibration but a rhythmic back and forth wobble at steering wheel. Rotated tires today and the wobble gone.

I still think i ink I have at least one bad inner tie rod and a leaking rack.

Im wondering if that bad inner tie rod on driver side wore my passenger front tire? Not sure on that. But it could be that the bad steering components are wearing tire which causes wobble at steering wheel. I’m going to continue to monitor.

I got another pic today of rack. Is it just the two banjo bolts that come out or are those other two fittings removed as well if I wanted to begin to remove rack?

i think the smaller lines can stay put bc I believe they transfer fluid back and forth from driver side to passenger and don’t go anywhere else. Anyone know for certain?

 

Worn suspension parts can certainly cause uneven tire wear. You'd get a bad wobble with an air blister, for one, or internal belt separation. At any rate, I always start with the simplest things, tire pressure, balance, obvious tire flaws, etc.
If memory serves, the two banjo bolts are what comes off... The other lines are part of the rack.

 

clean that up before you loosen those banjo bolts, you don't want ANY of that crud to get into your power steering plumbing.