E46 Steering Rack Rebuild Service (Yellow Tag, Blue Tag, Green Tag)

[davidinnyc]

Hi all -

As of 9/1/25 I've now performed fifty (50) yellow tag and four (4) blue tag rack rebuilds. I started to document the process with photos for NAM3 member racks and you can see the latest rack rebuilds here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/unxyhiyqkz0cy856z49yc/AElJGVRoro6hyai2rfaN25E?rlkey=145j1ghwm7s0gv8z1fw0 s5may&dl=0

A quick service primer below:

What

E46 steering rack rebuild service.

Why

I went down the rabbit hole of "OEM+" and discovered that the 712 yellow tag rack had a shorter "lock-to-lock" than my green tag, so of course I needed that. I wasn't sure how the car would handle, but everyone raved about this being a surefire improvement to the steering. I followed guides, videos, and went so far as to buy a professional grade seal extractor, bearing puller, and crafted a few custom tools specific to steering rack deconstruction. It's not big money, but I spent about $600 all-in for tools alone. I didn't want to do this job haphazardly and wanted to leave the steering rack and components in perfect condition. My steering rack rebuild was a success, and since I had the tools I offered to rebuild a rack for a kid down the street that is big into drifting and his daily is his E46 M3. From there, I realized that I could rebuild steering racks pretty quickly and effectively for others. The yellow tag rack feels fantastic.

Process

The steering rack rebuild is messy and truly does require some of the specialized tools I either purchased or had made. It's not impossible to get done without these tools, but I guarantee you will damage the inner steering tubes and/or damage the actual rack and pinion assemblies. I usually spend about two hours disassembling the racks just to be sure it's done slowly and carefully.

Evaluation and Disassembly:

1. Steering rack condition - Is there any pitting on the steering rack? Any visible damage near the two ends of the rack tube? Any leaking from the steering rack? Any cracks? Are the steering rack teeth clean, undamaged and not worn?
2. Bolts/threads - ensure there are no cracks, leaks, or stripping. I would not try to rethread these racks since the tolerance is so tight and there is little room to enlarge the threads on the rack to begin with.
3. Pinion shaft condition - teeth clean, undamaged and not worn? Knurls in good condition?
4. Removal of all seals, bearings, and locks

Reconditioning:

1. Steering rack - to ensure smoothness along the entirety of the rack, I will very lightly sand from 240 grit to 1000 grit just to remove any minor imperfections. Large pitting would render the rack unusable and something I'd inform you of
2. Pinion shaft - straighten and condition the knurls (if needed)
3. Ultrasonic cleaning - for all parts that will be reused during assembly, I will place them in a mild degreasing solution and then immediately coat with ATF for protection (WD40 for parts that will not touch hydraulic fluid)
4. Steering tube and pinion tube cleaning - I will thoroughly degrease and clean the interior, then coat with a light film of ATF
5. Hydraulic crossover line flush

Rebuilding:

1. Bearings - replace with new, genuine bearings and lubricate all three with SKF bearing lube
2. Seals - replace with new seals lubricate with Redline ATF
4. Rack and pinion - lube with Redline CV-2
3. Install

Pricing

1. 712 yellow tag steering rack = $250 (if we're using your yellow tag for the rebuild, then subtract this cost)
2. Kotek USA E46 steering rack seal kit = $90
3. SKF, NTN and/or INA bearings (3) = $160 (increase from $120, which increased from $90)
4. Labor = $400 (process takes about 6 hours on average, some have taken me longer just because I’ve had racks sent to me that needed a lot of love)
5. Shipping = $50 which includes all packaging and insurance for $900 in value (non-negotiable as I've had one steering rack lost in transit and the insurance allowed me to source and rebuilt a replacement rack)

Total = $950 (or $700 if using your provided rack)

Please note that these do not come with inner tie rods and boots; however, I can install a new set of rods and boots for the cost of the items but shipping will increase due to the increased size of the box that will need to be used.

Warranty

I’m happy to provide a one-year warranty for any potential leaks. Please, if you’ve driven too hard and hit a pothole and damaged the seals internally to create said leak… don’t sent it back as a warranty fix. For one: I’ll know. I’ve opened enough of these to know the difference between fatigued seals and seals that have been damaged by impact (not to mention the steering rack teeth and pinion will also have marks on them from the impact). Second: it’s just not cool. I perform this service for the community and would appreciate some professional respect.

Installation note: if you’re performing this for the first time or you’re taking this to a mechanic, check to be sure you don’t have a potentially failing steering pump and that your lines are clear. Don’t use an impact driver to torque the inner tie rods. Do install the inner tie rods after the steering rack has been fixed to the subframe. Improper installation or excessive pressure in the system can and will blow seals out and cause a leak. If seals blow during installation, we can work through a revised fee for labor and a new seal kit.

I'm not looking to make a living on steering rack rebuilds, just offering this service looking for a solution. It's definitely a DIY job for anyone that wants to take the time, but for those that don't want to spend the money on the tools required (or have the time to tear down and rebuild) then this is a pretty cost-effective method, IMO. Oddly enough, I enjoy the process. If you do want to learn more about how to do this yourself I'm happy to walk you through a rebuild and show you the tools used.

Contact

You can send a private message to me on the forums, but if you're unable to do so, feel free to send an email to [email protected]. From there we can chat via text, Whatsapp, or continue with email.


Thanks!

David

[Obioban]

If you can do this reliably, consistently, and well, it'll be a HUGE boon to the community. Rack Doctor SUCKS, and for a decade+ there has been no other game in town.

Are you replacing the bearing and seals? Or just lubricating them?

[davidinnyc]

Thanks Ian.

When I first started googling “712 steering rack e46 m3” I naturally came across rack doctor posts and read both horror stories and reasonable feedback. I, as am sure many of you as well, trust my own ability to sometimes do things better than others and decided to figure out how to rebuild one. Probably spent about six months researching and reading everything available, then started off on my own project.

To answer your question: yes, 100% seals and bearings are replaced with new parts. I’ll put photos of the side-by-side parts for review before proceeding onto the rebuild phase, but my intention here is to treat each rack as if I’d be putting it on my car.

From what I’ve experienced (I’ve had the pleasure of finding a cracked rack and examining the inner parts), I can usually gauge whether a rack has been rebuilt from either the lower pinion bearing or the rack lock. I won’t use a previously rebuild rack for obvious reasons (no way to know how much care someone took to not scrape the inner aluminum tubes when removing seals), and can usually examine a few places on the rack to check before purchasing.

My wife hates me for this since I take over the dining table in the evenings as I lay everything out for dissection, but it’s fun and brings me peace to an otherwise high-stress day for me.

I really hope to help anyone that needs the service!

[davidinnyc]

Hi all -

I’ve recently completed three racks for a few members here and have sourced eight more INA F-208801.4 bearings locally. I have three more racks in queue for rebuilds.

I’m not sure if I’ll find more INA bearings after this latest acquisition, so just sharing information. I’ve reached out to a US bearing manufacturer to see if I can get an alternate F-208801.4 bearing made that’s the same or better quality compared to the INA, but the minimums are going to be fun!

David

[davidinnyc]

Hi all -

Just an update that BB1B-363215B-SKF (the pinion shaft bearing) is obsolete, so I'm moving over to the NTN version BB1B-363215B-NTN. It seems that BMW used both vendors for two of the three bearings, but the needle bearing has always been INA.

Best,

David

[davidinnyc]

Hi all -

One more update. I'm currently working on one steering rack rebuild and have two more in queue. The earliest I can get to another steering rack will be mid-to-late July, FYI.

Best,

David

[davidinnyc]

Five more yellow tag racks ready for rebuild (one not shown since I just received it from a member today), three of the four here are spoken for and are penciled in the queue for July.




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[0-60motorsports]

Five more yellow tag racks ready for rebuild (one not shown since I just received it from a member today), three of the four here are spoken for and are penciled in the queue for July.




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How much would one cost from you?

[davidinnyc]

How much would one cost from you?

$650 before shipping. Here is a breakdown of the cost:

1. 712 yellow tag steering rack = $250
2. E46 steering rack seal kit = $75
3. SKF, NTN and/or INA bearings (3) = $75
4. Labor = $250 (about 10 hours)

If you have a rack, then just subtract the $250 and the total is $400 for the disassembly, cleaning/refurbishing, and assembly of new items plus my time. Trying to keep this as affordable as possible by only passing through actual cost of items to everyone here.

David

[0-60motorsports]

$650 before shipping. Here is a breakdown of the cost:

1. 712 yellow tag steering rack = $250
2. E46 steering rack seal kit = $75
3. SKF, NTN and/or INA bearings (3) = $75
4. Labor = $250 (about 10 hours)

If you have a rack, then just subtract the $250 and the total is $400 for the disassembly, cleaning/refurbishing, and assembly of new items plus my time. Trying to keep this as affordable as possible by only passing through actual cost of items to everyone here.

David

That's great! I'll have to get in touch with you in the future

[davidinnyc]

8/21/24: Update - I’m back and ready to rebuild a few more racks. I’ve depleted 123bearings of BB1B-363215B-NTN and they’ll be on backorder for a few months. My cost on a few things have gone up (seal kit and the INA bearing) so you’ll see those slight increases reflected above.

I only have enough bearings for five more rebuilds while I work on sourcing more INA bearings.

[BBRTuning]

This is an awesome service to offer, such a common issue on these cars and very few out there doing this who are trustworthy.

General rack rebuilding question - can anything be done if there's some play on the input of the rack? Felt in the steering wheel, you can see the input pinion splines moving but no motion at the actual rack output. I've had a few racks after years of use do this, and just wondering what is actually going on mechanically internally and if it can be fixed or adjusted. As a test I tried adjusting the "preload" nut, to the point where the rack started to noticeably bind, this only slightly improved the play but to be safe I adjusted it back to the original position. The play at the splines is hard to measure, but say at the wheel it's equivalent to about 10-15mm movement of the outer steering wheel.

[davidinnyc]

This is an awesome service to offer, such a common issue on these cars and very few out there doing this who are trustworthy.

General rack rebuilding question - can anything be done if there's some play on the input of the rack? Felt in the steering wheel, you can see the input pinion splines moving but no motion at the actual rack output. I've had a few racks after years of use do this, and just wondering what is actually going on mechanically internally and if it can be fixed or adjusted. As a test I tried adjusting the "preload" nut, to the point where the rack started to noticeably bind, this only slightly improved the play but to be safe I adjusted it back to the original position. The play at the splines is hard to measure, but say at the wheel it's equivalent to about 10-15mm movement of the outer steering wheel.

Sounds to me like you have some really worn down teeth on either the pinion, steering rack or both. One quick way to check is to extend the steering rack all the way to the left on the driver’s side and check near the innermost part of the steering rack teeth. Are they all uniform and sharp edged? There are usually two teeth that are more “polished” than the rest which is okay as long as the teeth aren’t damaged.

If there is any damage to the steering rack teeth in the centered position, you will very likely have damaged pinion teeth as well = play in the rack. Tightening the steering rack lock (the 12-point lock on the rear) will give the illusion of better feel because of the bind you experienced, but does not solve the problem long-term and will actually do more damage to the teeth because the rack is being pushed further against the pinion.

I’ll get some photos up to share because I did disassemble a rack that had been severely damaged.

David

[davidinnyc]

9/10/24 Update:

2/3 spots left (I'm selfishly using a kit for my second M3)

Might be at least another month before I'm able to get more INA needle bearings, and the cost of these bearings in particular keep increasing for me as I continue to deplete the supply of the local LA vendor that is hoarding them (which was why I tried to buy his entire inventory to keep the cost of these low and pass the savings to you all).

Also just an FYI - I bought the last of these bearings from 123bearings and have 5 more on order; however, my lead time is 30 days and not the 8-10 they've listed.

[Grke46m3]

Do you have everything in stock for another rebuild? I have a rack that's been sitting in my garage for 2 years that I would like to send out to you for a rebuild.


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