Steering Rack Rebuild ??

[davidinnyc]

I started down the rebuild path. One thing I’d like to share is that many people seem to place the dust cap back incorrectly and end up with off-centered alignment. I did a full tear down with notes on torques and noticed this when turning the rack to the extreme “lock” position. The dust cap actually had a little triangle/marker which protrudes from the cap and lines up with one of the pinion seal tube spines.

I rebuilt the rack, “locked” the steering rack to the extreme, and then placed the cap back on just as shown here - wheel was nice and centered when installed.

Hope this helps.

[0-60motorsports]

I started down the rebuild path. One thing I’d like to share is that many people seem to place the dust cap back incorrectly and end up with off-centered alignment. I did a full tear down with notes on torques and noticed this when turning the rack to the extreme “lock” position. The dust cap actually had a little triangle/marker which protrudes from the cap and lines up with one of the pinion seal tube spines.

I rebuilt the rack, “locked” the steering rack to the extreme, and then placed the cap back on just as shown here - wheel was nice and centered when installed.

Hope this helps.

Excellent, what kit did you use for the rebuild?

[heinzboehmer]

I started down the rebuild path. One thing I’d like to share is that many people seem to place the dust cap back incorrectly and end up with off-centered alignment. I did a full tear down with notes on torques and noticed this when turning the rack to the extreme “lock” position. The dust cap actually had a little triangle/marker which protrudes from the cap and lines up with one of the pinion seal tube spines.
I rebuilt the rack, “locked” the steering rack to the extreme, and then placed the cap back on just as shown here - wheel was nice and centered when installed.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that note! A steering rack rebuild is in my near future...

[heinzboehmer]

Also, just did a decent chunk of research for my rebuild recently and thought I'd post the most important bits:

• This video is pretty useful for familiarizing yourself with the process: https://youtu.be/W9drVXzCOuM
• There's a bunch of seal kits available online and none of them are OE, so I went with the one from LPSR in Australia since they seem well liked
• There's three bearings inside our racks: Open CN 6001 bearing, F-208801.4 needle bearing and 363215 B (stolen directly from some reddit thread). Needle bearing is INA, the other two are SKF. I had tons of trouble finding the needle bearing, but I was able to order the other two.
• ZF has an official document for servicing steering racks. I've attached it to this post.

I'll share more info when I actually go through with the rebuild

[davidinnyc]

Excellent, what kit did you use for the rebuild?

I actually used one from eBay that a local M3 driver recommended from a seller in Irvine, CA. I had the same issue with the four smallest o-rings but easily sourced replacements.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223283511386?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=nunTiyyQTLq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ICqk_2sIS0K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[davidinnyc]

Also, just did a decent chunk of research for my rebuild recently and thought I'd post the most important bits:

• This video is pretty useful for familiarizing yourself with the process: https://youtu.be/W9drVXzCOuM
• There's a bunch of seal kits available online and none of them are OE, so I went with the one from LPSR in Australia since they seem well liked
• There's three bearings inside our racks, all made by SKF, as far as I can tell: Open CN 6001 bearing, F-208801.4 needle bearing and 363215 B (stolen directly from some reddit thread). I had tons of trouble finding the needle bearing, but I was able to order the other two
• ZF has an official document for servicing steering racks. I've attached it to this post.

I'll share more info when I actually go through with the rebuild

This is great information! I’m actually going to perform another rebuild on another yellow tag (I’ve caught the itch to do this for fun) and will try out the kit from LPSR. I also only replaced the two bearings I could source, so finding the third would be ideal but mine wasn’t in bad shape so was OK to reuse.

[heinzboehmer]

This is great information! I’m actually going to perform another rebuild on another yellow tag (I’ve caught the itch to do this for fun) and will try out the kit from LPSR. I also only replaced the two bearings I could source, so finding the third would be ideal but mine wasn’t in bad shape so was OK to reuse.

I mean, in all likelihood,the seals are likely all sourced from the same supplier. LPSR does do their own rebuilds though, so that gave me some hope that there wouldn't be any fitment issues (I read the same thing about the small o ring fitment in multiple places). I haven't even received mine yet, so I really can't comment on the quality though.

How did you get the inner seal out? Seems like that's the hardest part with this rebuild.

[Bry5on]

Gates kit for my car had the correct small o-rings for what it’s worth

[elbert]

There's three bearings inside our racks, all made by SKF, as far as I can tell: Open CN 6001 bearing, F-208801.4 needle bearing and 363215 B (stolen directly from some reddit thread). I had tons of trouble finding the needle bearing, but I was able to order the other two

I contacted a company called Rollakin/Bearinger (123bearing.com), as they had a listing for the needle bearing. It looks like it is made by INA, but unfortunately none of their suppliers has it.

https://www.123bearing.com/bearing-housing/other-bearings/f-208801-4-ina

They did have the other two bearings. For SKF, it is around $4 for the 6001 and $40 for the 363215B. I'm not sure if these prices are competitive.
https://www.123bearing.com/bearing-h...e-row/6001-skf
https://www.123bearing.com/bearing-h...1b-363215b-skf

[heinzboehmer]

I contacted a company called Rollakin/Bearinger (123bearing.com), as they had a listing for the needle bearing. It looks like it is made by INA, but unfortunately none of their suppliers has it.

https://www.123bearing.com/bearing-housing/other-bearings/f-208801-4-ina

They did have the other two bearings. For SKF, it is around $4 for the 6001 and $40 for the 363215B. I'm not sure if these prices are competitive.
https://www.123bearing.com/bearing-h...e-row/6001-skf
https://www.123bearing.com/bearing-h...1b-363215b-skf

Yep! That's who I ordered the bearings from. I actually did the same thing for the needle bearing and received the same response. I guess I'm going to need to reuse the one that's in the steering rack now.

And you're right, I was misremembering. Needle bearing is INA, the other two are SKF.

[bigjae46]

Also, just did a decent chunk of research for my rebuild recently and thought I'd post the most important bits:

• This video is pretty useful for familiarizing yourself with the process: https://youtu.be/W9drVXzCOuM
• There's a bunch of seal kits available online and none of them are OE, so I went with the one from LPSR in Australia since they seem well liked
• There's three bearings inside our racks: Open CN 6001 bearing, F-208801.4 needle bearing and 363215 B (stolen directly from some reddit thread). Needle bearing is INA, the other two are SKF. I had tons of trouble finding the needle bearing, but I was able to order the other two.
• ZF has an official document for servicing steering racks. I've attached it to this post.

I'll share more info when I actually go through with the rebuild

Outstanding find! I wish I had that document when I replaced the pinion seal.

I'm going to try a Z4 manual rack, if that doesn't work I'll definitely use this info!

[heinzboehmer]

Outstanding find! I wish I had that document when I replaced the pinion seal.

I'm going to try a Z4 manual rack, if that doesn't work I'll definitely use this info!

All credit goes to MrMCar on e46fanatics: https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/...#post-18884513 I just thought the document would be useful in the future and saved it. But yeah, feel much more confident about this after reading through the factory service manual.

[davidinnyc]

I have 4 extra F-208801.4 bearings (had to purchase 5 from a distributor in Japan, I believe these to be NTN).

Full disclosure: I paid $15.00 per bearing plus $70.00 to ship. If you guys want, I can sell them for $30 shipped to the next four people! Think of it as a group buy!

[heinzboehmer]

I have 4 extra F-208801.4 bearings (had to purchase 5 from a distributor in Japan, I believe these to be NTN).

Full disclosure: I paid $15.00 per bearing plus $70.00 to ship. If you guys want, I can sell them for $30 shipped to the next four people! Think of it as a group buy!

Awesome, I'll take one. Where did you end up sourcing them from?

[PSUEng]

I have 4 extra F-208801.4 bearings (had to purchase 5 from a distributor in Japan, I believe these to be NTN).

Full disclosure: I paid $15.00 per bearing plus $70.00 to ship. If you guys want, I can sell them for $30 shipped to the next four people! Think of it as a group buy!

PM'd for one.