Steering Rack Rebuild ??

[R1pilot]

I need to read this whole thread, but I just wanted to post that I have been waiting since November for a BMW rack from FCP. Have not been able to drive the car at all.

Insane. They”ve had almost $3k for over 2 months.

[WestBankM4]

Hi all -

First - sorry, I've been traveling a bit for work and should be back in LA early next week. I'll get to the DMs and work out shipping there! (I originally joined the boards thinking I'd move back to NYC after moving to LA for work but haven't, so the name stuck).

Second - I went through my emails (I ordered a lot of different bearings for different projects) and the F208801.4 that I had sourced are actually genuine INA (the NTN bearings I have from Japan are for the pinion shaft, but that's another conversation).

Third - someone asked what I used to pull the inner seal and I actually bought a tool to remove the inner seal from PST which is labeled as an steering rack inner oil seal extractor... it was about $300 give or take with shipping. I bought it because I'm very meticulous, OCD and didn't want to damange any part of the tube. I'll get a chance to use it again since I've decided to help a neighbor on my street rebuild another yellow tag for his E46 M3.

Which leads me to my fourth point - if anyone wants, I think I can probably rebuild these racks pretty quickly now without any damage to the pinion, rack, enclosure, piping, etc. because I've spent money buying the tools to do so. If anyone is up for it, I'm happy to do it (my wife will hate me but I enjoy these types of things). I have no idea what Rack Doctor used to charge (see that name come up a ton on the boards) but there is a local steering rack rebuild company (where I got the bearings from, who got them from a distributor) that charges $850 for an already rebuilt rack and $650 to rebuild yellow tag rack.

David

I'm curious as to what you'll charge for a rack refresh? I was planning on just buying a used rack and refreshing it but after reading some of the materials, it may be out of my league especially without the correct tools. I have so many special tools for this specific car it's not even funny anymore, I can't fathom buying a $300 tool for a one time job and I'm crazy enough to just do that.

Let me know if it ever pans out for you in terms of rebuilding/refreshing, I'd likely be one of your first customers.

[davidinnyc]

Hi all -

First - sorry, I've been traveling a bit for work and should be back in LA early next week. I'll get to the DMs and work out shipping there! (I originally joined the boards thinking I'd move back to NYC after moving to LA for work but haven't, so the name stuck).

Second - I went through my emails (I ordered a lot of different bearings for different projects) and the F208801.4 that I had sourced are actually genuine INA (the NTN bearings I have from Japan are for the pinion shaft, but that's another conversation).

Third - someone asked what I used to pull the inner seal and I actually bought a tool to remove the inner seal from PST which is labeled as an steering rack inner oil seal extractor... it was about $300 give or take with shipping. I bought it because I'm very meticulous, OCD and didn't want to damange any part of the tube. I'll get a chance to use it again since I've decided to help a neighbor on my street rebuild another yellow tag for his E46 M3.

Which leads me to my fourth point - if anyone wants, I think I can probably rebuild these racks pretty quickly now without any damage to the pinion, rack, enclosure, piping, etc. because I've spent money buying the tools to do so. If anyone is up for it, I'm happy to do it (my wife will hate me but I enjoy these types of things). I have no idea what Rack Doctor used to charge (see that name come up a ton on the boards) but there is a local steering rack rebuild company (where I got the bearings from, who got them from a distributor) that charges $850 for an already rebuilt rack and $650 to rebuild yellow tag rack.

David

[elbert]

I'll take one as well.PM sent

[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.

[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?

[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]

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.

[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]

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.

[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

[Bry5on]

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

[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.

[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.

[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