Steering rack end failed and sheared off

[brookseye Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close brookseye]

Hi All,
I am going to buy a lotto ticket as minutes after being on the freeway doing 100 km/h (..ok... 110km/h) I had stopped home to pick something up
and go out again and went to reverse off the lawn and lost steering, and then the car wouldnt budge back or forwards. I looked around the car and found
that there was a skid mark on the lawn and the front left hand wheel was at odds with the other wheels, and the car, and there was a rod with a boot hanging down underneath.
90 bucks later for a a mobile mechanic and diagnostic who in his words said "Holy Cr@p"!

The steering rack end has snapped completely off, somehow sheared.

The day before I had new tyres and wheels fitted to the car and a wheel alignment.. new tyres are Maxxis 751's, standard 265/70/16, and the wheels are the black speedy steel rims. Originially i just wanted new tyres but when i picked it up it had a bad vibration and i took it back, only to be told my wheels were bent and needed new ones.. not being able to source the original wheels immediately i bought the speedy black wheels and my tyre fitter assured me that the wheels and tyres were all standard size.. so they wouldnt effect the car at all..

Coincidence that this has happened?

I could have been killed.. so as you can imagine I am very interested in why this has happened?

Can Anyone help... ??


OK.. here's the background info.

Prado, 90 series.. 170,000 kms.

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Re: Steering rack end failed and sheared off

Sorry to hear about that brookseye. You may need lotto now

I don't think the new wheels alone would have caused the tie-rod to fail unless they had crazy negative offset but even that shouldn't be enough.

The only other thing that the tyre fitters may have done wrong is set too much toe-in, that would put the steering gear under excessive tension.

I think that tie-rod ends would have to have been on the way out as it is for this to happen, but even then they should have picked up on that when fitting the tyres.

Cheers,
Declan.

[brookseye Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close brookseye]

Re: Steering rack end failed and sheared off

thanks Declan,

What is the toe-in? PLease excuse my mechanical ignorance, I am learning though mostly by reading wiki articles and forum posts on how the steering works, the bit that failed and how it failed.
The most unusual thing is that it has sheared completely off.. it must have either been twisted, impacted or sabbotaged? I dont have any enemies.. that I know if anyway...

:shock:

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Re: Steering rack end failed and sheared off

What is the toe-in?

With out writing an essay

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Steering rack end failed and sheared off

You were told that the wheels were bent after you felt a bad vibration when picking up the car. If the wheels were bent, then you would have known this prior to taking the car to the tyre fitters. And if the wheels were bent, then why did the tyre fitters put new tyres on? He would have known that they were bent but didn't advise you during the process of taking the tyre off? Something doesn't sound right...

Also if you had an alignement done, the tyre fitter should take it for a test drive to check that the work done was correct. But he didn't pick up the vibration during the test drive????

[fishfinder Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishfinder]

You were told that the wheels were bent after you felt a bad vibration when picking up the car. If the wheels were bent, then you would have known this prior to taking the car to the tyre fitters. And if the wheels were bent, then why did the tyre fitters put new tyres on? He would have known that they were bent but didn't advise you during the process of taking the tyre off? Something doesn't sound right...

Also if you had an alignement done, the tyre fitter should take it for a test drive to check that the work done was correct. But he didn't pick up the vibration during the test drive????

totally agree

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

The way I read it is he was informed that the wheels were bent so he purchased new wheels AND tyres.

i bought the speedy black wheels and my tyre fitter assured me that the wheels and tyres were all standard size

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

The way I read it is he was informed that the wheels were bent so he purchased new wheels AND tyres.

i think he bought the tyres first, then the wheels...

Originially i just wanted new tyres but when i picked it up it had a bad vibration and i took it back, only to be told my wheels were bent and needed new ones.. not being able to source the original wheels immediately i bought the speedy black wheels and my tyre fitter assured me that the wheels and tyres were all standard size.. so they wouldnt effect the car at all..

[Derb Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Derb]

Hi Brookseye. Sounds like you have either been had or are the victim of a piss poor tradesman. If it had been the case of bent rim/rims, it would have shown up immediately on the balancing machine when the new tyres were fitted. This is where all work should have stopped and you should have been contacted before anything else was done. I would suspect the workmanship of the wheel alignment myself - a little ham fisted butchery with the tools perhaps? Where did the dickhead place the jack? All sounds a bit suss. Good luck boss.

[Auss15 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Auss15]

If your rims were buckled as per the Tyre fitter,and considering they are steel,did you do some serious off roading that might have prempted the situation?

[Whitey1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey1]

Yeah it sounds a bit suss to me as well. Bit strange that you didn't pick up the vibration before the new tyres were fitted. I dont reckon to much toe in or out would have caused the breakage, more likely dodgy workmanship as has been suggested above.

[Guest Close Guest]

I would be contacting the nrma or inspection centre in your state to have the issue looked at.. Do you have the old wheels for checking? I think you may have been had...

[dhula1 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close dhula1]

I agree with the rim/tyre thingo and think you have been had by a tyre place that wants to make a few extra $$$$$, but then again it could also be genuine.
I recon the more important thing is the snapping of the rack end, especially when it comes to safety on the road.
Those of us that have replaced rack ends ourselves will have noticed that the old ones are looking a little low on grease at the time of changing (at least mine whir). My guess is that the rack end in question snapped at the small diameter section where the the ball sits in the knuckle

In the pic where the gold coloured bit joins the grey bit


If this is the case I wonder if lack of grease/lubrication and water due to off roading or perhaps even normal road use combined with a split boot could have caused the ball the seize in the knuckle and finally snap.

I've added checking this to my regular maintenance routine where every 20,000kms (or after a big dunking) I pull the boot off and check the grease.

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

Sounds like a combination of dodgey workmanship and add-on sales to me. I think amts has nailed it in one.

[brookseye Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close brookseye]

dhula1 - thats precisely the bit that snapped.. at the small end. thanks all for your replies. the moral of the story is, no matter who is at fault.. check your rack ends! because like me i have only had my vehicle 9 months and i dont know what the previous owner did with it and who worked on it to cause this to happen but i know the boot was split.. and i know that i am very very lucky that it finally gave way in my driveway and not on the freeway where i was ten minutes earlier!