I've never rebuilt a streering rack before, just installed a ton of them.
I have a manual rack and there is quite a bit of freeplay at the rack. I checked the u joint, inner and outer rod ends, bushings, and it's coming down to the rack.
Is there an adjustment nut to tighten up the slop?

 

look at it, i think there is, although the rack is tapered, so you need to make sure that it works along the whole um travel.

 

There is a threaded plug with a lock nut that presses the quill against the rack. If the play is the quill moving along it's axis, you might be able to get a little more tension on the nut that captures it against its bearings.

 

Is it that 14mm head bolt in the middle of the huge nut? Remove the 14mm and tighten the big one?

 

Does anyone know of any rebuild kits available for the manual rack? Had anyone had one fail on them?

 

Sorry, I'll stop talking to myself after this.
I found that Honda guys do it to their racks. http://honda-tech.com/acura-integra-6/steering-rack-adjustment-best-thing-i-ever-did-2572614/
2nd page has pictures

 

I am so glad this thread popped up.

My problem is my steering wheel is too easy to turn. I want it to be harder to turn! On the highway I feel like I am going to die because it is so touchy. I checked to make sure there wasn't excessive play in the gears and there isn't.

I like the power assist, so want to keep that.

 

Be a man, depower an S5 rack and call it a day

 

Manual steering only sucks at slow speed, and parallel parking

 

Isn't the power assist what's making it too easy in the first place?
Asking for a friend...

Manual steering doesn't have to suck, just pick the ratio you like. Having tried all three, I'm partial to the 20:1 "true" manual, which manages the 235 front tires without undo effort.

 

I don't mind it, but if you were to park ina tight spot, power steering has its advantages

 

So does lifting weights lol

 

We're all men here. I guess saying power steering had its advantages while trying to parallel park is too wussie. We should have a timed race using one hand, while trying to fit your car in tight spots

 

Nice find.

I'd lose the parking battle with 275s on the front with my manual rack.

All in all I don't think is is that bad.

 

Besides the rack ratio (20/17/15:1 were the Mazda options), tire width and steering wheel diameter also determine how "difficult" low speed steering might be.

I can't even remember the last time I had to parallel park.
(Could have been last week but if I can't recall, it doesn't count.)

 

The only thing I have working for me is the 20:1 manual rack. I have a 1 inch smaller than stock steering wheel and giant 100 treadwear tires.

I'm very pleased with the manual rack for track use. I don't see myself ever going to power steering.

 

I'm a big fan of my power steering with a 15:1 rack, smallish steering wheel and 315 slicks


You can also adjust effort with caster.

 

BTW, my car isn't very low in the front, and when I did my alignment I maxed out my gc camber/castor plates at 2.6 camber and under 6 on the castor. What are you or everyone else getting?

 

Caster can make a pretty big difference. Some toe out will make it feel twitchy at speed also. Be sure the alignments good.

I'm a pretty big fan of my s5 turbo power steering the varying assist works great keeps the wheel feeling solid always. Had the Speedo cable pop out of the cluster once and it ended up with full assist at highway speeds and felt very twitchy.

 

Yeah, my steering wheel can wiggle about 1inch with no output from the rack. I'm going to play with the adjustment the Honda guys did on the link I posted earlier. I will report back and let you know how it goes when I get around to it

 

I've found -2.7 to - 2.8 works best for me, but it's going to depend on your spring rate up front. I used to run -3 degrees but backed off a bit when I stiffened the front suspension. I can get around -3 out of the car. I run 6 degrees of front caster.

Make sure if you have s4 front arms you loosen the ball joints and pull them out and forward as much as possible.

You are probably cutting it close up front with wheel to strut clearance, but you can slot the upper strut mounting hole.

I run just a bit of toe out in front with solid LCA bushings.

 

I want less power assist.

 

I'm not well versed in the mechanics of the system but maybe a change in pulley diameter or a restrictor in the line could tailor the feel to your liking.

 

I have been looking for pulleys for over an hour and haven't found anything.

 

JJ,

Maybe your speed sensor is outta wack. These cars adjusted the line pressure in the rack to
back out at highway speeds. The power steering pump has a cam lobe inside that varies with speed.
There may be something to look into.