90-93 vs. 94-96 steering rack

[rsiwicki]

I just had my 95 steering rack replaced with a Merdian rebuilt 90-93 steering rack. I have a question....how can you tell the difference between the two. My new rack feels lighter....the steering wheel is easier to turn (not a lot easier but easier), but I am not really noticing a big difference in steering responsiveness. Is there a way I can identify to make sure that I do now have a 90-93 rack? It just feels lighter and actually I was hoping for more responsiveness and maintaining a more heavy, solid, feel. It feels okay to me now after driving it for a little while, but at first I was like what the heck is this.

Is there a way to check the teeth on the gear to see if I got the right number of teeth? I ordered the steering rack from Joe and specifically asked for a 90-93 rack so I believe all is good there, but I just want to make sure. Maybe Merdian screwed up and used a 94-96 gear? I just don't know what a 90-93 steering rack is suppose to feel like. This feels possibly a little more responsive, but I guess I was expecting to be able to tell a big difference.

[natsoundup]

sounds like a 90-93 rack.... I have both a 90 and 94...I like the steering in the 90, but the ride in the 94...

...steering in the 90 almost feels like a manual compared to a 94...I am exaggerating, but you should get the point.

[rsiwicki]

Ughh sorry for my ignorance, but I don't get your point....what do you mean by manual feeling? I have never owned a manual car as I destroyed my ankels playing basketball and now it hurts to push in a clutch constantly....I can't wait till I am 60 with arthritis pain up the a$$ with so much tissue damage in the ankle.

[Q45tech]

Rack tightness is controlled by the pinion preload setting, look in your FSM on how to properly set it with a spring load scale to 9 pounds pull on steering wheel.

Careful 90 degrees of change on the nut is a serious amount!You can get it to the point where rack will bind and freeze and blow the lines from excess pressure build up!

Trick as racks get old the pinion wears and the center groves on racks get sloppy from continuous assault of tires not balanced.

Think how you can solve this slop at the expense of a little harder steering.

[rsiwicki]

I was thinking about going back to the dealer and asking them to adjust the pinion preload adjustment as I printed out your comments to somebody else with them saying that they could move the steering wheel with a pinky finger. My steering is easier than before, but I just don't know and I think that I would like the steering wheel a little harder to turn. But I still don't feel any real difference in responsiveness....do all these Merdian rebuild kits that the Infiniti dealers use have the gear with more teeth?

[natsoundup]

I apologize....sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut.... your rack sounds like it feels more in tune with a 94-96 rack.

I find the steering too easy in that era. What I meant by manual..was more manual steering feel. no power assist.

I should just shut up and read what the master has to say.

[rsiwicki]

thanks natsoundup for your responses....I am new to this stuff and appreciate any help I can get. Especially with something like this as my steering responsiveness does not feel any different....just easier to turn the wheel. I am taking it back to the dealer to have them adjust the pinion load as per Q45tech to make it a more manual feel. I just don't think that such a big car should have such an easy to turn steering wheel.

[natsoundup]

if you have success..let me know...I may try to do that to my 94...it steers like a mercury marquis... well not that easy or floating...but you may get the point.

[Q451990]

Wasn't there a difference in the number of turns, stop to stop, between the 90-93 and the 94-96? That would be the easiest way to check if so...

Heath

[rsiwicki]

Ahh yes...Q451990 that is an excellent idea.

Natsoundup...can you do this with your cars since you have both years to see if there is a difference in the number of turns.

This floating steering this really sucks...feels like a whimpy car now.

[Q45tech]

Only the smartest techs deal with fine adjusting racks as you must determine what happens when the ATF is cold vs hot.Having a rack bind is no fun when starting out in 20F or zero weather.

To my knowlege I am the only one [around ATL] with a electronic scale to measure the factory mandated steering wheel pull test.The few dealer techs that don't look at you like you are crazy still don't have a way to measure the turning force. Feels ok to me [might be different for a big guy with strong wrech arms].

Buy some kind of cheap fish weighing scale.9 pounds of pull is stiffer than you think, so is the 37-51 pounds of rack sliding force.

See why I keep pointing out that few USED Q in US meet factory specs, there are multi dozens of test that are never done.

[rsiwicki]

thanks for the advice Q45tech...I am taking my car back to the dealer tomorrow morning to have them give me those crazy looks when I tell them to pinion preload thing. My car will probably never see weather below 30F... heck....I don't want to see weather below 55F. I am a self proclaimed wuss when it comes to cold weather. Sorry but even Atlanta is too cold for me after living in Miami for 4 years and growing up in North Florida.

Tech...do you have any idea about the number of turns on the wheel between the two different racks?

[natsoundup]

i'll do it with both cars and report back.

[Q451990]

I just compared the specifications in the 1990 and 1996 service manuals. All of the specifications are the same except the "Average Rack Sliding Force" which is 37-51LB on the 1990, and 49-62LB on the 1996. The lock to lock turning should be 2.6 turns on both systems. It appears that they just added more assist to give the steering a lighter feel - but I don't know exactly how they're doing that - maybe software? If so, maybe it's as simple as swapping the P/S control module to get the feel of the 90-93 in the later models. I'll wait to see what everyone else says. Is there definately a different part number between the two racks?

rsiwicki, I'm wondering if the difference you're feeling is just a good rack vs. one that was bad.

Heath

[rsiwicki]

Thanks for the info....my turns on my new rack from one end to the other is 2.6 turns. I don't think that it is new rack versus old rack. If the 90-93 rack has 37-51lbs of sliding force would this make it more harder or easier to turn compared to the 94-96 rack. I would think that it would make it harder to turn the wheel on a 90-93 rack, but I am not certain.

[maxnix]

Wasn't it the pre 1994 t model rack that was quicker? I must research the archives, if it is mentioned therein.

[rsiwicki]

Ahh come on now...the "t" model rack is different from the regular models rack from 90-93. Crap....I can't get a break anywhere as I just ordered a 90-93 rack and did not specify "t" or no "t" type of rack.

[maxnix]

Hey, I've made mistakes before. Don't sweat it. But I remeber someone "citing" this fact before. Don't know if it was ever confirmed.

Q45tech or T-3 (Byron?) knows, I bet.

Bet bet might be to check with Joe first to see if there are different part numbers.__________________Brian1995 Q45 & Q45t & 2000 Q45

Discover the power of the button!

[fxjackso]

rsiwicki-

I also recall reading that there were different, faster, ratios for the 90-93 "t" and "a" models. When I had my a I replaced the rack, and at the time the dealer told me there was only one part number, and so did the rebuilder. I did not do the simple lock to lock test at the time.

[rsiwicki]

thanks for your help...I still can't figure out if I have the more responsive rack or not but I am still working on it.

Q45tech....I have got hand it to you as the mechanic who worked on my car said what....we have never adjusted any rack that we install and they are all suppose to come preset by the factory. When I told him about pinion adj he said never and that adjusting it was not part of the procedure for a removal and replacing of the rack. Then he said with a real smart a$$ attitude...but I will go out of your way to make it right but it is not part of the procedure and we did not test drive your car so how were we suppose to know. I said what...you gave the car an alignment because of the new rack, but you will not adjust the rack....then as you said Denise...I get the quote "I have no way of measuring the pull weight on the steering wheel so what do you want me to do now"....after I get back to the dealer from our test drive...the service manager now tells me that becuase I used an "aftermarket" rack that they were not going to adjust it. What kind of $hit is this...I told him it is the same F-cking rack that all Infiniti dealers buy for their customers when the customer does not want to pay $1,100 for a new OEM rack. I told them that is was a Merdian....and I got it from Joe...they say show me the paper work. Of course my paper work is at home so we rescheduled for next week to talk with them. I can't believe this crap....this has done all the maintenance on my car...120K service, knock sensors, driveshafts, brakes....etc and they give me this $hit...forget about it. Literally....I am so close to sending the Q to T3 or flying Denise down here for a couple of days to get my car running right as there are other things wrong with it also...see other post.

[rsiwicki]

I called Joe and he said that there is only 1 part number for the rack in 90-93 and that there is no difference between the t a or base models. Maybe it is all in my head and also due to the steering wheel is so much lighter and easier to turn now that I can't feel the difference.

I don't now if there is maybe another gear someplace esle in the system before the steering rack that might be making the differences and it is not actually in the rack itself...but somehow in another part of the system we are overlooking.

[maxnix]

Steering rack pinion adjustment is not usually part of the installation, and the new rack should be adjusted correctly.__________________Brian1995 Q45 & Q45t & 2000 Q45

Discover the power of the button!