Steering rack quality

[SHOtimer]

When doing my motor swap I am going to be replacing the rack in my SHO. I can get a Motorcraft rebuilt unit for $220, or the A1 Cardone unit for $106. Is the quality between these two units similar? Would I be getting a better rack if I bought the Ford one?

Anybody have any complaints about the Cardone remaned one, I know many people have used them?

Thanx, Doug

 

[shopartsnw]

I am 90% sure A1 Cordone does the reman work for Ford so the extra price is just "dealer markup".

My track record with racks is not so good. First rack repalced was on a 93 ATX (PITA) after a week the rack developed a leak in one of the factory hose lines (the ones that are already connected from A1 cardone), so I had to replace it again - second one worked fine).

Second car I replaced it in was a 95 MTX. It also was bad, but right from the start. I could not bleed all the ait out of the system (it just kept getting new bubbles and I suspect a leak somewhere letting air in). Also there was a bad spot in the rack where it would bind up about 3/4 of a turn from left lock. Changed that one again and the second one worked fine.

So in my case, I have a solid track record of changing racks twice before I get a good one. And yes, I did change the PS pump the first time (I even changed the hoses and made sure the lines were flushed), so both cases were definietly bad reman racks.

Good luck. A bad rack needs to be changed but I also think A1Cardone has about 90% of the market share, so there are not many options. They stood behind the warranty, but I wish there was a way to test them in advance so I could avoid the double labor.

Maybe I should take some of the spare parts and make a mocked up front end, so I can pretest the racks before installing them in a real car. Is there a market for pretested racks?? Oh yeah, Cardone says they test all thier racks before shipping . Maybe they need better QC

Rant over. I feel better. Good luck

- Mike

 

[SHOtimer]

So, I should just save my $100 and buy the Cardone one. The Ford parts guy was talkin to me about "remaned with all factory parts.....in Mexico". I wonder if they are different, or if that is just his standard speech about Ford remaned parts.

Basically, I don't want to do this twice, and don't care if I have pay for quality. I am doing this with the drivetrain removed and once it is installed I don't want to have to mess with it. But, I will not pay for just the Ford name, if they both are remaned by the same place.

Doug