hi all

ok i had all new brakes allround and front track rod ends fited to the focus about 3 weeks ago.
the track rod ends were an avisory on the mot last month,i knew i had a knocking anyways.
so got them changed but the knocking is still there and its getting worse

ive had a look under the car and the track rod ends have defently been changed for the new ones i bought.

a friends dad jacked up the car and had a look,wobled the wheels,played with the sterring and said its the sterring rack.

so is it possable thay dident fit them right? did thay not tighten a bolt?

and if it is the rack how hard are thay to fit

cherrs john

p.s 03 plate 1.8 16v zetec black top

 

bttt

 

does it feel like a notch in the steering like a bit of a dead spot??

if so mines been diagnosed as the rack and a friend had this on his diesel mk1 focus but there was a HUGE dead spot and the car was undrivable! Its doable yourself but you have to drop the subframe so you need to get hold of some realignment pins.

eurocarparts sell two racks, Drivelink at £95 and Remy at £150 both requiring £140 surcharge. i think they are both recon racks but i'm not sure and i havnt phoned them to ask yet as i cant drive for 6 months due to knee ops and dont have the money to do the job yet

anyone on here know anything about those racks??

 

I've never heard of a rack fail on a focus yet, can't be that common. Sure its not the drop links? They commonly wear out quickly. When does it knock?

 

[quote=phil_focus;4953051]does it feel like a notch in the steering like a bit of a dead spot??quote]

i cant say ive noticed that,maby its not that far gone yet,to be honist it feels like lower balljoints rather than rack.

theres a hell of a lot of coble streets here in dundee and you hear it at its loudist driving over them,def sounds like its lower balljoints

john

 

could be will have a gud look as soon as get chance

john

 

Sure sounds a lot more like the drop links, the problem with these is you MUST disconnect them to assess wear in them properly, as when jacked up they are under tension so will show no wear, took me bloody ages to hunt down the little ers on the mondy I had, but silence afterwards.
Some racks will have a little amount of play if the pump/engine isn't running, it's also possible if some numpty has been at it that the drumsticks have come loose, these are thr track rod itself coming out the rack, they simply screw in, so simple job to change, they of course have a inner joint to allow the articulation of the rod to rack, and this joint hidden by the boot can also wear, drumksticks around £20 so lot cheaper than the rack, all do able by decent diyer.
The subframes can be put back without a proper tool dead easy, wrap tape around the bolt to bring it up to hole size.
tabetha

 

[QUOTE=delterflier;4953096]if its a nock over rough ground then i'd say drop links or ball joints, i had that when going over rough ground with a bit of left lock and turned out to be lower arm ball joints.

 

your right the track rods can go, my mates went on his st170 and you can tell by pulling and pushing them to see if they click but when i checked mine they didnt do that and when i bought the car the pas fluid had never been changed which aint good and is prob why mines gone

 

terns out the track rod end had come loose,

cowboys....

cherrs for everyones input

john

 

well at least its an easy fix 8)

 

Im sure the replacment of powersteering fliud is not on any of the service schedules for the focus? This suggests that it does not need to be replaced which is mad. I just replaced mine and it feels much better.

 

I've just replied to a very similar thead on this!

Mine went exactly like this (not my video by the way)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATjdVu1Ff-Q

Prior to me swapping the rack out I changed the lower arms, droplinks and track rod ends with no difference.

In the end I resorted to changing the rack and used an exchange rack from Eurocarparts. I've done almost 10k since with no issues.

A few shots of the rack change... (any questions, just ask)