Thread: I need a new steering rack and have a few questions

I took the car into the shop today because i was having some weird steering issues.They informed me it needed to have the steering rack replaced.Ok i got that.Now comes the i dont know questions.Upon looking at this part on line some sites refer to the rack and pinion.When i buy the rack the pinion is automatically a part of this?I dont need to buy this seperately?One site had choice of a magnasteer rack and a normal rack,whats the difference?Will either fit?And last question.Many of these had a core charge,so if the item is $175 and the core is $50 does that mean i have to pay $225?I understand i would get the core back once i ship back.OH DAM!another question now.If i have to ship a core back wont that come out of my pocket in shipping or will they cover that?

I replaced the steering rack on my wife's 2003 GT last year. I purchased a used steering rack at Ed Morad's (moradpartscompany.com), so there was no core charge. Based on what I read online, I chose to purchase a used/checked-out as my impression was these lasted as long or longer than the non-GM aftermarket versions. Shipping was $30, or so.

Get a write-up for a detailed, step-by-step removal/installation procedure. You can find several on this website. I also downloaded the GM Service Manual procedure from my local library's web site.

Finally, I'm an electrical engineer, but fairly mechanically-inclined. It took me about 5 hours to remove, install, and test the new/used rack. If I had to do it again, I'm certain it would take about half the time. It's not technically challenging, just takes some jostling units in/out and time to get access to hard-to-reach areas, specifically, spline connecting steering column to rack.

Oh yeah, you can verify whether your vehicle has Magna-steer installed by looking for the "NV7" RPO code located on the inside of you trunk lid. Good luck.

x2 on Morads, I live closeby so it was about $80 for me to just go pick it up shipping should be reasonable.

The plug they are refering to can be seen coming off of the rack from the driver side of the car.

If you follow the tie-rod in you'll see the rack, coming out of the top is the steering shaft, just infront of that will be a wire running up the side of the transmission.

Replacement is not too bad, you'll need to take off the 2 tie-rods, unbolt the rack from the subframe and then raise up the sleeve for the steering shaft and un-bolt it and slide it up. from there you may or may not need to lower the subframe a bit to slide it out of the driver's side.

Took me 3 hours my first time and since i've done them on other cars I've got it down to a bit more than an hour.