Steering rack bushing issue.

[ZainRacer]

On the way back form the autocross yesterday my steering felt wired, it had some "play" in it. When I got home I got under the car and found out that my steering rack is lose.

The Steering rack has room to move around close to the passenger side, where the bushing/mounting bracket is located. I checked the bolts for the mounting bracket and they are not lose. To me it seems like the ES bushing is not big enough but I cant figure out why I didn't have this issue earlier if the bushing is not big enough. (I have been running the ES bushings for almost 3 months)

The car is a 91 240sx coupe (non-hicas) and I have installed the ES master bushing kit.
I will post some pictures asap.

[Def]

I use the black ES bushings with no issues on my rack.

[ZainRacer]

Pictures.

[DuckyD]

Looks like you're S14?
Maybe you installed the S13 bushing, should is larger?

[ZainRacer]

Looks like you're S14?
Maybe you installed the S13 bushing, should is larger?

My car is a S13 and I installed a S13 bushing kit. This started after the autocross yesterday and I have done 2 autocross events since I installed the bushings. My co-driver spun the car and hit full lock on the steering kinda hard, I am not sure if that damaged something causing this problem.

Would it be a bad idea to get a rubber hose with a similar I.D. as the O.D. of the rack and put the bushing over the hose...?

[Def]

Kinda hard to tell with all that grime in there - but is there a noticeable gap around the bushing?

Not sure what the deal is, but my passenger side ES bushing is tight, the driver's side is really tight - you have to crank down the bolts to squeeze the bracket over it.

[Bumnah]

I have some s13 es poly bushing I just pulled from my s13. Pay postage and they're yours.

[Umai Kakudo]

Torque specification for the steering rack bracket bolts is 65 to 90 ft-lbs.

With aftermarket bushings and everything tightened and seated down there should be no play.

With the rack properly bolted down there is very little chance that a spin a full lock would damage the rack or bushings. Full lock spins happen all the time in drift cars with no damage except bent/broken tie rods from over-lowered cars.

The S13 ES passenger bushing will be the right size. The S14 passenger bushing is thinner and if you happened to get that one on a S13 you would notice some play and slop. There is a lot force going into the rack so I'd say the only cure is to get the correct sized bushing instead of trying to jerry rig/shim it.

[ZainRacer]

Kinda hard to tell with all that grime in there - but is there a noticeable gap around the bushing?

There is a noticeable gap close to the top of the rack/bushing.

I had my stock bushing laying around so I put that in and the rack seems to be fine now, I have not driven it yet. I took a coupe pics of the es and stock bushing side by side, the ES definitely looks smaller...

[ZainRacer]

I have some s13 es poly bushing I just pulled from my s13. Pay postage and they're yours.

Thanks!
I want to drive the car with the stock bushings just to make sure that there is nothing else that was causing the lose rack situation. I will let you know if I need them.

[pinoysurf]

My buddy had the same problem with his red ES rack bushings. They just wouldnt fit right. Ended up having to get the Nismo's.

[SoSideways]

Hmm, that's odd!

I replaced my "stock bushings", which have disintegrated and came out as hundreds of pieces instead of 4 lol with the ES bushings, which I purchased through SPL Parts.

Other than them giving me a bit of a hard time when putting it in (I think it was the teardrop shape one that was giving me problems), it fit well, and my rack hasn't moved left to right anymore. Steering inputs were very sharp and responsive.