05 expedition rack and pinion

[fireman32]

Anyone ever replaced their rack and pinion. Mine is popping pretty bad and I’m looking for advice on which one to buy.
The cardone, ac delco or motorcraft. Can’t find many reviews on any of them.

 

[DAVE]

I don't think it much matters which name is on the rack, get the one with the best warranty and value, not meaning the cheapest.. Have you had a mechanic check it? If you are getting popping noise when turning I would be expecting something besides the rack.

 

[fireman32]

I’ve checked it, I’m decently experienced with cars. Ball joints are tight, no slop in the outer tire ends. Struts and sway bar linkage replaced last year. Brakes and rotors replaced at same time and hubs all feel tight.
The YouTube videos I’ve watched sound very similar to what I’m hearing, but I agree the rack was surely my last guess.

 

[transfixer]

When it comes to replacement parts, I look at it this way, if I plan on keeping the vehicle I try to buy original equipment if I can, in this case, motorcraft, if I am going to sell the vehicle in the near future I'll use a parts store brand, which are almost always remanufactured, remanufactured parts generally have been gone through and only the faulty components replaced, not truly remanufactured, regardless of what they claim, you'd be surprised how many " remanufactured" parts are bad right out of the box.

 

[Eudora]

Just one thing on going with the Motorcraft or ACDelco, there are no "Motorcraft" or "ACDelco" factories anywhere. They buy their parts from the same places that the big box stores buy theirs from. Only difference is which fancy box they are packaged in. They all go thru almost the same procedures for rebuilding and quality control, some better than others. The big thing is to be sure you FLUSH the entire power steering system. Adding an external in-line filter is also good insurance for a small additional purchase. Warranty is not always the best way to tell if it is a quality part or not. A lifetime warranty is just for the part (replaced by the place that sold it to you) and not the labor which sometimes costs a lot more than the part. Good luck

 

[mattuga]

I had to replace on on my Ridgeline. I don't know much about trucks (at all) and my mechanic has a very very strong chinese accent. He must have said rack and pinion 20 times to me and I still had no clue what he was saying.