Is this looseness in the steering rack? 13 DB9

[andratch]

Hi folks,

I ve been trying to hunt down a steering issue that is showing two main symptoms:

1) consistent shimmy in the steering wheel noticeable above about 50 miles an hour, continuing up from there.

2) a jittery shake in the steering wheel, accompanied by a rattling type of noise when going over large bumps like railroad tracks, akin to a larger truck with a faulty steering stabilizer.

I thoroughly inspected my upper and lower control arms, and found them to be in good shape with no play. The wheel bearing seems to be fine too.

However, when I lift either front wheel off the ground individually and do a three and 9 o clock test, there s a decent amount of movement from the inner tie rod or steering rack and a rattle noise. The outer tie rods and ball joints are fine, I can’t tell if there is slack in the inner tie rods or movement inside the rack. Sample in the video below:

https://youtu.be/vD2RSUATre8?si=kvqT4i6ZPm5PXcT4

I’m not used to this type of movement in other vehicles that I’ve had, and I m not sure if this is common for the DB9 or an issue. It feels like a bit of a smoking gun, but then leads me to worry if this is just a simple inner tie rod change, or a faulty steering rack?

If anyone could take a look and see what they think, it would be greatly appreciated!

Edited by andratch on Monday 12th January 02:51

Edited by andratch on Monday 12th January 05:04

[dkatwa]

Dunno if it's the same as mine but the front heat shield on mine caused a buzzing sound sometimes.

[paulrog1]

If you look a the the video it looks like the outer track rod end to the rack is loose, you can see movement where the nut is.

Someone here found cheaper track rod ends than getting the expensive AM ones.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Lincsls1]

paulrog1 said:

If you look a the the video it looks like the outer track rod end to the rack is loose, you can see movement where the nut is.

Someone here found cheaper track rod ends than getting the expensive AM ones.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Yes you're right, good eyes!

[andratch]

paulrog1 said:

If you look a the the video it looks like the outer track rod end to the rack is loose, you can see movement where the nut is.

Someone here found cheaper track rod ends than getting the expensive AM ones.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I think that's due to some strange anomaly with the framerate of my phone's recording - the outer tie rod is solid, but the INNER appears to have movement in the ball bearing.

For anyone who is looking for the OUTER tie rod here in the future, the cross-referenced part is Meyle 616 020 0007