Steering rack ford focus 1 DIY repair

In detail: steering rack ford focus 1 do-it-yourself repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

When repairing Ford Focus steering racks with your own hands of 1, 2 or 3 generations, it is better to watch a video describing the main stages of repairing a rack on Focus. So you can familiarize yourself with the correct sequence of actions and get rid of unnecessary difficulties.

According to any manual for repairing steering racks of Focus cars, one of the most common causes of problems is the need for tightening and increased wear of the seals. If you are doing the work for the first time, it will not be superfluous to study the vehicle suspension device in order to avoid the typical difficulties.

Carrying out repairs, the removed steering rack is repaired with your own hands on a Ford Focus for one hour. The essence of the repair is to perform the following series of procedures:

removing, in fact, the rail on the lift;
unscrewing and removing the steering shaft;
unscrewing high pressure pipes;
complete removal of the mechanism with accessories;
removing the rod of the rail with surface restoration (the part is usually covered with rust);
restoration of the stem and installation of a repair kit;
installation of the complete mechanism on the vehicle;
performance check.

If the Ford Focus rail is worn out, you will have to start the repair yourself by checking the condition of the components. We strongly recommend that you replace them. If the requirement is not met, the Ford owner will have to lift the car again, remove the unit, repair and put it back. You will have to spend a lot of extra time.

When repairing a steering rack, our video will tell you about what tools you will have to acquire for disassembling, servicing and assembling this part at the Focuses. Also here you can learn in detail all the subtleties of the procedure. There is also a step-by-step instruction with a detailed explanation of the steps. This material will certainly come in handy for owners who are doing their own repairs for the first time.

Video (click to play).

Unscrew the tie rod end lock nut.

With side cutters we cut the plastic clamp for fastening the cover.

Using the pliers, remove the metal clamp of the cover.

Remove the cover from the steering rod.
A cover that is torn or has lost its elasticity is replaced.
The cover can be replaced without removing the steering gear from the vehicle.

Having wrapped the body of the hinge with emery cloth, we turn off the rod with a pipe wrench.

Disconnect the rod from the steering rack.
Install the new thrust in reverse order.

To prevent the hinge from turning away, we deform the edge of the threaded part of the hinge on the steering rack with a punch.

The ball joint must be completely filled with grease. If necessary, add Litol-24 grease to the ball joint.
We put the dirt cover in place and fasten it with clamps (we replace the plastic one, as well as the damaged metal one with new ones).
We install the steering gear in place.
We check and, if necessary, adjust the angles of the front wheels (see "Angles of the front wheels").

The steering rack on Ford Focus 1 2 3rd generation cars very often fails. The reason for this is a huge number of external and internal factors, which include: aggressive driving style, poor condition of the road surface, poor tightening of fasteners, the appearance of corrosion on the inner sleeve, torn oil seals and rubber bands.

Due to the design features of the steering rack, in most cases, repairs are carried out by a complete replacement of the aggregate mechanism.After reading this article, you will learn how to independently repair (remove and replace) the steering rack on a Ford Focus car, how to tighten it, how much it costs and what is included in the repair kit.

Steering rack repair kit Ford Focus - how much it costs, what it includes article numbers and sizes of parts.

For more convenient use, I recommend that you refer to the table in which I published the popular steering rack repair kits for the Ford Focus car.

As you can see from the table, there is a steering rack for a Ford Focus 1 2 3rd generation car from 600 rubles to 3000 rubles. Such a large run-up is due to the quality of the material made. Naturally, original spare parts are much more expensive than analogues, but they will also last much longer.

What does the steering rack repair kit consist of? Ford Focus

Basically, the steering rack repair kit consists of the following spare parts:

Steering rack repair kit (oil seals) No. AG0008 (price 3000r.)
The nut, which tightens the rail, instead of the plastic standard No. 6772170 (price 150 rubles)
Slide bush SKF PCM 252815 E

It can also be useful, but is not included in the rem. set: Clamping fork No. 6317116 (It is just pressed by the adjusting nut and removes the play in the engagement of the rack with the gear) and Spring No. 3707496 (Placed between the clamping fork and the adjusting nut)

And so, we stocked up on consumables, now we turn to the very process of repairing the steering rack for Ford Focus

All repair work with the steering rack on a Ford Focus car is carried out only after removing this part. Therefore, it is with this that I will begin our step-by-step instruction.

Before starting all work, it is recommended to drive the car onto a pit or overpass.
Unscrew the subframe bolts on both sides
We unscrew the subframe mounting bolt, but not completely, leave several turns on both sides
We unscrew the bolts securing the subframe to the exhaust pipe.
We pull down the subframe in order to provide access to the steering rack mounting bolts.
Disconnect all blocks of wires from the ABS sensor
In the cabin, unscrew the bolt securing the steering rack to the steering wheel.
Now we remove the steering tips.
We remove the crankcase protection, it is held on two mounts
Unscrew the pillow from the gearbox
We throw off the jet thrust
We loosen the bolts on the rod so that you can easily start and pull out the steering rack
We take out the steering rack.

Repair (bulkhead) steering rack for Ford Focus (Ford Focus)

On the steering rack removed from the car, it is necessary to carry out diagnostics
Then the steering rod joints and the steering rods themselves are removed.
Remove the clamp adjusting nut and spring. The rod clamp itself is removed.
Disassemble the distributor. Remove the steering shaft angle sensor
Remove the distributor shank nut
Remove the distributor
The retaining ring, the oil seal and the upper bearing are removed from it.
The rod support is removed from the steering rack.
The centering sleeve is removed from the support.
Next, the stem is removed from the body, and the right stem oil seal.
All parts of the steering rack are thoroughly cleaned of dust and dirt, remaining lubricants.
Then, on a lathe, the surface of the steering rack is polished.
Next, the distributor necks are polished
When assembling, all oil seals and rubber seals are recommended to be replaced with new ones. Putting it all in reverse order.

And so, one more important point. There are times when replacing the steering rack, rods, tips is not necessary. But at the service station they will scare you how everything is really bad and you can independently try to stretch and adjust the steering rack on your own. Let's get started:

This whole procedure with preparation takes 20 minutes, and the knock rivetted my brains for 2 years, although the dealership said everything was fine. It is not profitable for them to pull it up, this is a penny job, but when you gouge it, they will gladly change it for you, for a big sum. It goes through the warranty period with a knock.

I thought I had a cracked rake.

1) I knocked "in the yards" with a double knock, especially at low speeds

2) When I turn the steering wheel back and forth quickly, I feel a knock on the steering wheel.

Found on the forum a new Vsevoluyu rail. I don’t remember who suggested it.
I called him. He said he thought his rail was quacking. He bought a new one, but when he began to change it, it turned out that it was not she who knocked.

I wondered if it was worth spending 10000r., Went to Rolf for a “steering diagnostics” for $ 25. The verdict is the replacement of the stabilizer struts and the muyty (shaft) connecting the rail to the steering shaft.

I changed the stabilizer struts (400 rubles each. Limferder) - the sound at low speeds went away completely.
The shaft-coupling did not change. The knock on the steering wheel is still not big, if you quickly turn the steering wheel back and forth, but if you don't dig, it's not noticeable. There are no loofahs.

So all the same there are no those who grunted something. The Ford car is difficult, they gave me the signal for 36 hours, but remember old Henry: he said that you need to make money not on cars, but on spare parts, let's think about it and probably the next one will not be a Ford.

I thought I had a cracked rake.

1) I knocked "in the yards" with a double knock, especially at low speeds

2) When I turn the steering wheel back and forth quickly, I feel a knock on the steering wheel.

Ford Focus Hatchback PNDA / ib5 / 18 ″ / Titanium ›Logbook› getting rid of the knock on the steering rack Ford Focus 1.6: tightening or sharpening the bushings ?!

I must say right away that while I am preparing for this procedure, in search of a competent service, so that it would not be like repairing the suspension ...

The problem that annoyed everyone who owns this device! There is no need to be afraid of this, as well as to run to the repair of the rails, paying off 15,000 rubles for “repairing the steering rack”.

Simply put, everyone knows about this problem and clatter their tongues shaking the steering wheel to the beat of the knock, but! This is not fatal, there is nothing terrible!

In short: Let go of the stretcher, stabilizer, rail mount. We apply risks with a marker and turn the adjusting nut as needed. We are happy with the result and collect everything back!

Simply put, watch the video! The main thing is to make a key from a 22-mm head!) However, there are options that the plastic nut breaks, or stops holding, then you have to sharpen the analog.

If this does not help, but there is an opinion that the rack is adjusted at the factory and do not pull further, there will be no sense, then it is necessary to sharpen the support bushings into the crankcase, to fix the gear rack itself in it. Just before these manipulations, you need to make sure that it is the rack that knocks, and not other parts of the suspension! And not the steering shaft, otherwise there were such options, judging by the conversations he was guarding.

Crunching steering racks - this is a sore spot in many car models, including the Ford Focus. This nuisance can appear even after traveling only a thousand kilometers. This is mainly due to the quality of our roads or dashing driving style.

These blows are shown when driving over bumps or with a sharp rotation of the steering wheel. Sometimes it even appears on an ideal track if the front wheels are poorly balanced (usually in a narrow speed range with resonance phenomena).

Service centers often do not want to thoroughly diagnose the root cause of the knock and say that this situation is quite acceptable.

The steering rack consists of the main components:

tip;
Tie Rod;
amplifier cylinder;
input shaft gear.

Damage to any of these nodes can be a problem:

As one of the cases, you have to change the support bushings, which wear out quickly. Some craftsmen make homemade bushings (for example, from fluoroplastic), which often turn out to be more reliable and durable than the original ones.
On both sides of the steering rack, rubber bellows are put on in the form of an accordion. If the boot wears out or breaks, this can also subsequently lead to a knock on the steering wheel. Ingress of moisture, dust into any mechanism does not end well.
Leads to impacts, breakage or wear of teeth on a longitudinal rail or worm.
Factories - manufacturers save on the availability of transitional softening links, which often does not make it possible to reliably transfer shock forces when hitting pits and bumps (so familiar to us) on the roads.

Most often, they begin to notice a knock after the driver has caught a big pothole (usually with the right wheel, because He sits on the left). Does not cure undercarriage and prolonged driving on paving stones and dirt.

In order to start eliminating the unpleasant knock in the steering column area, you must first determine its root cause. There are three main reasons:

Steering rods with their joints.
Backlash in the steering wheel itself (this is extremely rare due to the simplicity and reliability of the design).
Finally, the mechanism of the reiki itself.

I would not advise you to change the rail, even if you have decided on its "guilt". The fact is that a new rake does not at all guarantee a repetition of the knocking problem in the near future, and you do not need two killed racks.

In order to "kill" her, you need to try hard - to catch more deep holes on the road at a decent speed. Most often, such holes "find" the right wheels during forced driving, grabbing the side of the road. But even in this case, the rubber joints on the steering rods are usually broken first, designed to soften the impacts. It happens that the teeth of the worm and the racks are grinding in a new car. In this case, the gaps between their teeth increase, and play appears.

Everything here is simple and cheap - there is an adjusting screw, which can be used to reduce the clearances between the teeth of the worm and the steering column rack. It is important not to overdo it, so as not to pin the steering wheel. Having made half a turn of the screw clockwise, check the rudder play quickly at small angles to the left - right, pull it.

If a knock is heard, tighten it again. If the steering wheel is wedged, lower the propeller. In the end, do not forget to secure it with a nut.

It happens that the grease is squeezed out through the faulty (dry) rubber seals of the rail (the so-called "anthers"). Then condensation accumulates there, the mechanism rusts and this does not lead to anything good: disassemble, polish the teeth, assemble, lubricate and sculpt everything back.

This is a beginner's day of work. For prevention, since you got here - rinse all the insides with gasoline and fill it tightly with grease - this will be enough for you for five years forget about knocking at the helmsman (if you are not a fan of the curb and jumping on holes).

It is replaced in the following manner:

it is easier to dismantle from a car in a pit (it is better, of course, to use a lift),
then unscrew and lower the stretcher,
unscrew the steering shaft and remove,
dismantle high pressure hoses,
take out the steering rack assembly,
now it is removed and ready for restoration,
wash, clean outside, disassemble and look at the problem.

If the edges of the side clamp nut are licked off (countering the adjusting screw) or its thread is torn off, it means that before you the gap in the rack was tried to be adjusted by another "master". Replace the nut immediately - with a new one.

If the surface of the rod on the rack and pinion (rack) is rusty, this will be the main reason for oil leakage and the ingress of moisture and dust into the body.

We take out the stock. It is necessary to polish the surface, especially where it should slide over the rubber seals (by the way, it is advisable to replace them - for sure they will no longer ensure tightness, and they cost a penny).

After the stem is polished, check to see if there is a loss of tightness between it and the seals. We disassemble the rack completely, wash all the parts with gasoline, carefully inspect the condition of the teeth and the quality of their fit.

What we cannot fix ourselves - we change (preferably with original parts, although there are good analogs - here the VIN code and Googol will help you).

In principle, if you carefully read even only one manual for repair and operation, everything is easy and simple. He did everything in a small garage without a pit, showing such acrobatic numbers with keys and a pipe that no gymnast and acrobats dreamed of.

1. First of all, as it is written in the instructions, I jacked up the machine, set it on bricks, aligned the steering wheel, blocked it, removed the front wheels. Even this I did the first time, and even then there were difficulties, but all the necessary head was missing, that is, I unscrewed seven bolts with a 19 head, and the eighth into none ... I had to go to the store for the right size 18 head. I went, bought, unscrewed.

2. Then I removed the engine protection - 4 bolts, everything was fast, there were no problems.

3. In the passenger compartment, behind the pedals, disconnected the steering shaft from the steering shaft - everything is as in the instructions - cars until December 1998, 2 bolts, loosen the upper one, unscrew the lower one, disconnect the shafts from each other.

4. Next were the tie rods. The right one quietly unscrewed and knocked out, but the left one did not want to unscrew and the grinder went into action - he sawed off the nut from three sides, knocked it down. The steering rods have been disconnected.

5. Then I got down to the stretcher. After reading that it is necessary to unscrew 6 bolts, I began to twist everything I see below. I saw 8, and unscrewed everything. 4 of them could have been left - these are two bolts on each side for attaching the rear silent blocks of the suspension arms (Fig. 1, number 1) - I stood up on these bolts, lost time, they were very hard for some reason. I have a crane, I must read everything carefully 😉

Rice. 1. Lever of the front suspension: 1 - bolts of the rear silent-block of the lever; 2 - bolt of fastening of the front silent block of the lever; 3 - ball joint

As a result, the required 6 bolts: 4 of them are next to the bolts for attaching the rear silent blocks of the levers (Fig. 2) and two more bolts we need are located above, one of them can be seen in Fig. 1 (from the center of the picture up exactly a quarter of the height of this picture).

By unscrewing these 6 bolts, the subframe is lowered on one side. To prevent it from falling, and in order to unscrew the last bolt without difficulty, the subframe is supported by a jack.
The subframe is lowered.

6. I wanted to twist the steering rack in full, pull it out as soon as possible, but after looking at the whole thing, having read the instructions carefully again, I realized that it just wouldn't work. Maybe you can somehow do without everything that I did next, but did as I did.
I unscrewed the anti-roll bar, which are attached to the shock absorber (Fig. 3, number 3) - there is only one nut on each side. I climbed under the car and unscrewed the anti-roll bar itself (Fig. 3, number 7) - everything is intuitively simple there (two brackets on each side, two bolts by 13 on each bracket. I did not pull out the whole bar, since one of Its racks just did not want to unscrew, I thought that in order to pull out the rail, one unscrewed side would be enough.

Rice. 3. Front suspension: 1 - wheel hub; 2 - steering fist; 3 - shock absorber rack; 4 - anti-roll bar; 5 - rear silent block of the suspension arm; 6 - cushion of the stabilizer bar; 7 - bar of the anti-roll bar; 8 - bracket for fastening the wire of the wheel speed sensor *; 9 - hub bearing; 10 - ball bearing; 11 - suspension arm; 12 - stretcher; 13 - front silent block of the suspension arm * For a car with ABS

7. The steering rack is attached to the subframe with two bolts (Fig. 4) - it is also intuitive there.

eight.Then he disconnected the tubes from the steering rack. There is a holder for these tubes with a thin 5.5 bolt, accidentally broke the bolt :-(, removed the holder. Then the bolt 10, which holds the tube attachment plate. He pulled out the tubes, the power steering fluid flowed out, sent it into a prepared container.
Pulled out the steering rack.

It seems like now everything is very simple, but in the end it was done for a week, not a quick quiet work for about 13-17 hours.

It seems to me that I have just a lack of lubrication - the reason for the knock. This is the lubrication of the rack itself (not the steering shaft, as the knock on the Mazda 6 is eliminated):

“Professional advice for eliminating knocking on the 2007 Corolla racks. As I have already presented myself on the pages of this forum, our company has been operating them since the fall of 2007. The knock appeared somewhere after 50 thousand mileage and not in all cars. We found out the reason, at the factory - the manufacturer saves grease, which is quickly produced and the WORM - TOOTHED RACK assembly starts knocking. You just need to fill in the grease. There are two options: you can remove the anthers of the steering rods, alternately extend the toothed rack on each side, grease abundantly and re-assemble the anthers with the same grease. Cons - the problem unit is located in the central part of the rail and is not lubricated immediately, but after some time of running the rail back and forth. We did it differently: a hole is drilled in the body at the very node, a thread is cut and a grease nipple is screwed in. Pros: the unit is lubricated immediately and the knock instantly disappears, from the center when injecting the grease diverges to the sides and lubricates the gear rack along the entire length, with periodic injecting the rack becomes almost eternal. Another tip: it is better to take the grease with the addition of graphite. "

I’m thinking about the easier way to push the grease there: through the anthers, through the nut-cracker-spring (I heard the opinion that if you completely unscrew the nut, you will have to remove the rail to put everything back in place), or by drilling (I would not want to).
Who thinks about this?

Purchased Castrol LMX grease for these purposes. It will get warmer, I plan to deal with the issue.
Photos are not mine.

Focus steering rack repair has a number of specific points. To begin with, generations of Focuses replaced each other along with the design of the steering rack.

Unites all generations steering rack focus one - problems with a biscuit.

Rusk in steering rack focus it is needed to stabilize the rack-shaft against vertical movements and simultaneously press the teeth. The shaft-rack in an ideal rack should only move along its axis (to the left or to the right along the direction of the car), but not otherwise. A malfunction in which the shaft-rack begins to dangle up and down is caused by wear of the crankcase of the cracker and the cracker itself, or squeezing out the plastic plug of the cracker.

Unfortunately in steering racks Focus the cracker itself and its cap are made of plastic, and steering racks with a plastic cracker are primarily susceptible to this malfunction.

If the soft plastic of the breadcrumbs steering rack focus is worn out, or for some reason tore off the thread on the biscuit plug, this inevitably leads to knocking and backlash in the steering.

Plastic cap of a biscuit on steering racks Focus after adjustment at the factory, it is glued. Sometimes Ford Focus owners try to adjust the steering rack by twisting the cracker cap. This is mistake! Never shake off a glued plug. It will be possible to tighten it only for a very short time. After that, it will fall out and the rail will knock even harder.

The same can happen if the steering rods are not professionally replaced or repair steering rack Focus... In this case, the cracker also squeezes out if, when unscrewing / tightening the steering rods on the car, excess torque is applied to the shaft-rail. Read about how to properly tighten the rods in the note:

At Gidrolab at repair steering rack Focus you will be offered to replace the plastic plugs with the same metal ones.

After such a replacement, the steering rack of a Ford car ceases to be disposable and becomes reliable.

Gidrolab uses its proprietary method to eliminate knocks and backlash caused by wear on the crankcase crankcase. This malfunction is eliminated once and for all.

In addition to cracker malfunctions, the Focus steering racks are characterized by a number of others. These are the backlashes in the right bushing of the rack shaft.

At repair steering rack Focus Gidrolab uses its own technology for reworking bushings and guarantees the complete absence of backlash and knocking in them. It uses machine tools and Japanese materials.

Next, we will briefly talk about the special malfunctions of the Focus steering racks of different generations.

The steering racks on the first generation Ford Focus are made quite reliably. Only severe violations in operation, such as driving with a torn boot, lead to breakage of these rails. It should be noted that some of the cars were fitted with steering racks manufactured by TRW, while others were fitted with Ford. TRW Reiki was more reliable.

On the second Ford Focus, all the problems are due to the biscuit, as it was written earlier. But there are also such malfunctions as wear of the cylinder crankcase. Steering rack cylinder The focus is worn out by the rack-shaft piston most in the middle position. After wear to the limit value, the steering wheel begins to bite in the middle position. Sometimes an unqualified repair using unsuitable piston rings can lead to this malfunction of the rack. The piston ring material matters! Many materials wear out aluminum very quickly.

On the third Focus, the rails are hydraulic or electric. Repair of the Focus-3 steering rack is no different from the repair of the Focus-2 steering rack, if it is hydraulic. But the repair of the Focus-3 electric steering rack is quite complicated. However, most often the matter is in the bushings, which the Gidrolab company can easily remake according to its technology. Our bushings run for a very long time!

The Gidrolab company gives a 13-month warranty with no mileage limitation.

Focus 1. There was a knock on the steering rack. Is it possible to adjust the bolt to remove it, or is it not adjustable at all? Checking the steering rack:
Start moving, stop and again slowly and smoothly begin the movement, turning the steering wheel to the right. At the moment of releasing the clutch pedal or after a short period of time, a dull single knock may be heard. The knock may not always appear.
This knock may be a defect.

ALL of these symptoms may disappear for a short time (a day or two) periodically. However, with constant use of the car, they progress and in the end they begin to appear always and all at once.

As an option for self-diagnostics on the go - I could easily hear them, stopping at a snail's pace into the yard - in this case, an unpleasant tinkling creaking and tapping noise is heard from under the muzzle of the car (a complete feeling that there are no knocks but something is wrong). But before that, I noticed all the symptoms for about a couple of weeks and began to pay close attention to them at every opportunity.
- if the car is pulled up on a lift, then it is enough to pull the steering rod - it dangled from me like a spoon in a glass.

CONCLUSIONS:
The smooth but fast dying of a reiki is NOT ALWAYS like a reiki!
Extraneous sounds (creaking, knocking, etc.) when driving a car MAY BE exactly a sign of a rail failure!
In Phi Xie, no one says that it should be so - the diagnosis was made immediately and finally. By the way, when asked about the restored rails for replacement, it was firmly stated to me that ONLY NEW spare parts are put under the WARRANTY!
P.S. A light knock when turning the steering wheel left-right on a stationary wound-up car is really the norm - as well as a single knock in the extreme left-right position (all the way). But this does not apply to the symptoms that I described.
P.P.S. The rail was replaced, the symptoms disappeared, the steering wheel became "clear". The effect is obvious - positive.

Council number 1
Hello.steering rack, can be adjusted, but you need a special key. they don't do this on a Ford, they say that the knock is normal, but the backlash is a replacement. I made the key myself, and slightly tightened the steering rack, until a certain moment, the knock disappeared. As you can not tell. You need to pull up by a millimeter, checking the steering wheel to the left, right, so as not to bite the rail.

Council number 2
I have a focus-2 restyling 1.8 mileage 30 thousand. Rake knocked with novya, especially on bumps with a turn to the right, and judging by the forums, not a single one. All this is nonsense that this is the norm on Fords and it does not fit. I do not know about others, but I have no specials. The key is not needed and everything is easily pulled up. Now it's better than the new one. I think that the system is the same on all 2 foci.

Tip # 4
Hi, you need to swing the steering wheel with the engine turned off, and if there is no knocking at the same time, then you still need to check the ball joints. When you open the wheel, take it with your hands and swing it well to the right or left. The loof is well felt and visually visible where. I was already in the Spaniard after 20 thousand km. I replaced the left one, and now after 30 I started to rumble the right one when turning to the left.