Was just planning on cleaning it up and installing turbo tie rods. It always felt good to me with the wheel on, but now that I have everything off and turning it by hand, I can definitely feel the individual teeth on the track bar. Is this ok or should it be perfectly smooth?

Hardware all looks pretty fresh, so I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be the first to rebuild it.

Anybody know how to pronounce this one:

Click to view attachment

I had the same experience.. Sold it as a core to 914 rubber..

If the rack is out and you have any doubts about it, def do as Ben (and I) did and swap it out for a refurbished u it from 914rubber. Here’s a video I made of the process and turbo tie rod install. Hope it helps.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MnuYLbZ89y8

ZF

Germans LOVE to make compound words, but is usually very logical. English on the other hand loves to have separate words (often more than one) for each thing.

Zahnradfabrick: Zahn (tooth) + Rad (wheel) = Zahnrad (cog or gear) + Fabrik (factory or company).

Friedrichshafen: is a city in the south of Germany, which is itself a compound word meaning Friedrich's harbor.

Schwaebisch Gmuend is the plant where the casting was made.

Not that hard to disassemble and inspect. .

Ben,
This is what I was afraid of. I messaged you thinking about buying that rack, but decided against it. I remember you saying something similar about it not being quite smooth enough. I was starting to think that just might be how they're "supposed"
to feel.

Not sure it's worth the cash to get a rebuilt one. The one I have is definitely "good", but not sure if it's "good enough." If you guys say it's going to come back from Mikey 100% buttery smooth, I'll spring for it. Otherwise I think I'll save the money.

Was thinking about doing this, but don't want to screw up the seals if I don't have to. I'd like to give this a go myself instead of sending to 914Rubber, but if Ben was having problems getting to 100%, I certainly won't be able to!

It's not a difficult process. That is if all the parts are with in tolerance and you replace the bearings. What I have found is that the outer sleeves tend to get worn. There are also 4 different types of these racks. If you are feeling teeth, I'd bet the internal puck is worn outside tolerance. Just don't loose any shims doing so.

Compared to other rack re builders we are about 1/2. The reason we do not sell the parts is because re assembly requires checking tolerances and we have made out outer bushings to a very tight tolerance. If they are not perfectly aligned we will get feedback that they are crap because the end user can't use them. This is the only design flaw (and it's not in the part). This is why we have offered this as a service.

We clean the entire housing making sure all the old grease is removed (as it has picked up contaminates that will act like sand paper), then re assemble (with plated hardware)using new bearings, bushings and slide tensioner, checking tolerances and including bellows and outer hardware with new rubber (if sent as part of the core ).

The entire process takes 3.5 hours per unit, and we have found several that we were not able to rebuild (within tolerance) due to the wear.

Yes you can "rebuild" these pretty easily, its more about the details.

And Troth - Dave/toolguy is a long experienced old hand on Porsches & other Restos too ... as in decades worth for big names! .... so not too hard for him!

And as Mark/Mikey said - there are different versions, so some of the internal parts will vary too - complicating your part acquisition - if you were to do the build on your own..

Mere mortals like me are all thumbs & - so IMHO go the rebuild/core-trade-in route if you are at all iffy on doing it yourself.

BTW - this ZF rack is the same company doing the ZF racks & transmissions today, & that mouthful of syllables is why everybody just says ZF today.
Great transliteration info by theer! Thanx!

Good Luck!
Tom
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