[DeTomaso] steering rack....Again??!!Bump steer and noises

[doug351c]

Jack up one front corner at a time, grasp the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock, and
rock the tire back and forth vigorously by hand.  Hopefully you'll hear/feel
a clunk.  If so, have someone else look for the source of the clunk while
you rock the tire/wheel.  Do this check on both sides.

Doug Braun
blue 73L #5505

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com
[mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com]On Behalf Of clay willmott
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2011 6:31 AM
To: Pantera Forum
Subject: [DeTomaso] steering rack....Again??!!Bump steer and noises



I rebuilt the entire front suspension and then had the expert in Cincinnati
align and double check everything and 4 corner weight balance etc.  he does
the other panteras and is a suspension guy mainly and does some of the
Lemans teams and said everything looked great.WHile doing this I used all
the best parts and the car appears structurally sound at a arm sites of
attachment.
I had the rack out of the car and its an early 71 pushbutton car.I had the
suspension guy inspect the rack, it had a bronze bushing and the set screw
is intact.  I told him rebuild he said didnt need it and he took it apart (i
think).I also purchased the bump steer kit from a Poca member and mounted
all that before final alignment.
The car while driving 5 mph on even a decent road has a lot of noise such as
rattles creaks and groans coming from the rack and I can feel it transmitted
to hands from steering wheel. Its even more noisy with any small bumps into
driveway or just the tiny bumps in road of neighborhood while driving very
slow and not turning the wheel.  These are seams in the road and cannot be
felt or heard in any normal car fyi.  Sounds like something is loose or
wants to fall apart. When turning wheel right to left its also noisy but
even before the guy "re built or inspected the rack", whatever he did to it,
it never had the big single clunk everyone talks about.
Is the rack bad?  I was told it wasnt bad when i had it out?also, I did find
it difficult to mount the bump steer kit but the bolts are tight.  Nothing
appears loose. However it seems the tie rods are angled a bit due to the
bump steer kit?
I guess my three questions are:
1.  Is the Bump steer kit making matters worse?2.  Is the rack bad?3. If I
remove the bump steer and remount old way I doubt that would fix problem but
would alignment change?  Hoping to fix all this without big money alignment
again.
thankswanna get this fixed, again!