911 steering rack roughness

[Andrew Ish]

How smooth should a 911 steering rack feel when operated on a bench?

Bit of background to the question:

A few weeks ago I had someone drive into the side of the front wing and front wheel whilst the car was stationary. Whilst it was a low speed impact, when I drove home afterwards I found the steering wheel about 1/2 turn out of alignment. The tracking was still fine and no play was detectable in the rack. All I can assume is that the impact on the side of the wheel, actually the tyre, caused the sprung rack to move away from the pinion and skip a tooth or two - or worse its chipped a tooth off.
Although, I as say above there is no play in the rack at all, the stering did feel a little notchy when wound to and fro whilst stationary (it's fine on the move) and so, to isolate the notchyness I've just taken the rack of the car and as I slide the rack to and fro within the body it does feel rather rough/agricultural in its operation.
Not having any other racks to compare with I'm not able to judge whether this is normal or not. My suspicions are not, but I'd love to get your thoughts.

BTW haven't looked at dismantling the rack yet as I don't know whether this is a home job or not.

what do you think?

Andrew

[stuby]

In my opinion if the wheel took a knock in the bump it may have bent the end of the rack where the track rod end fastens onto. You would probably feel the rack becoming tighter as you turn the steering wheel, particularly when turning toward the damaged side.
HTH
Stu