Steering rack end, easy or hard to do?and gearbox woes!

**sri andy** · 13th May 2009, 18:32

Hi,as some of you may know im well on with repairing my damaged vectra and one of the issued i have been slowly getting around to is that when parked up and the steering in the straight ahead position the drivers side wheel is in its normal position but the passenger side wheel is as if its turning to the left about 3-4 inches.

Just had a quick look around underneath and noticed the passenger side steering rack end piece is badly bent!

Any boby on here have any experience of changing them? im calling it a rack "end" only because i seem to remember someone once telling me that vauxhall steering racks had seperate end pieces....

The other thing i noticed on a very slow around the block test drive it was trying to jump out of second gear unless held tightley on the gear lever,could this be because the wheel was fighting its natural course or could the box be knackered!

Any help or advice greatley appreciated.

Thanks. Andy

**glynn** · 13th May 2009, 18:35

they are called tie rod ends m8, and are easy to replace, should take about 30 mins per side and cost about £20 for the kit at the dealers

**mattolly86** · 13th May 2009, 18:36

ok steering prob is track rod end but need photos really and as for jumping out of gear it is a possible cause but probably more likely that the gear selector folk

**glynn** · 13th May 2009, 18:39

Originally Posted by mattolly86

ok steering prob is track rod end but need photos really

the steering comes in 3 pieces, the rack, tie rod and track rod ends

**n_hudson** · 13th May 2009, 19:29

The rack being the expensive bit!

**sri andy** · 13th May 2009, 19:48

Great, thanks guys, think best course of action would be to get a new tie rod and get that fitted on the drive and see if the driving and gearbox situation improves.

Im crossing fingers and toes there are no gearbox issues!