Steering rack play / not locking completely

[jcgirton]

I recently replaced the struts, ball joints, and tie rods (inner & outer) on my car & took it to get an alignment. The shop said they couldn't align the vehicle because the inner tie rod on the driver side was loose - they wanted to charge me for 4 hours of labor at 99 dollars an hour to tighten it - I declined and took it home.

I inspected the tie rod and it was fine however if you grab the wheel at 3 and 9 it did shake back and forth. I had a buddy confirm the tire on the passenger side also moved when shaking the driver side, so the play must be coming from the steering rack not locking completely (it was locked when I was moving the wheels)? The movement seems very controlled still, it starts and stops travel at the same place, its not like its completely loose and wandering.

So if the steering rack does not lock completely is this a problem or will it cause a problem? and can a shop actually complete an alignment with it not locking completely? is there anything else I should check?

[oragex]

The rack doesn't lock completely when the ignition key is removed. Still has a bit of play and you can see it in the steering wheel. To check for wear play in the rack/tie rods have the buddy keeping firm the steering wheel - locked or not, and shake each wheel.

This particular garage sounds like scammers. I had three garages telling me my steering was broken. They were removing the ignition key, grabbing a wheel and saying look there is play in the rack. That's the last time I visited a garage 10 years ago

You can easily and accurately do the front wheel geometry at home with no specific tools

[jcgirton]

Thank you for this! My buddy was telling me you could align it yourself with strings going to the back wheels or something - it sounded complicated but this looks pretty easy!