Steering Wheel Shimmy

[Kneale Brownson]

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There was a posting quite a while back (like two years???) on the main
list, I believe, about failure of the sheetmetal where the steering rack is
fastened to the body that might lead to a less stable rack initially.  I
think the fix was a rather straight-forward welding in of a patch to
reinforce the mounting areas.  You might do a Google search of Audifans.com
about steering rack mounting.

At 10:39 PM 06/24/2002 -0700, Gary Anderson wrote:

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>My son's Audi 4kq gets a vibration in the steering wheel at about 60 mph,
>not at 50 mph or lower.
>Feel is like when a tire is our of balance, but the tires are running ok,
>no bounce of either front fender.
>Car has new tires, newer 15" wheels, new lower A-arms for new bushings &
>ball joint, sport springs and new shocks all around w/ new 4-way alignment.
>Not much changed when any of the suspension mods were installed, or new
>wheels, or new tires on same wheels.
>This weekend, we looked at the steering ball joints, seem to be ok, but
>while looking in there,  I wondered about the rack can contribute to a
>speed related "harmonic" vibration.  So, I reached in and pulled up and
>pushed down on the left steering rod, and observed the connecting bracket
>(where the left and right sides bolt-up) would move up and down (i.e.
>rotating relative to the rack).  Not much movement, maybe a 1/16" or
>so.  With the steering full left or right, there was no movement up or
>down by comparison.
>Tried the same examination on my 200, rack is solid in its straight ahead
>position.
>Anyone have any BTDT where a rack was "loose" in the middle (straight
>ahead) and contributing to a nuisance?
>Not much else to change parts wise, cause we changed those above to make
>the handling better, etc.
>Thanks in advance for any suggestions or BTDT.  (Apologies for the little
>200 content....)
>Gary Anderson in Sammamish, WA
>
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