H3 Roadside repair help-steering rack. Help!!

[High Five H2]

I'm in Cloudcroft, NM and I was going up kind of s steep hill. The front right wheel went into a rut and slammed against the side pretty hard. The steering rack was leaking pretty bad and it's now I have no power steering. The alignment is off.

So obviously I need a new power steering rack, is that right?

Here's the other problem - no one is open until Monday and no parts stores have a rack. I'm fine with driving home with no power steering but I'm worried that the tie rod will come out or break on the highway. Does anyone know if it's safe for me to drive home, or what exactly broke?

Thanks in advance.

 

[RamRod]

If you keep it slow you would be save, highway speeds would not be a time to risk the tie rods

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[4speedfunk]

Yeah. It's junk. I've driven many miles with a broken rack. Just be aware it ain't right. Order a new one...takes an hour to install. Also a great time to upgrade the mount with an Outfitter Design clamp & bushings.


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[High Five H2]

Well I made it to just east of Hobbs, NM. The pulley popped off the power steering pump and now I'm stranded. Oops.


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[Happy Hummer]

Well, that just made for a interesting opportunity.. I believe that's what's referred to as a positive growth opportunity!!!! Lol.

 

[alrock]

When you replace the rack, take the fluid lines off of the old rack as you can use those to create bypasses in the event you have another rack failure.

Your power steering pump failed as it lost all of the fluid and it seized up. If you break a rack again, you can put in a bypass so that the PS pump keeps the fluid circulating, but bypassing the rack. This would have let you stay home.

Hope you got home safe.

 

[Happy Hummer]

Yes, I do hope you were able to make it home safe.

 

[High Five H2]

I got home last night around 1 am. My dad came out with a dolly and towed me home. The whole thing was kind of a disaster, but I guess I'll just chalk it up to a learning experience. #1 being don't break stuff, and if you do, don't break the rig you drove for 5 hours to get there.

So the boot leaked all the power steering fluid out when I slammed the wheel against that rut. I had no power steering and drove about 3 hours that way. The alignment was fine so I figured the tie rods were ok. This caused the PS pump to seize up around Hobbs, and that's when my dad came with the dolly. I just had to wait for 3+ hours in the sun with my wife and 2 kids on the side of a desert highway.

Because I have wheel adapters, I was way too wide for the dolly and we had to turn very carefully so my tires wouldn't cause the trailers tires to rub on the trailer fenders. Also, the straps weren't even close to fitting over my tires so I had to extend them with some ratchet straps that I had. All of this was pretty worrisome to me, so we made the drive going 45 or 50 mph. There were safety chains so that wasn't as bad.

To top it off, I had to remove the rear driveshaft. I told my dad it looked like a 10 or 12 mm bolt, so he picked up a cheap set at autozone on the way. He got this set here: http://www.autozone.com/wrenches-pl...-pcs-metric-combination-wrench-set/914133_0_0

No 11 mm end wrench, just 10 and 12. Well, the driveshaft takes 11 mm bolts, which is apparently some kind of unicorn size. We were waving people down and asking if they had 11 mm wrenches or something like a bunch of crazy people and finally a guy did. I got the DS off in about 30 sec and we were off.

Anyways, thanks for the advice. I'll definitely look into making a bypass. Looks like the pump and rack will take me a saturday to replace. It is getting old always breaking, though. It's probably a combination of my lack of off-roading experience and the H3's fairly weak front end. I suppose I'll have to get better at it so I don't break as much stuff. That or invest in a tow bar.

 

[Cyouincourt007]

Sounds like it was a mission but all in all you made it home safe and that is good news.

 

[Hunner]

A spare rack stored in a pvc tube on the roof rack, if you got one, is not a bad investment.

Back in the dark ages after breaking a rack I installed a flex line so if the rack separated the power steering fluid would not bleed out. A bit awkward steering but I think it would help. I also carry fluid and used that to keep it topped off until I could get out of a rough trail to work on it.

In 2011 was when I beefed up the rack mount.

 

[alrock]

Great fix Hunner!

 

[Happy Hummer]

Glad to hear you made it safe... And a BIG thanks Dad!

 

[High Five H2]

Glad to hear you made it safe... And a BIG thanks Dad!

No kidding!! It's good to have family around.