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I've had Preferred Chassis Fabrication's Scorpworks Steering Rack Bracket on my H3 for six months now. And it's still an awesome upgrade.
The steering in my H3 has been an on and off drama. Anyone remember the intermediate steering shaft issues back in 06 and 07? Took a few trips to the dealer and a couple of replacement parts to get that fixed.
Then, because I was a bit foolhardy (clueless?) I had my torsion bars cranked to 24". Lots of wheeling and at 40,000 or so miles I had to replace my steering rack. The inner tie rods wore out at the rack. I tried replacing only the tie rods but that as merely a bandaid, and I still ended up doing the rack later.
I replaced the OEM bushing a couple of times after that. I tried another fix but because my frame's rack mounting plate was likely out of alignment (20/20 hindsight) that fix didn't work for me.
Essentially, most of the time that I've owned my truck - six years, 120,000 miles before I did this fix, I had a truck that had loose steering; steering that was clunky and steering that just didn't feel right.
So, February 16, 2013 we put the PCF Steering Rack Bracket on my H3. Dwaine did most of the work as I had a bruised rotator cuff and couldn't do much with my shoulder. I took the pictures.
On that first test drive, I couldn't stop smiling. The biggest telltale of the awesome improvement was going over railroad tracks that intersected the street at a bias. Previously, the steering would induce a shiver through the vehicle as the tire would move the rack which in turn affected the other front tire. Hitting two rails at two different times was essentially jogging the rack up and down, back and forth, at a rapid pace. The loose steering, clunkiness and vagueness all disappeared.
This design does not overclamp or bind the thin sheet metal of the rack, which may result in the steering not wanting to return to center.
My next test was Moab, in particular on the crack on Seven Mile Rim. I accidentally entered it lazily and the rocks grabbed the wheels hard, jerking them to the left in the crevice. The smart thing would be to back up, straighten out, and re-enter the crack while firmly holding the wheel to prevent that from happening again. The fun choice was to put the Scorpworks bracket to the test. While in the crack, I firmly grabbed the steering wheel and forced it back to the right. I figured the possible outcomes were: 1) Success; 2) Failure of a tie rod; 3) Failure of the bracket. I ended up with Success.
Here's a picture of it in Moab when I did an inspection for any issues (none, of course). Frankly, I'm much less worried about carrying a spare rack on the trail now that separation of the rack (the primary failure) is much less likely because this bracket holds the rack in place, preventing separation. I've also seen failure from the PS lines breaking at the rack due to the rack movement, and that's not likely to happen with the PCF mount. I'd rather spend the money on this aluminum bracket than a PS rack - less money, and I don't have to carry that massive (and heavy) spare with me everywhere.
For those doing the math, this rack has about 89,000 miles on it now with no wear and tear issues on the remaining bushings, the tie rods or the steering action. And if you check out my SmugMug pages, you can see that it's done a few trails. alrock.smugmug.com
The steering in my H3 has been an on and off drama. Anyone remember the intermediate steering shaft issues back in 06 and 07? Took a few trips to the dealer and a couple of replacement parts to get that fixed.
Then, because I was a bit foolhardy (clueless?) I had my torsion bars cranked to 24". Lots of wheeling and at 40,000 or so miles I had to replace my steering rack. The inner tie rods wore out at the rack. I tried replacing only the tie rods but that as merely a bandaid, and I still ended up doing the rack later.
I replaced the OEM bushing a couple of times after that. I tried another fix but because my frame's rack mounting plate was likely out of alignment (20/20 hindsight) that fix didn't work for me.
Essentially, most of the time that I've owned my truck - six years, 120,000 miles before I did this fix, I had a truck that had loose steering; steering that was clunky and steering that just didn't feel right.
So, February 16, 2013 we put the PCF Steering Rack Bracket on my H3. Dwaine did most of the work as I had a bruised rotator cuff and couldn't do much with my shoulder. I took the pictures.
On that first test drive, I couldn't stop smiling. The biggest telltale of the awesome improvement was going over railroad tracks that intersected the street at a bias. Previously, the steering would induce a shiver through the vehicle as the tire would move the rack which in turn affected the other front tire. Hitting two rails at two different times was essentially jogging the rack up and down, back and forth, at a rapid pace. The loose steering, clunkiness and vagueness all disappeared.
This design does not overclamp or bind the thin sheet metal of the rack, which may result in the steering not wanting to return to center.
My next test was Moab, in particular on the crack on Seven Mile Rim. I accidentally entered it lazily and the rocks grabbed the wheels hard, jerking them to the left in the crevice. The smart thing would be to back up, straighten out, and re-enter the crack while firmly holding the wheel to prevent that from happening again. The fun choice was to put the Scorpworks bracket to the test. While in the crack, I firmly grabbed the steering wheel and forced it back to the right. I figured the possible outcomes were: 1) Success; 2) Failure of a tie rod; 3) Failure of the bracket. I ended up with Success.
Here's a picture of it in Moab when I did an inspection for any issues (none, of course). Frankly, I'm much less worried about carrying a spare rack on the trail now that separation of the rack (the primary failure) is much less likely because this bracket holds the rack in place, preventing separation. I've also seen failure from the PS lines breaking at the rack due to the rack movement, and that's not likely to happen with the PCF mount. I'd rather spend the money on this aluminum bracket than a PS rack - less money, and I don't have to carry that massive (and heavy) spare with me everywhere.
For those doing the math, this rack has about 89,000 miles on it now with no wear and tear issues on the remaining bushings, the tie rods or the steering action. And if you check out my SmugMug pages, you can see that it's done a few trails. alrock.smugmug.com
