What is the BEST steering rack option?

I have a 2011 5.7 on 35s about ready to do a full suspension overhaul with RC 3.5 Vertex COs set to 3", UCAs and rear RTX pack and 5.29s and I have read horror stories about the steering rack failures. I have read every thread on the issue but haven't found a solid answer. I want to do this job ONCE and ONCE only.
I want to find a rack that can handle 30 miles of dirt road daily and not give me issues. I have a hard time believing that an OEM rack is my only option, because they seem prone to blowing out the outer seals as well. I like the idea of the Rack Doctor units, but a lifetime warranty doesn't mean squat if I have to drop the diff and deal with the downtime.

I avoid lock to lock turns and dry steering, but I am tired of babying this thing worried about the rack blowing.

Any feedback on what actually holds up would be great, because I need this truck to last and don't want to do this job twice.

Thanks guys.

 

I bet you could get 30 miles out of her

 

Welcome from NorCal.

Add an additional power steering fluid cooler. Those who've had repeated steering rack problems were able to resolve their issues by additional cooling. The heat destroys the seals.

 

That is great to hear Cruzer, I never considered heat being a factor in the failures, but it does make sense, and I'm sure the extra fluid capacity helps keep it cool as well.

I was also considering integrating an external pressure relief valve to evacuate the potential spikes in pressure, and maybe even decrease the pressure across the unit, but not quite sure
If it would work as I hope, but something to consider.

Now it comes down to rack choice and deciding whether a reman rack or the most recent 44250-0C160 revision is the way to go. It just seems crazy to me that there have been so many revisions to get it right, kind of a big expensive job for guys to have to deal with stock or otherwise.

I might integrate a gauge as well to monitor pressures and see what is happening in real time, because if the issue can be avoided before the breaking point, that would be a huge sigh of relief for most owners.

 

I'm no expert but seems overkill to me. You stated you're driving 30 miles daily off road but what kind of driving? Fast and hitting whoops, slower because it's rocky and rutted, or is it just a dirt road? The only time I busted the rack was when my truck rolled but other than that it has been able to take the rock crawling abuse and that's with me pulling on the steering wheel with the 40s up against a boulder trying to climb out.

 

I would steer clear of Rack Doctor. There are MANY reports of him not sending racks that were ordered and not processing cancelled orders (I didn't look into this enough before I ordered). I placed my order in October and in December finally called to cancel. After weeks of them either not answering the phone, not responding to emails, or telling me "I'll take care of your refund today", I had to file a dispute with PayPal. Finally got my $250 back a few days ago.

 

Just trying to get it to the utmost reliability. We live really remote in northern New Mexico and have 15mi each way (50-60mph) of rocky road with some gnarly whoops and ruts, and deal with crawling in the mountains (lots of tight boulder switchbacks) while getting wood, and with the lack of resources out here, I just want to avoid the potential of breaking as much as I can.

I usually SAS my rigs, but IFS has to stay on this one, and I don't want to commit to LT, just need a solid truck that won't be sitting waiting for parts all of the time.

That's great to hear your experience, I knew there were guys out there really using their trucks hard so I am glad to hear the success story, eases my mind a bit. I will dig through your posts and check out your setup, sounds rad!

 

Yikes! That sounds like a nightmare. Seems like good honest places are hard to come by nowadays, and it's really sad that you have to go through that to see the true colors. I worked for a big name toyota offroad shop in CO and the owner was one of the most sketchy scammers I have ever met, always customers pissed over missed deadlines and he would say what he needed to say to get them off his back. Imagine waiting 9 months to get a third member geared...just wrong.

 

I had good luck with Rack-Doctor, but not toyotas... (e30 bmw track-rat.) It was nearly a decade ago.. so, sad that things changed

 

That is too bad that the service isn't there.

I have decided to go with the newest revision of the OEM rack, the extra couple hundred is worth the security.

Hey Cruzer, how much do you think your high angle inners and heim outers play into your success? Also curious if the drop bracket actually helps with the static angle of the steering arms.

 

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