I've got a '96 Legacy Outback. I was noticing some front end clunks, and I poked my head under there over the weekend to see if there was any looseness. Of course it's very difficult to put enough force on the components to reproduce the problem, and the only thing I noticed was some looseness going into the steering gear. Is this normal, or should it be as tight as everywhere else? There seemed to be some clunking coming from both sides - right where the steering gear boots are.

 

So if I need to replace something, am I looking at replacing the entire rack, or is there an inner tie rod end behind the boots? Also, how should I proceed when even trying to jerk the wheels around with all of my strength doesn't really reproduce the sound that I'm hearing on the road?

Check the steering shaft U- joint also, I had to replace mine because it was clunking.

I've got a '96 Legacy Outback. I was noticing some front end clunks, and I poked my head under there over the weekend to see if there was any looseness. Of course it's very difficult to put enough force on the components to reproduce the problem, and the only thing I noticed was some looseness going into the steering gear. Is this normal, or should it be as tight as everywhere else? There seemed to be some clunking coming from both sides - right where the steering gear boots are.

 

So if I need to replace something, am I looking at replacing the entire rack, or is there an inner tie rod end behind the boots? Also, how should I proceed when even trying to jerk the wheels around with all of my strength doesn't really reproduce the sound that I'm hearing on the road?

scorch,

 

Yes, there are inner tie rods on each end of the rack. Check the boots for cracks/tears. The inner joint is a ball and socket, if the boot has failed, water/road grime gets to it and it will seize up. Try this, grab the tie rod, you should be able to get some motion (rotational) between the outer and the inner joint. If it’s not free you could get a “clunk” sound usually when turning and hitting a bump. Just a thought, but again, check the boots first.