Passenger side steering tab misalignment

[Pappy's Shop]

Hello there everyone!

I am making my way through my MK4 build and everything has been fairly smooth so far. But now I am having an issue with the steering rack. As I was attempting to install my power steering rack, I noticed a misalignment of the rear mounting tab on the passenger side. I am wondering if anyone has experienced this issue. I did a search of the forum and couldn't find any mention of it, so I'm not sure how to proceed. I am thinking I should enlarge the hole, but the alignment is pretty far off in my opinion and I am afraid there won't be enough "meat" left on that mounting tab.

Any suggestions are welcome!

[michael everson]

I don't see any other option except to slot it. No harm in that.
Mike

[i.e.427]

What Mike said. We've had to finesse a couple mounting tabs in the past, including the steering rack tabs. Carbide bur on your drill, a little at a time, checking for fit.

Frank

[AC Bill]

Well that's not good.. Frame jig must have shifted when they were welding it, or it was a welder with terrible eyesight..:confused:

You could enlarge the hole and then beef the plate up with another 1/2 plate welded on the backside, if you really don't think there is enough meat left to be safe. Maybe you could bend the tab over a tad with a hammer so the holes line up better?

[jengum]

I had to enlarge the rear passenger side mounting tab hole to get it to bolt up. If I remember I enlarged the front mounting tab hole as well trying to split the offset difference. The back mounting tab hole and the inner side of the steering rack safety loop also required some moderate grinding to get it to fit. If you don't have one a die grinder with a good set of burrs is your best friend on these builds. Sneak up on it a little at a time. My M12 die grinder has been the most used tool behind a drill on my build.

[rich grsc]

Take a little off both sides, not a big deal. The rack is sandwiched between them, no need to worry about strength and the need to reinforce it.

[J R Jones]

When you do a test fittment, hopefully one of the two holes will line-up. A rat tail file will make the improper hole a slot like the driver's side. (assembly tolerance).
Since that bracket also locates the lower control arm pivot, which IMO is more critical, is that clevis right? Both of my lower control arm mounts were misaligned and required a lot of rework to eliminate binding.
jim

[CraigS]

I would not slot the hole the bolt is aiming at. I'd grind the hole the bolt is passing through. It isn't going to take much angle change of that hole to move the other end of the bolt. Don't try to 'slide' the bolt until it lines up. Change the angle it passes through the steel at.

[Norm B]

Check the distance between the front and back tabs on both sides. Looks like the front tab on the passenger side is angled slightly forward at the top. Easily adjusted with a big crescent wrench or a block of wood and a bfh.

HTH

Norm

[AC Bill]

Check the distance between the front and back tabs on both sides. Looks like the front tab on the passenger side is angled slightly forward at the top. Easily adjusted with a big crescent wrench or a block of wood and a bfh.
HTH Norm

I too wondered about that as a possible solution. It wouldn't be the first time a tab somewhere on the frame wasn't welded on perfectly, or had rec'd some damage. I wonder about the weld or the tube it's welded to cracking..?

[egchewy79]

I had this exact same issue w/ my MK4. Opened up the hole a bit and then used a BFH to send it.

[Pappy's Shop]

Thank you for the suggestions! I carefully slotted the rear tab until the bolt went through. I didn't need to remove as much metal as I initially thought, and there was still plenty of metal left for strength.

Thanks again!

[Pappy's Shop]

Jim,

I didn't have any binding with my control arm clevis. All the front suspension went together pretty smoothly honestly. The rear suspension required some extra work, but still not too bad.

-Chris