OK, I really did not mean for this to turn into a ******* contest. I respect Jerry and his ideas - we've used his instructions for the diff drain plug install and everything else I have seen him post is spot on. And no, I am not an engineer, but I am married to a pretty smart one and he's taken the time to crawl under a few cars with me and explain a few things. (This is what we were doing last night..) This is why I think there is more that needs to be done than Jerry's proposed alternative - and bear with me - I am not too technical....
There are 2 parts to the steering rack reinforcement fix. The first part is relatively straightforward in that it welds a tubular piece between the 2 frame rails snuggled up to the steering rack mounts. I believe that this is the piece that Jerry's support could replace / augment.
And, if the only thing at work here that was stressing and breaking the welds was the load on the mounts from the steering rack itself, (meaning that the steering rack was trying to move off the frame) then that would be all there was too it.
However, three is a second part of the recall that involves grinding off the small gussets under the joint between the frame rail and the floremost crossmember and adding large, heavy triangular plates that are riveted (with structural steel rivits) to the frame rails and cross member..
Under the car, aft of the cross member there are 2 diagonal pieces that attach and strengthen the crossmember to the frame. This is the "K" that is formed by these pieces. That is very strong. There is no such bracing presently in FRONT of the crossmember.
Please note that the forward mount for the lower control arm is located FORWARD of the cross member. And that the front frame horns continue forward by themselves with no further cross pieces.
We believe, that in addition to the steering rack forces, the CORNERING forces exerted on the front frame rails by the forward lower control arm mounts are stressing the front frame horns and repeated stressing can have the effect of cracking the steering rack mounts- even though they may not be what's "moving". Using the big honking triangular plates (told you I was not technical) rivited to the front frame rail AND the cross member strengthens the heck out of this area - likely matching the behind the crossmember support. We believe this is a fatigue failure due to cornering forces of the increasd grip of the Hoosiers, and that is one reason why it takes a while to show up. REMEMBER, I smacked the wall at Watkins Glen hard enough to BREAK my steering rack and my mounts are PERFECT.
IF steering rack twist / load was the only thing working to crack these, then part one of the fix, in our opinion, would be all that was necessary. The addition of the plates forward of the cross member is a clue that there is more going on than just necessarily this being CAUSED by the steering rack. We believe the steering rack welds cracking are an EFFECT of the flex of the front frame horn under cornering load.
Take this for what it is worth, but look at your car and check our where the forward lower control arm mounts to the frame rail. Imagine the forces that sticky tires can generate on that piece of frame that is currently not suported further forward of that mount.
I expect that we'll be ordering Jerry's fix to augment the recall fix, but we won't be eliminating the additional reinforcement.
Just my $.02 (well, maybe a little more) and certainly not intended to slam anyone.
