Repair of the KIA Ceed steering rack (Hyundai/KIA)

• Knocking in the engine room when driving over bumps;
• steering wheel play;
• deviation from the course when moving in a straight line;
• loss of control acuity when maneuvering.

Steering rack knocks are sometimes confused with sounds that can be heard when suspension components. To verify that the steering rack is actually worn, simply turn the wheel horizontally.

If there are signs of wear, there will be noticeable backlash, but it is necessary to exclude the backlash of the steering rod. To do this, just put your hand on the tie rod tip, then on the connection point of the tie rod with the steering rack toothed shaft. There should be no play in these places. But if you move the rod near the rack body, the play will be clearly felt.

Which steering rack for KIA Ceed is better, price, repair kit

The catalog number of the Hyundai/Kia steering rack assembly is 565002-L3-01, its price is about $370 for 2023.

However, there are analogs that are not necessarily worse than the original, but are much more favorable in price:

• 7376024 Sasic, $160;
• DRI 714520944, $165;
• MSG KI 101r, $130;
• MANDO TS565002L301, $200;
• TRW JRM597, $250;
• Unit 45604101, $210.

However, buy the rack on the Kia Cid have to only in case of critical wear of the toothed shaft, damaged housing, heavy wear of the gear pair. 

In all other cases, you must replace the plastic and rubber parts with the new ones offered in the repair kit. For example, the Emmetec KI1001KIT repair kit. It costs $25 and contains absolutely all parts necessary for replacement.

But you can save money and buy only the rack bushing (the original 565213X000), dust covers 3895401 from LEMFORDER, if necessary a steering shaft cross ST1639 (GMB, TOYO). In general, here are the numbers of all consumable parts to repair the rack KIA Ceed on the photo.

How to remove the steering rack on the KIA Ceed (Hyundai/Kia)

To get to the steering rack, you need to unhook the front of the car and remove both front wheels. Also unscrew the tie rod ends from the steering knuckle and both upper mounts of the stabilizer rods.

Now unscrew the five bolts of the gearbox support. 

Jack up the engine and transmission to remove the engine and gearbox supports.

Enter the passenger compartment and before unscrewing the steering rack shaft, we align the steering wheel exactly in the center. To prevent it from falling off during operation, we fix it with a seat belt.

Mark the rack and pinion shaft and steering column, then unscrew the bolt marked with paint.

Lift the steering shaft from the splines with the mounting spade, remove and set aside.

Unscrew the four bolts securing the rail body with a 17 mm socket. It is better to do this from above if you have several extension cords available.

Lift the stabilizer up and lower the subframe so that the rack can go through the gap..

If the rack does not want to come off, unscrew the left tie rod tip. Pull the rack out towards you.

The rack is in our hands. We fix it in a vice and remove the clamps from the dust covers and the dust covers themselves.

Hyundai/Kia steering rack repair

Now the problem is visible to the naked eye - there is obvious wear on the gear shaft in the plastic bushing.

In this case, there is no movement of the ball end of the rod. If there is play, the rod will need to be replaced.

Unscrew both steering tie rods on both sides.

Carefully remove the plastic steering shaft guard to avoid damaging the clips.

Unscrew the nut to adjust the gap in the rack gear pair. Pay attention to the marks. If they are not present, count the number of turns on the thread. This is so that you can install the nut in the same way during reassembly.

Remove the spring and inner stop from the housing.

Using a 36 mm wrench, unscrew the steering shaft nut with the oil seal. At the same time, assess its condition and, if necessary, replace it with a new one from the repair kit.

Take out the gear, then the gear shaft of the rack.

Assess the level of wear on the gear shaft in the area of the worn bushing. If there is rust, severe wear, or deep scratches on the shaft, the shaft must be replaced.

Remove the old plastic bushing. Either with a screwdriver or a spacer of the appropriate diameter.

Wash out the old grease, lubricate the rail body at the point where the new bushing is installed.

Squeeze the bushing and install it according to the location of the grooves.

Lubricate the steering shaft gear mounting location, paying attention to the fact that the shaft bearing remains in the housing and also needs to be lubricated.

Install the gear shaft exactly in the center of the rack and pinion housing. So that it protrudes 69 mm beyond the housing on both sides.

The large bearing of the rack and pinion shaft needs to be tightly packed with grease. 

Also, fill the rack housing with lubricant at the pinion installation point. 

Install the shaft according to the marks indicated by the arrows in the photo.

The upper nut with the new oil seal must be installed on the thread locker.  

The nut is also installed in accordance with the arrow marks.

Add grease to the hole in the adjusting nut…

… install a new rack stop and a new spring.

Also, a new adjustment nut. Tighten it so tightly that you don't feel any movement on the gear shaft. But do not overtighten. After installing the rail, if there is any slack in the handlebars, you can always tighten the nut.

If we change the steering rods, or install old ones, we put new plastic bumpers... 

... and fill the linkage fixing point with grease.

Putting on new corrugated dust covers with new clamps.

It is important to remember that the large clamp is fixed tightly enough on the rack side so that the dust cover does not rotate. 

And on the linkage side, the clamp must allow the linkage to rotate. This is to ensure that the dust cover does not tear or break when adjusting the camber angles.

The same operations are performed on the other side of the rack, after which it can be installed on the car. 

How to lubricate the Hyundai/Kia steering rack

This is not a minor issue, because the life of the entire mechanism depends on the composition and quality of the lubricant. The dilemma is that two different lubricants must be used to effectively lubricate the entire rail. For example: 

• molybdenum greases are excellent for lubricating metal-to-metal pairs and reducing wear in a gear pair, but are very harmful to plastic, acting on it like sandpaper;
• lithium grease is suitable for metal-plastic pairs, but not so effective for metal parts.