Hey guys, I haven't been around here in a while, but your probably nice enough to answer some questions anyhow.

A few months back, the mount on my rack and pinnion broke off, resulting ins rather costly repair. No idea what caused it. Had driven the vehicle lifted with some light off road for a couple years prior to this happening.

Rack was replaced with what I guess is a remanufactured one.

A week ago or so, I noticed the steering getting loose. Not very responsive and all that. Took it back to the guys that did the rack last time and they tell me the brushings on the rack have worn out and that there is ¾"+ play on each side.

They said when they pulled the rack out last time the bushings were good to go so they put them on the new rack.

Are there more than one kind of rack that will fit this vehicle that necessitates the use of different types of bushings?

Why would bushings that were working fine for a couple years suddenly wear out so bad so quickly?

The shop seems like good people, so I don't think they are trying to pull a fast one on me.

2007 v6 gasser
4x4 selectrac
Frankenlift 2 w/ 2 extra isos in the rear
JBA UCAs
Moog LBJs
Mopar Moab Wheels w/ Goodyear duratrac 245/75 r16

If you've got 3/4" play there is more then just worn bushings at fault since if you leave those mount bushings out you could only have a max of about 1/4" of play.

Remaned racks come with new bushings already,why didn't the installer use them?

I was told that the reman rack did not come with any bushings.

I spoke to them for a short while this morning and they assumed that it's due to the vehicle being lifted. That doesn't make any sense though that the bushings were fine, even through a catastrophic rack failure, then in turn, in a few months get worn away.

I'm not looking to lay blame on anyone for this issue, but I certainly want it to be fixed correctly so that this issue is not a problem again.

I've replaced many racks on KJ's(due to leaks) and have used all the remaned suppliers and they all came with new bushings.

Have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth while your looking at the rack and see what is actually wrong.Could be the mount bolts are loose.

Well, doing some research with the search tool, I see that some people have had some issues with the bushings getting worn our related to motor oil or leaking R&P fluid getting on the bushings and eating away at the rubber.

Other than your suggestion that the mounting bolts may be loose, or something else... that's really the only thing I can think of that would cause this to happen. I try to clean up under there as best I can when I change the oil, but maybe I'm just not doing it well enough or the remanned R&P has a leaking seal.

I'm just surprised that it happened that quickly. The jeep has had no more than 4k miles on it since the remanned R&P was installed.

I'll see if I can talk to the guys about having a look under there... don't think their insurance will let me into the shop though. Just a guess.

Prionic1