Do not buy a steering rack from factory-direct-parts on ebay

SneakyAnarchistVanCamper

Reading till my eyesbleed
They will send you a rack that hasn't been centered correctly - basically broken, total junk. It will cause your ABS, ESP and TCS lights to go on and the systems to not function. The shop will likely slap it in not knowing any better (As there is no way to know it was not centered, without special test equipment I would wager). Costing you multiple trips to the shop to figure out what the hell is the problem. Then factory-direct-parts will tell you "Oh just send it back we will get you a new one or a refund". Yeah, right, like I'm going to ride a bicycle for my delivery job in the meanwhile? And all the money I paid fixing the broken part they sent me? Not their problem. And who knows if they will send me a properly rebuilt one if I were to send it back. This is a scam and I hope these guys get sued. It's either them or cardone who is responsible for this. I also should have taken it to a sprinter shop in the first place instead of a generic alignment shop.


But the good news is that it is fixable, although there is no spec or procedure, mccoy sprinter center is going to do a custom re-centering. So at this point I would have saved money buying it brand new from MB.


Also beware of buyautoparts on ebay, total scam selling knock offs claiming them to be genuine. Then there's parts-for-imports
on ebay, and if you order a fuel rail from them, they won't even have it in stock like the listing says - that's why these types of companies are so unreliable, they don't even have the item they're selling - yet, at least. They order it from bosch supposedly, who was out of stock at the time, costing me a week of downtime. So be careful with these ebay sellers.. And you can buy a cardone steering rack from carquest for a little more.
 
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SneakyAnarchistVanCamper

Reading till my eyesbleed
Update: Got an OEM bilstein rack, what a world of difference, feels like a new sprinter now. Do not buy a cardone rack! It steers AWFULLY, was constantly fighting it back and forth to stay in my lane. That and it wouldn't calibrate, so you're out $500 on labor and your ABS is disabled till you save up $1500 to install the proper part. Cardone will make your sprinter handle dangerously and waste $500 or more. They and factory-direct-parts on ebay are liars, there isn't any testing going on obviously, and the only remanufacturing happening is a cleaning and some new rubber boots - they're selling junk worn out racks, I bet, I think it's a scam, cause not everyone will be able to afford to return them.


Cardone POS P/N: Rack and Pinion Complete Unit Cardone 97-2145

Billstein proper OEM P/N: 60-173904

http://raceconsultingagency.com/bils...i-2157483.aspx
 

lindenengineering

Well-known member
Fact
If you are in the "bees-knees" so to speak you DO NOT fit Cardone stuff!
That is for DIY'rs looking a for a deal.

Scary quality and doubtful durability.
Crap stuff!~
Dennis
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I have never had a good experience with cardone. They don't rebuild anything. Just clean up used crap, rebox it, and sell it to unsuspecting buyers.
 

SneakyAnarchistVanCamper

Reading till my eyesbleed
:bash: B*****ds. That's exactly what I suspect after my experience with their "New" part.


(Why is there not an emoticon for flushing money down a toilet?)


Google keywords:

A1 Cardone steering rack review sprinter
A1 Cardone steering rack vs oem
Bilstein vs Cardone
A1 Cardone review
Cardone rebuilt steering rack review
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I have also had mixed results with non-oem steering racks. The gears and drive bits need to be precision machined/matched for a good tight steering feel. Generally I try to stick with OE or OEM parts except where user experience says otherwise. I suspect the Bilstein may be one of the OE suppliers to mercedes.

With steering components, I also suggest new over rebuilt. Re-manufactured can sometimes be a good deal, but the cost of replacement makes the extra risk of a non-new part undesirable.


I ordered a few "reman" Cardone parts for a 80s VW I owned years back. Most were fuel injection related. Several had been acid cleaned (pitting and other signs), and were total junk out of the box. They would have had to remove the factory calibrated PCB to clean them this way, which is strictly forbidden in the service manual... "Tested to OEM specs" my ass.... They were wholesaler close-outs, so I could not return (they were cheap enough I guess).

I picked up a "new" Meyel manual steering rack for the same VW. OE and OEM parts are not available in this case. It had more pinion play than the 30 year old one it replaced! I ended up machining new end bushings for the OEM rack. It is probably still in the vehicle...
 

hoosierrun

Active member
I have never had a good experience with cardone. They don't rebuild anything. Just clean up used crap, rebox it, and sell it to unsuspecting buyers.
Cardone and Dorman... 50% chance you will have a problem, 50% it might be OK. Too much of a gamble. EBay is good for small stuff, but racks, axles, transmissions, rear ends and any big stuff is too much of a risk IMHO. Glad to hear the steering is fixed for OP.
 

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