Steering wheel shake fixed

if it doesn't return to zero, probably more so a balance issue with the tires? Hunter Road force and get as close to 0 as possible and put those on front.

No I wouldn't take it out entirely, I'd just mark the exact spot you like it to be at, then loosen it, clean where you want to put the loctite and put a dab of loctite on it (so you can easily break it again).

Jamesdfwtx said:
Well, got around to doing this to my fx45 few days ago. It took away the will shake but it came back after a couple of days as I did not tighten it enough so I tightened it some more and now it won't return to zero. Although I'm fine with the slight over steer, it feels great especially at high speeds but I just want to make sure I'm not going to damage anything by tightening slightly more so it does not return back to zero. Also, there was a lot of grease buildup around Andover the bolt. I'm not sure if I can take it out and clean it or put Loctite on it...? I did see a couple of guys in this thread mention not to over tighten it but I would say it's only slightly over tightened and I made some local phone calls and that really wasn't much help. One guy at a local big chain alignment shop said 'tighten the bolt really shouldn't affect your steering' lmfao, don't know why I even bothered. :bulgy-eyes:
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Okay, yeah I might just try a little Loctite but not too much to see how that works. It was fine the first time I tightened it and it went back to 0 but then the shake came back. so I figured I'd tighten it a little more now it is just a little too tight and it doesn't quite return to zero but I like it that way. :)
 
Well with me I feel the shake comes on when your tires are underinflated even if by a little. And like everyone said it's intermittent. I put air in my tires to oem spec and always the shake goes away for me. Also the bolt you are suppose to turn, mine is full of black grease. Anybody know where that might be coming from? I'll take pics when I get a chance. At first I thought it was the boot on the tie rod but wasn't the case.
 
I have AN fx35 2009 2nd generation model, i have recently changed my wheel to 22 inch rims with flatter tIres .....and now i have a lot of vibrations at 50 to 70 mph speed. I live in San Diego California so the roads are not the smoothest, but still.

I noticed most of the comments here seems to be for the first gen fx35. I was wondering if anyone knows if this "steering rack tighten" fix here would work or has worked for the 2nd gen fx35.
Btw my mechanic says to change the brand new tIres i just bought, so I know they don't know squat about the issue. Any tips would be appreciated.
 
It may be the new tires or at least the balancing on them. Lower profile tires do magnify the shaking. I had more shaking with 22"s than I do now with 20"s. Did you have vibration before the new wheels? If not, then it has something to do with the wheels.
 
shadow191 said:
It may be the new tires or at least the balancing on them. Lower profile tires do magnify the shaking. I had more shaking with 22"s than I do now with 20"s. Did you have vibration before the new wheels? If not, then it has something to do with the wheels.
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Yes I have read on here that changing to low profile tires and rims does magnify the road noise and shakings. Hence I was happy to read on here that tightening the steering rack bolt removes/reduced the shakes for the 1st gen Fx, when using the low profile wheels.

My question is, is this steering rack fix the same for the newer 2nd gen fx. Are the systems the same? I dont want to tell a mechanic to go and tighten my steering rack and find out it does not work the same . Or is this tighening fix a standard feature for any car ?
 
Another test before attempting this fix is to rotate the tires front to back ans see if the shakes any difference. As I remembered, no 2nd Gen have try this fix yet.
 
FxMike said:
Also the bolt you are suppose to turn, mine is full of black grease. Anybody know where that might be coming from? I'll take pics when I get a chance. At first I thought it was the boot on the tie rod but wasn't the case.
Click to expand...
I was changing some parts and I noticed there is grease on the top of my inner tie-rod boot, too. Did you ever locate the source of this driver's side leak?
 
Did this along with new pads and rotors. Very little shake left and I think it will go away once I change the tires. Very easy fix
 
Thanks JST4FN for the write-up, and bleedingsujit for the pictures.
I've had this steering wheel shake, too. Balanced and rotated tires, no help. Replaced one of the front tires, very slightly better. Moved other front tire to back, a little better, but still there. I'll have to give this a try this weekend. It's been driving me nuts on the highway.

Weekend update: Snugged it, and solved my issues. Like others said, it also tightened up the steering.
 
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I've done this fix, and it worked! BUT, as I've had the FX for 12+ years I've needed to do this fix with increasing frequency. At this point I need to make the adjustment almost monthly.

Question for the group:
Has this happened to anyone else? Any thoughts on why it might be getting loose more often than it has historically or what I might be able to do to keep it from loosening up?
 
I haven’t had to adjust it again yet but if I end up with this problem, I would consider pulling the nut out completely which might allow me to replace all of the power steering fluid in one shot, clean the threads on the nut and on the rack then use a lock tight-type product that wouldn’t set up too fast to allow for incremental adjustments (may or may not be a good idea, but I’d research it first). If that wasn’t a good idea, I’d pull the nut out enough to clean some of the threads on it then wrap it several times with plumbers tape. That should help to keep it secured in place. One final and easiest thing to do would be to set it as you desire then clean the area very well then use just a little bit of JB Weld’s original product and use it as if you were spot welding, just a bit to connect the nut and rack, this way it could be broken away if necessary but will be a strong bond preventing the nut from loosening.
 
What size is this bolt ? 1" ?
https://www.infinitiscene.com/attachments/fxrackbolt-jpg.222249

The biggest I have is 7/8", and it's bigger than that.
Any issues getting a socket in there, if I remember correct, the lines are close by.

Mine is leaking right from that bolt.
fxrackbolt-jpg.222249
 
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