Any experience with Ebay Rack and Pinion?

[peshwa]

I am faced with the prospect of replacing the Rack and Pinion in my 95 camry. I have already spent like 30 bucks on Lucas power steering oil. Its slowed down a lot now especially for short distances and the winter.

Priced the A1 Cardone axles on RockAuto and local stores. Seemed pretty expensive compared to Pick-N-Pull and other El-Cheapo options

I found an interesting seller on Ebay for remanufactured rack and pinion for ~100 dollars shipped with Lifetime warranty. Interestingly it has Made In USA labels! Trustworthy?

Here is the link http://www.ebay.com/itm/92-01-Camry-Power-Steering-Rack-and-Pinion-ASSEMBLY-/150563648936?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &fits=Model%3ACamry&vxp=mtr&hash=item230e4af5a8

Can someone please comment? Any experiences/reviews will be of great help.

[Mister_Perkins]

hmmmm .. I dont know. I dont trust parts like that through ebay. But thats just me lol

[Zembonez]

They appear to be a rebuilder and they have tons of feedback rated at 100%. I've had good luck buying off of EBay. Bought tons of Jeep and Miata parts there.

I vote go for it.

Sorry Perkins.

[carsrus]

That looks like a great deal and the seller seems legit. I have no idea how you can rebuild a rack and pinion for only 99 and ship it too but IDK.

I would probably risk it especially if your doing DIY. If it craps out in a year or two its probably not gonna be worth the money to ship it back. Toyota parts have a legacy of being solid, with only basic stuff going bad. Im sure the only thing that conks out is a seal or something and nothing to major that will destroy the bore.

But looking at RockAuto an A1 reman is only 102$ after core, only 12 month warranty though. If you can find something with lifetime warranty locally for under 150$ I'd say go for it. Chances are the seller does rebuilds for companies like Cardone anyways.

[ricamryman]

I just bought it to have in stock for when the original one goes fubar in my 1993 LE with 145K miles! Too good a price to pass up!

[peshwa]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

They appear to be a rebuilder and they have tons of feedback rated at 100%. I've had good luck buying off of EBay. Bought tons of Jeep and Miata parts there.

I vote go for it.

Sorry Perkins.

Thanks. Did you mean you bought from that seller in my link above(i.e.Dearborn Axle)? Or did you mean just EBay in general?

Originally Posted by carsrus

That looks like a great deal and the seller seems legit. I have no idea how you can rebuild a rack and pinion for only 99 and ship it too but IDK.

I would probably risk it especially if your doing DIY. If it craps out in a year or two its probably not gonna be worth the money to ship it back. Toyota parts have a legacy of being solid, with only basic stuff going bad.

But looking at RockAuto an A1 reman is only 102$ after core, only 12 month warranty though. If you can find something with lifetime warranty locally for under 150$ I'd say go for it. Chances are the seller does rebuilds for companies like Cardone anyways.

Yup. DIY all the way. Since I joined TN 2 years ago, I swore to myself I would never let a 'mechanic' touch any of my cars for any damn thing! Since then I've installed transmission cooler,tranny flush+filter,replaced the entire suspension with Moog,KYBs and much more to my camry as well as Mazda.

Originally Posted by ricamryman

I just bought it to have in stock for when the original one goes fubar in my 1993 LE with 145K miles! Too good a price to pass up!

Thats great! Did you open the box and see the build quality of the boots etc? Does it feel OEM soild?
Also if there's a manual rack and pinion available for Gen 3/4 camry's I would be excited to try it out!

[ricamryman]

I'll let you know of its quality feel when it arrives! I was not kiddin when I said "I just bought it." LOL

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by Mister_Perkins

hmmmm .. I dont know. I dont trust parts like that through ebay. But thats just me lol

Originally Posted by Zembonez

They appear to be a rebuilder and they have tons of feedback rated at 100%. I've had good luck buying off of EBay. Bought tons of Jeep and Miata parts there. I vote go for it. Sorry Perkins.

Dueling moderators?

I think you need to separate legit commercial sellers using Ebay as a marketing method, and questionable private sellers using Fleabay. I usually stay away from private sellers as Ebay does not seem interested in controlling what is stolen property being sold and what is legitimate.

[N/A Camry Sleeper]

Peshwa,

You can have my rack and pinion from my 1996 Camry if you want - I will be doing the MR2 Manual Rack and pinion swap into the my Gen3 hopefully later this week!

I will find out if it's going to fit first (I'm sure it'll work OK - may have to Frankenstein the Camry inner tie rods onto the MR2 rack but they both look identical from the pix)

If all goes well on the installation and if you can use it I will let it go for maybe $20 plus shipping if you're interested.

My power rack is from a 1996 I4 5SFE car with about 330K miles. I don't have the P/S pump or lines to go with it and I have capped both fluid hoses on the rack body so the fluid inside stays there. No leaks or anything like that and it still operates smooth - just without power assist!

Let me know what you think...