Earlier in the year I had a small leak coming from one of the hardlines attached to the steering rack so I bought a used steering rack and took off the needed line (I cant find a real new line without ordering an entire steering rack assembly). Once I took off the old line, I could see a small hairline crack. This time however, the cracks seems to be a little more serious





This is my 2nd line to crack like this right before the flared end of the tubing. I had bent it away from the sway bar to make sure it wasnt hitting it but it still cracked within 200 miles. Any suggestions?

 

I would suggest ordering a new one just because rubber ages. Sometime the manufacture make changes and improvement unannounced because of design flaw.

 

EH? There's no rubber there, just some metal tubing that's cracked right before the flared section. I have another one on the way, but it's going to be the same exact thing :-(

 

Man I remember your thread a long time ago about this. So you couldn't track one down from the dealer without buying the whole thing huh?

 

I dont think thats fixable.. order a new one.

 

Tried EVERYWHERE! around $1200 for the steering assembly and that's the only way to get a new line. I found a hydraulic shop that said they should be able to replicate it for me, but the thing is I need to find out what's causing these lines to crack in the first place. I made sure there was at least 1/4" to 1/2" clearance between the power steering line and the swaybar and the engine mount. Cant seem to figure out what's causing the problem

 

Generally speaking, a split like that is caused by lateral stress and/or sub-standard cast metal.


I doubt it is over-pressure causing the line to fail.


Is the line under stress when installed? Does it take a lot of side-ways push or pull to get the fitting on?


Could you splice-in some medium pressure braided hose?
(hard to tell from the picture)