I was chatting with a guy a few days ago about my new Tracker, and he went on about how "oh, the new ones have rack and pinion steering", and how he thought that was a bad thing, and how it would tear up the first time I hit a good bump with it while off-roading.

I assume he's exaggerating and/or talking about something he knows nothing about -- But, I did recall that at 90,000km's (about 56,000miles) just before I bought it, the stealership I bought it from had to replace almost the entire steering system (including the rack, the tie rods, etc) before they felt comfortable selling it to me, which seemed kind of odd to me on a fairly low KM vehicle like that.

So, my question -- is there anything to this business about 99+ Trackers steering system being a significant downgrade from the system on the 89-98 models?   And if so, can it be beefed up/fixed up so I don't have to have concerns about it?


Thanks,

My steering is all stock and still tight with lots of abuse in 120000 miles maybe i'm just lucky though.

Dang, I think I just figured out why mine was busted.    Upon close examination, I happened to notice that two of my rims don't match the other three.  What do you want to bet that previous-owner hit a curb hard enough to dent his front rims and monkey up the steering system? 

Bummer.... oh well, probably not the end of the world, they did replace more/less the entire steering system with new parts.   Should be good to go (the truck certainly drives smooth and nice -- no problems).