How to replace a steering column, rack, how much does it cost in 2022

The development of the Lada Kalina design began at AvtoVAZ in the 90s. A line of cars was conceived, including the 1119 sedan, 1118 hatchback and minivan. The last model was never implemented; instead, a station wagon 1117 was developed. In 1999, a hatchback prototype was demonstrated, and in 2000, a future sedan model was demonstrated. The first generation of cars lasted on the market for about ten years; since 2014, AvtoVAZ has been producing an updated series, including the Kalina Cross all-terrain vehicle, which is distinguished by greater comfort, a new engine and design.

On all Lada Kalina models, a steering mechanism was installed only with a rack and pinion drive, depending on the configuration, equipped with or without electric power steering (EPS). Hydraulic power steering (power steering) was installed only on the Lada Priora and the Niva SUV.

Steering gear

The rack and pinion steering mechanism is the most common vehicle control unit for passenger cars. The main parts of such a mechanism are the gear and steering rack. The gear is mounted on the steering wheel shaft and is always geared by the rack. When the steering wheel rotates, the steering column rotates, the gear attached to it rotates, the gear drives the rack, which pushes the steering rods and turns the wheels.

Steering rack and pinion diagram

1-case; 2-lord; 3-spring; 4-ball pin; 5-ball joint; 6-stop; 7-rack steering; 8-gear.

As can be seen from the diagram, the design of the car steering mechanism is simple, but it is sensitive to vibrations while driving on rough roads.

1-outer tie rod end; 2-threaded bushing; 3-inner tie rod end; 4-protective cap right; 5-steering mechanism; 6-shaft-gear; 7-steering gear housing; 8-protective cap left; 9-stop plate for tie rod bolts; 10-connection plate; 11-crankcase pipe.

Rack and pinion steering is installed on front-wheel drive cars. On the Lada Kalina car, the steering rack is placed in an aluminum housing (crankcase). The gear used here is helical and, accordingly, the rack has helical teeth. The steering angle is 720 degrees, that is, 2 full turns: one turn to the right all the way, the second turn to the left all the way.

In order for all suspension parts to serve as long as possible, you need to drive over a speed bump or an “artificial bump” at a speed of 20 to 40 km/h.

Steering mechanisms for VAZ Lada Kalina cars are equipped with rack and pinion steering mechanisms with different gear ratios.

So, for those who like to drive, a steering mechanism with a gear ratio of 3.1 is suitable for street racing.
For ordinary cars, a steering device with a gear ratio of 4.02 is installed.

Wear on steering gear parts increases if there is no protection from dust, water and dirt. In Kalina, the parts of the steering device are protected from above by the hood, from below by the sump, but when used in an aggressive manner, water, salts, and dirt still get onto the steering column.

Vehicle Maintenance

Before replacing the steering rack on Kalina, you need to decide on the desired number of revolutions - 3 or 4. This indicator characterizes the maximum possible number of turns from the extreme right to the extreme left position of the steering wheel. If the vehicle is not equipped with a power steering system, then the steering rack is selected by 4 turns. A lower value will make it more difficult to control the car.

You can cope with replacing the steering rack on Kalina yourself in a few hours. First you need to buy a new original steering rack. It’s not worth saving on it by choosing Chinese analogues. The initial benefit will lead to many problems in the future. The retail chain offers a set with steering rods, so you won’t be able to buy just the steering rack separately.

Experienced drivers recommend paying attention to ensuring that the steering rack has suitable tips for a specific vehicle model. Even with minor differences in size, installation will be possible. Problems will arise during the adjustment stage.

Having purchased the necessary part, it must be thoroughly lubricated. Manufacturers of the Lada Kalina car do not always supply the vehicle with a sufficient amount of lubricants. To perform the described procedure, you will need nylon ties, with which the rubber boots of the slats are secured. The minimum length of the ties is 28 cm.

Removal of old rods is carried out using a wrench whose head size is 15 mm. As an additional means, a piece of steel pipe is used. Further repair of the steering rack or its replacement includes removing the anthers and plastic ties. If a visual inspection shows that the new rack bushing is running dry, it must be thoroughly lubricated. Sometimes it requires a lift.

Hello, dear motorists! The happy owners of the brand new Lada Kalina do not even suspect that this small city car hides a lot of secrets.

And suddenly, the venerable craftsmen of car service centers, for unknown reasons, began to refuse the owners’ requests for adjustments or if Kalina was needed.

Judging by the descriptions in the specialized literature, the steering rack of the Lada Kalina is absolutely no different in design from all previous front-wheel drive VAZ designs.

What is the reason for this behavior? And another question that automatically arises: I wonder why on cars that are not even several years old, the steering has to be adjusted. Everything is in order.

Why do you need to tighten the steering rack on Kalina?

The working parts of any, even the most reliable and expensive car, inevitably become unusable and need to be replaced. What can we say about domestic budget models like Lada Kalina?

Classification of steering mechanism faults into groups:

large play (free play) of the steering wheel;
the presence of extraneous noises, knocks and creaks while driving a car in different modes (creaking, knocking, for example, can only happen when turning right or only when going uphill);
tight turn of the steering wheel.

Causes of malfunctions:

The tie rod nuts have become loose.
The steering tips and silent blocks are worn out.
The nuts securing the entire steering mechanism (RM) have become loose.
There is a large gap between the nut and the adjusting rod.

Troubleshoot problems by tightening bolted connections, replacing tips and silent blocks.

If the steering wheel on your Kalina car has become very difficult to turn, then the reasons for this may be:

The bearings of the upper support of the steering column upper universal joint (RC) are worn out.
The steering rack support bushing is worn or damaged.
The telescopic strut of the front suspension broke.
The electric power steering (EPS) does not work.
Low pressure in the front wheels.

The fifth reason can be easily eliminated with your own hands. To eliminate other causes of problems, you will have to contact a car mechanic or study the device and replacement procedure yourself.

There are also worm and screw types of steering. Some people are interested in whether it is possible to install a mechanism of a different operating principle instead of the standard rack and pinion mechanism for driving a car. Answer: It is possible, it is possible, but is it necessary? It is better not to change the factory design at as many critical components as the machine control unit.

Design features

The structure of the Lada Kalina steering unit includes:

electric amplifier;
steering column, adjustable for reach and tilt;
electric power steering rack with gear ratio change mechanism;
rods with tips, as well as rotary levers.

In the mechanism housing there is a unit with mechanical gearing, where the main operating element is a helical gear, the pitch of the teeth of which varies depending on the length of the rack.

The figure shows the design of the Lada Kalina rack and pinion unit.

The pressure in the rack-and-pinion pair is carried out by means of a spring, and the plastic liner present is designed to reduce the friction force. The compression level of the spring element is adjusted using a nut. The factory gap between the steering shaft and the rack is 0.1 mm in the LADA Kalina model.

If a knock appears inside the unit, it can be eliminated by adjusting the gap with your own hands. The steering shaft is centered using two bearings, one of which is located in the column bracket, and the second is located inside the electric power steering housing. The bracket is connected both to the pedal mounting unit, or rather to its front part, and to the body. Structurally, the bracket together with the pipe forms a hinged connection from a pair of plates. This unit provides a change in the position of the steering wheel, where the width of the range of movement is limited by slots in the designated plates.

The specific position of the pipe is fixed by a lever, which is connected to a special bushing that performs an adjustment mission. It is screwed onto a coupling bolt located just in the slots of the plates. When the lever is turned, the sleeve rotates synchronously. At this moment, the fixation of the plate weakens, and the steering wheel begins to change its position. Springs located in the middle of the bracket and plates, when the fastening is loosened, pull the pipe in the upward direction.

Let us repeat, the steering unit of the Lada Kalina has two rods and rotary levers. The rod design includes two tips, one of which is external, and the second is internal. The process of adjusting the length of the rod is carried out by rotating the threaded bushing present here. Having completed the adjustment manipulation, the position of the tips should be fixed with specially designed bolts. The outer rod end is connected to the swing arm bracket via a ball joint.

The power steering mechanism, operating on an electric drive, changes its degree of gain depending on the driving speed. When the car is stopped, the amplifier produces maximum torque, and the steering wheel turns very easily. As the speed increases, the force on the steering wheel of the Lada Kalina increases, which is facilitated by a decrease in the torque generated by this unit. The mechanism is based on an electric motor, which transmits rotation through a gearbox “hidden” under the column casing. The amplifier is controlled using an electronic unit, which is supplied with impulses from speed sensors, recognizes the amount of force when rotating the steering column shaft, and also reads the number of revolutions of the engine shaft. The instrument panel has a special indicator that allows you to monitor the operation of the amplifier.

Adjusting and setting the steering rack

If signs of abnormal operation of the steering mechanism appear, diagnostics and a visual inspection should be performed. Check bolted connections. It often happens that the nuts come loose, so the bolts need to be tightened periodically.

How to adjust the Kalina steering rack

Loosen the three clamps on the air duct pipe:

on the mass air flow sensor (mass air flow sensor);
on the crankcase ventilation pipe;
on the throttle assembly.

Having dismantled the air duct pipe, there is a lot of space for working with a special wrench. Now you can tighten the nuts on the end of the car control mechanism.

If you turn the nut a quarter (1/4) turn to the right, clockwise, you can test the steering wheel. To increase driver comfort, it is recommended to make a leather braid on the steering wheel. During the test, the steering wheel is turned to its extreme positions and released. A correctly adjusted steering wheel returns to its original position.

If the steering wheel does not turn back from its extreme position, it means that it has been over-tightened, that is, you need to loosen the nut. The nut is sensitive; you only need to turn it a little.

And, if extraneous noise or knocking does not disappear as a result of adjusting the steering wheel, then you will have to change the steering rack.

How to adjust the spring and tune the amplifier?

Rail

The spring requires adjustment due to its natural tendency to stretch over time. The tightening should be done after disconnecting the steering unit shaft. The action does not imply the need to remove the entire mechanism from the car.

Repairing the steering rack involves correctly setting the amount of gap observed between the shaft gear and the rack itself.

To do this, the rack assembly will need to be set to the central position and secured against spontaneous displacement.
Remove the rubber plug.
Place the indicator probe inside the opened hole and make sure it comes into contact with the stop (close).
We rotate the gear shaft, with the help of which the stop is pushed out. We measure the length of its movement with an indicator, which should be within 0.05 mm.

If we observe an excess of the measured value beyond the designated limit, we resort to eliminating it by rotating the adjusting nut. After completing the procedure, we check whether the electric power steering rack rotates easily in the crankcase by rotating the steering wheel all the way in both directions.

Note that the adjusting nut should be rotated with a special wrench. Do not try to tighten this nut with great force, as this may cause difficulty in turning the steering wheel, especially in extreme positions. It is advisable to make adjustments in stages. First, turn the key 20-25 degrees and check the assembly for absence of knocking during the rack movement. If the knocking does not disappear, then we add the angle of rotation by about 10-15 degrees and again resort to control. It happens that a lift does not lead to the expected result. This hints at repairs, and perhaps only the steering rack will need to be replaced.

How to replace the EUR on Kalina

The electric power steering is attached to the steering column and removed along with it.

Procedure for replacing the EUR:

Disconnect the car battery terminals.
Align the front wheels straight.
Remove the lower cross member of the instrument panel.
Disconnect the wires from the electric power steering control unit and the switches that are installed on the column.
Lower the steering wheel to the floor.
Unscrew the nut of the bolted fastening joint that connects the lower cardan shaft and the PM gear shaft.
Disconnect the hinge connection.
Using a flat-head screwdriver, remove the intermediate cardan from the pinion shaft of the Kalina steering mechanism and remove the column along with the EUR.
We install a new EUR for Kalina and assemble it in the reverse order.

To ensure safety, spare parts for such critical components as the steering mechanism should only be replaced with original ones from the Lada Kalina manufacturers.

Until the malfunctions of the steering mechanism of any vehicle are eliminated, further operation is prohibited.