Today there are over 500 power rack and pinion listings, more than 400 of them for import applications. The only source for these late application kits is from the new car dealership because the aftermarket parts suppliers are not able to keep up with the proliferation of part numbers in a timely manner. This makes it extremely costly to rebuild these racks or stock the rebuilding kits. Not only that, but many of the seals for these racks, are actually available in other kits you can buy from aftermarket suppliers but you just don’t know which ones!

In an effort to help you serve your customer better and save you money, Kaufman Products has developed a bulk parts program for rebuilding rack and pinions. With this program, you will have in house all the parts needed to build over 90% of the domestic and import rack and pinions listed in Precision Remanufacturing’s 1999 application catalog (531 listing) without ever buying kits. If we have not listed a build sheet for a particular application, it is because we are still trying to find a core to determine what seals are in the rack. With our OE sources in Japan, Germany, Italy, France and England, once we can identify the seal, we can buy it too. We have also found that many times, once the core is found and the build parts determined, these parts are already in the bulk parts program.

An example of how this program works is as follows. Suppose you want to build a 1985 Toyota Camry. The build sheet for this rack is as follows:

RP # UPS LPS MCS BHS PTX4 PPT O RINGS
624 12B 43B 108A 108B 71D 75B 133C,133D,134A,134B
This means for a # 624 rack and pinion, a Toyota Camry:
The upper pinion seal is part # 12B
The lower pinion seal is part # 43B
The main casting seal is part # 108A
The bulkhead seal is part # 108B
The pinion teflon rings are part # 71D and there are 4 required
The power piston teflon ring is part # 75B
And the O ring part #’s are: 133C, 133D, 134A, 134B.

Therefore, when you pull these parts from each of the individually marked drawers in the cabinet we supply you with, you will have all the necessary parts to build the Toyota Camry rack and pinion. The cost of these parts is approximately $12.50 in the bulk program vs. $15.00 for an OE kit in the aftermarket. We can not stress enough that you should use only OE seals when rebuilding any steering gear. Another benefit to using bulk parts is easy, single part replacement instead of using another kit if you damage a part during rebuilding. So, at any given time, you will have all the seals necessary to build over 450 different rack and pinions without the expense of stocking kits. For the start up rack and pinion rebuilder, this program is particularly beneficial. It seems that their customer will ask them for a difficult, hard-to-get rack first. With this parts program, they are able to rebuild the rack right away when their competition needed one or two days to order parts. So whether you are a start up rebuilder or an established rebuilder who is trying to find ways to cut costs without cutting quality this program is a must!

The initial inventory supplied with this program provides enough parts to build over 300 rack and pinions. Also, as you begin to buy additional replacement inventory, the cost of the parts to build a domestic rack will be under $4.00 and the average cost of the parts to build an import rack will be under $20.00. Remember, you are not just buying parts with this program but the years of research, and the free updating of the spreadsheets as they become available.