my eb has been making a thud type rattle in the front end so i have replaced rackends tierod ends and some other stuff tring to get rid of the nosies only to find the part of the rack that the rack ends screws in seems to have access play in the housing causing the noise, my question is there anyway of adjusting the rack i know in my old cordy i shimmed it up, anyways i have added a drawing so you get what i mean.
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supposedly there is a nut wich you can turn. Its located on the bottom of the rack, under the yoke. This adjusts the preload on the internals.

I have however been strongly advised not to muck around with this however, with reasons not really being understood by myself. Something to do with the fact that if its not adjusted properly, you can damage your rack even more and posibly cause a seizure in it. And if you do have to adjust it, then it just means that your rack is fcuked.

Its not too much for an exchange rack, and easy for the diy'er. Just get a wheel alignment straight after.

Yes there is a nut, no there is no tool out there to be bought, its a make one yourself. I have worked in 2 power steering joints, now on my own, and all 3 have had own tools made up. I have a old rack end with a nut welded to the end. Previous employer has the same and they made it for me.

Also, unless you know how to adjust them properly, I would have to agree with XF_XR6 as improperly doing so, will f**k up, rack will lock, and my guess is, you don't want that when driving.

Leaving it as is, won't do any major damage unless there is MASSIVE amounts of movement. But I would get it looked at soon as possible.

If you in Melbourne anytime soon, I can do it. And to think I was only in Bendigo a couple of weeks ago.

thanks guys, hellbent_ef i dont plan on going to melb anytime soon thanks for the offer, i see what you say by adjusing it up could prove dangerous whats involed in reco'ing a spare i have here and is there a kit to buy? its not unsafe at the moment but i dont enjoy driving it with the front end banging away

Yeah there is a kit available, I think from memory a single kit costs about $38. That comes with all seals, teflon rings for the pinion and rack end lock tabs.

Once again, the rack has to be dead centre BEFORE pulling down, the rack adjustment nut has to be taken out and reset. Ideally the hosing would be honed out to make sure that there is no scars where the 2 main seals run.

As always, pulling something apart is always straight forward, its the putting back together that can catch some people out.

I have one here for $150 if you use your own rack ends, which by going by your first post, wouldnt be that old. Otherwise $180 with new rack ends.