RACK AND PINION STEERING GEAR WITH A UNITIZED YOKE ASSEMBLY

摘要

A rack and pinion steering gear (10) includes a housing (12), a pinion gear (20) rotatably mounted in the housing, and a rack (16) movable relative to the pinion gear. A preassembled yoke assembly (36) includes a yoke (38, 100), a yoke plug (42, 104), and a biasing member (40, 102) assembled as a single unit and positioned in the yoke bore (22). The yoke (38, 100) and yoke plug (42, 104) are movable relative to each other along an axis (A) of the preassembled yoke assembly (36) and have opposing surfaces spaced a predetermined distance from each other. The biasing member (40, 102) is supported between the yoke (38, 100) and yoke plug (42, 104) and biases the opposing surfaces away from each other. The opposing surfaces are movable toward each other against the bias of the biasing member (40, 102).