Golf R Steering Rack Retrofit
Speeding up an Alltrack’s steering ratio
This past weekend, I helped a buddy replace some worn out control arm bushings, and in the process he had grabbed a Golf R steering rack for us to retrofit while the subframe was dropped.
This won’t be a super in-depth article, as I’m not an expert on retrofitting stuff (especially on the coding side of things). But I will cover the steps we took and what happened to work. Before any of that, some information to get out of the way:
MODIFY YOUR CAR AT YOUR OWN RISK! Our success with this does not guarantee yours!
We installed a steering rack from a 2016 Golf R into a 2017 Alltrack. Both MK7, we’re not sure if crossing over a 7 rack into a 7.5 would cause issues, etc.
Both the Golf R and the Alltrack have the “mode selection switch” from the factory (Normal, Sport, etc drive modes). We are unsure if it is “necessary” to be equipped with this to function correctly or not. We’re unsure how a rack retrofit would work on a base Sportwagen for instance.
Removed Alltrack steering rack part number: 5QM423051A
Installed Golf R steering rack part number: 5Q1423053AF - was purchased used online
Physically installing the rack
There is really nothing to cover in-depth as far as physically fitting the rack goes. It came with inner tie rods and everything externally is identical. We swapped the heat shield over from the OEM steering rack and it bolted right in with zero issues.
We basically started by unbolting the steering rack from the subframe AND the steering shaft inside the car, plus unbolted the outer tie rod ends from the knuckles. We unbolted one end of each sway bar end link. We undid the oil level sensor connector and harness attachment to the subframe. Then proceeded to unbolt the ball joints from the LCAs, and lowered the subframe. Having the rack loose at both ends helps a bit with moving it into an easier position for unclipping the electrical connectors and pulling the harness clips from the rack and the subframe. Swapped out racks and install was the reverse of removal. Easy stuff.
Electrical faults after install
Upon installing the rack and starting the car, we were greeted with a bunch of warning lights on the dash as expected. ABS, steering faults, and probably several others I don’t remember. The rack physically had power assist, so we scanned the car and pulled a bunch of DTCs from the entire car. We didn’t bother looking at them long, as we cleared them and then re-scanned again to see what all comes back since it doesn’t do us any good trying to chase history faults.
So what did we end up with right after install and clearing all DTCs?
In 03 ABS Module:
In 44 Steering Module:
Fixing the Errors
The steering angle sensor fault fix was easy. We just had to perform the steering angle sensor relearn via VCDS.
We entered the security access code 19249 on the main loading page, and then went to Basic Settings for Address 44 Steering and performed the Steering Angle Sensor MAS00815 procedure. We followed the instructions in this video which worked perfectly:
After the SAS Relearn
After doing the above procedure, all lights on the dash went out with the exception of the TPMS warning light - we just had to initialize the TPMS relearn via the radio. Everything seemed to work like normal etc but we still had the one lingering fault:
What this Databus error means is that the 44 Steering module is expecting a CAN signal from some other module but it is not finding it. At this point we went ahead and proceeded with setting toe with toe plates and centering the steering wheel so his car wouldn’t eat tires before he could get a proper 4 wheel alignment done.
Fixing the lingering Databus fault
Once I sent Rick on his way home, he used OBD11 on his own to mess around with things further.
He checked the long coding (or maybe adaptations?) in the Steering module and we found that it had “Lane Assist” as being active - which his base model Alltrack does not have.
There is no lane camera on his car. So he disabled that, and while the code did not clear immediately, he was able to drive the car around and when he checked again it was able to clear out.
I can’t really explain why it worked out that way… but in a nut shell when retrofitting, you might need to ensure certain options are checked or unchecked depending on what your car vs the donor car are equipped with.
Conclusion
So that is essentially it in a nutshell. It seems that swapping steering racks between MQB cars is not nearly as problematic as we (and others) initially thought. He’s now got roughly 1.8-1.9 turns lock to lock in his Alltrack, which should help quite a bit for autocross. We’re not entirely sure why his steering is a bit tighter lock to lock than an OEM Golf R (which is advertised at 2.1 turns lock to lock), but it’s welcome nonetheless.
Per Rick, everything seems to function as normal and he says he can feel a difference between the normal and sport modes as far as steering weight goes. He also stated that his turning radius is slightly larger than before, so expect that to change slightly.
For reference, my 2019 GTI is right about 2.1 or 2.2 turns lock to lock.
