How to Make Your Car Last Forever: Avoid Expensive Repairs, Improve Fuel Economy, Understand Your Warranty, Save Money

Here we have the basic theory on which the rack and pinion steering system works. The steering shaft comes
down from inside the vehicle cabin; sometimes a flex joint is used to clear engine compartment obstructions,
and then the shaft attaches to the input shaft of the rack unit. The input shaft has a small gear called a pinion
gear attached to the bottom of it. The pinion gear meshes with another gear inside the unit called the rack
gear. It is long and flat and has teeth on one side of it. As the steering wheel is turned right and left, the
pinion gear meshes with the rack gear and moves the tie rods, which are connected to the steering knuckles
and ultimately the wheels—both right and left—resulting in steering the vehicle. Brilliant!