here's a new one for you guys...
 

basically my autozone replaced steering rack is shorter than the oem one. I had to replace my dead rack and noticed while taking old one off and replacing with new, that the old looked longer. didn't phase me cause I figured it'd still work....WRONG! the rack it self is a remanufactured rack for my make model year (03 ram 1500 2wd hemi). the alignment shop confirmed saying we can't get your wheels straight cause your inner tie rods are to short. the outer tie rods have to grab onto so much and if not then will strip threads. so now I'm stuck til I figure out what to do cause I've worn the outer edge of my tires enough. don't feel like blow outs lol. so my question is, has anyone had an experience like this? or maybe even a direction to take? just doesn't make sence to me. how can an oem replacement be different? my contact from autozone ordered me an exchange rack to see if something went wrong like wrong part. nope! part came in today and measured out to be exact same thing. now I swore up and down that I've seen 'extended outer tie rods' but not finding such critters.

Can you swap the tie rods from the old rack?

Sounds like the vatozone rack is just a POS. Maybe order one from somewhere else?

yeah I should have but in order to save money I gave the core to auto zone when I got the new one. so its to late now. I guess I could get new inner rods and replace the ones on the rack. but will they be the right size? lol

Airbagit has tie rod extenders but IDK if you will like the price though

http://www.airbagit.com/Tierod-Extenders-s/1836.htm

On a side note, if they do not have your core anymore and cannot give you a direct replacement that will work, sounds like that owe you an OEM part from the dealer.

Frog, what say ye?

Most likely they will refund the rack and give him whatever they charge for a core deposit.

Do you still have a stealership in business near you? If so, I'd see what their take is on it and how much a real factory replacement would cost.

yeah I've got 3 within 15 minutes of me.good ole socal huh. yeah I agree, autozone owes something. not gonna continue this game and try to find parts for this thing when it should've been the piece they advertise. I am however gonna see if I can't go sneak a peek at a rack for an 03 at a stealership so I can compare the size. dunno what that's gonna do for me besides prove auto zone is wack. technically its the supplier for auto zone. the second one that came in came from core one. the first one came from their main supplier; name unknown, but both racks are exactly the same

Are you sure the alignment shop knows what they are doing? Maybe try asking another shop.

well first I went down to Allen tire shop to replace a worn tire. they offered free alignment. got that done and that's when they said can't do it, inner rods are to short. called my contact for.auto zone who has a second job at firestone, he told me come in for a second opinion. guy at firestone told us same thing. guy said my front wheels are tracking like this / \

ok got a new question. can any 03 4x4 guys send pics of your rack and pinion area please? my contact did some home work for me. went and talked to some other ppl about front ends. they are saying that my front end is an 4x4. yes, without the actually hardware for it. here's my thinking, some numb nut f'ed up. I bout my ram in 04 with 16k on odometer. got it from a private seller whos and auto reconditioner. he told me vehicle was in an accident and then fixed. yes, did a thorough check. all looked good. until present day when now I need a new rack. well, my thinking is, is this moron put on 4x4 parts. but no way of confirming that without some help. so if any one has pics they can share, it'd be much appreciated