GM 19207492 Power Steering Rack & Pinion: Fitment, Failure Symptoms and What Is Actually in the Box

Power steering was a solution looking for a customer for about thirty years. Francis W. Davis had a working hydraulic system in the 1920s and nobody would build it. It took until the 1951 Chrysler Imperial and its Hydraguide system for power steering to reach a mass-produced American car, and even then it was sold as a luxury — the thing that let you park a two-ton sedan without wrestling it.

The 1951 Chrysler Imperial — Hydraguide, and the first mass-produced power steering in America (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

Seventy-five years later the luxury is invisible until it goes away, usually on a hot afternoon, usually in a half-ton truck, usually announced by a groan at full lock and a wet spot on the driveway.

What 19207492 is

We have one on the shelf: a complete hydraulic power steering rack and pinion assembly, GM casting 19207492, $202.99, new and unused. The housing is cast with GM part number 19207492 — photo 6 in the listing is a close-up of that casting on the actual part — and it is supplied as a complete assembly: rack, pinion and spool valve, hydraulic cylinder, hard lines, inner tie rods, bellows boots, clamps and mounting bushings already fitted.

Fitment — and the ones it does not fit

• 2007–2014 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV
• 2007–2013 Cadillac Escalade EXT
• 2007–2013 Chevrolet Avalanche
• 2007–2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
• 2007–2014 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 and Tahoe
• 2007–2014 GMC Sierra 1500
• 2007–2014 GMC Yukon and Yukon XL 1500

Does NOT fit: hybrid models, Police Pursuit (PPV) models, the 2007 "Classic" body Silverado and Sierra, any 2500 or 3500 HD, or any vehicle built with electric power steering. That last one catches people. This is a hydraulic rack — confirm your truck has a pump and a fluid reservoir before you order.

Interchange / replacement numbers: 19207492 · 19207489 · 19207490 · 19207491 · 19330568 · 19330565 · 19178559 · 19178561 · 19133646 · 19133648 · 15254060 · 15254062 · 19153072 · 19153073 · 19153074 · 19153075 · 22-1036.

Is it really the rack?

Racks get blamed for a lot of things the tie rods did. In general terms, the failures that point at the rack itself rather than the front end are: fluid weeping or dripping from the bellows boots at either end (fluid inside the boot has only one source); a hard spot or a dead spot on centre that does not track with tyre wear; steering that is heavy one direction and light the other, which suggests the spool valve; and a persistent whine that stays after you have bled the system and confirmed the pump and fluid level are fine. A clunk over bumps with no fluid anywhere is usually a tie rod end, a sway bar link or a strut mount — get it on a rack and have someone rock the wheel before you buy a steering rack.

What ships, and what you still have to buy

This assembly is new and unused, still in its factory protective wrap when we received it, never installed. It arrived to us loose rather than in a sealed retail carton, so there is no manufacturer box, no printed instructions and no branded packaging — what is pictured is what ships. It is roughly 52 inches long and about 30 lb. Outer tie rod ends, power steering fluid and mounting hardware are not included. We are a reseller and the only identification on the unit is the casting number, which is why it is listed as unbranded. Budget for an alignment afterwards; this is not a job that ends when the bolts are tight.

While the front end is apart

If the steering wanders at highway speed on a lifted or high-mileage truck, a Bilstein 33-174525 B8 5100 steering damper for Silverado and Sierra 2500 HD, $99.99 is the cheap fix people forget. For a 2014–2018 half-ton, we have a TRQ SCA72777 front strut and coil spring assembly, 2WD, $104.99, and for the older GMT800 generation a full front upper and lower control arm kit for 1999-2006 Silverado 1500 4WD, $269.99. Elsewhere on the same trucks: a Dorman-style 615-183 upper intake manifold for the 4.8 and 5.3, $99.99 and a 600-899 transfer case shift motor, $59.99. And if the interior has taken as much abuse as the steering, there is a SMARTLINER first-row liner set for the 2007-2014 Escalade in tan, $149.99 — same GMT900 floor pan.