Steering rack lines not fully threaded

Just installed new lines these are the Sunsong ones from rockauto.

The fittings feel like they are fully seated and threads started easily by hand, don't feel cross threaded. This is as far as they want to go.

Anyone else used these lines and run into the same thing?

 

Are the new nuts taller than the old ones?

 

They could be binding up. Loosen or remove all the other steering lines hard mounting points and see if you can get any further tightening the rack connection.

 

The threads aren't what make the seal. What makes the seal is compression of the flare (in the pic) against the body of the steering rack. So if the nuts are torqued properly, the connection should be sealed. Torque it to spec, start the truck, and see if it leaks. I bet your fine.

EDIT: Looking at your pic again, it appears the approach of the line on the left may be off a bit. Can you loosen that one and try to line it up better?

 

I have the same lines on mine, and they don't thread in all the way. The end of the line is what makes the seal, not the nut.

 

I've always started a few threads and then pulled back on the hose/line so the nut pulls the flare into place

but yea, everybody else is correct, I forgot the actual name of these but they're flared seals, made of softer metals that'll form when seated/torqued into place.

 

There’s an old trick to avoid cross threading also. If you slowly spin the fastener with pressure in the WRONG direction, you can “feel” when the fastener “drops” of the edge of its thread. If you stop at that point and reverse direction, it’ll almost always get you on-thread, straight. If omit doesn’t immediately engage without force, you may not be square. You don’t always need to be square on the nut to feel this.

This is a trick my Dad handed off to me as a many decades ago, and I use to this day, especially with blind threading, and awkward spots. Works exceptionally well with things like bicycle pedals, where you can easily cross-thread alloy cranks.

 

That is the longest way of saying

start the nut in reverse and it'll catch, then thread on normal to ensure no cross threading with softer metals

 

Voice to text on mobile is a bitch. I just went back and added quotes.