Patent ID: 7780176

Claim:
A center take-off rack-and-pinion steering apparatus, comprising: a pinion rotating along with a steering member; a rack shaft meshed with the pinion and extending in an axial direction; a cylindrical rack housing for supporting the rack shaft so as to be movable in the axial direction, the rack housing formed with an elongate hole extending in a longitudinal direction parallel to the axial direction of the rack shaft; a mounting bracket for mounting ends of a pair of tie rods for steering a pair of wheels on the rack shaft; and a slider interposed between the mounting bracket and the rack shaft and slidable in an inner periphery of the elongate hole, wherein the inner periphery of the elongate hole and the slider include sliding contact sections that are brought into sliding contact with each other, and the sliding contact sections include at least a pair of curved sliding contact surfaces that are brought into sliding contact with each other in a curved shape when seen in the axial direction of the rack shaft.