A new and improved rack and pinion steering gear including a housing, a rack bar having a rack gear thereon, and pinion head having a pinion gear thereon. The pinion head is supported on the housing for rotation as a unit with a steering hand wheel. The rack bar is supported on the housing for back and forth linear translation by a sleeve bearing and by a thrust bearing behind the rack bar opposite the pinion gear. The rack and pinion gears cooperate in converting manual effort applied at the steering hand wheel into linear thrust on the rack bar. Lateral separation between the rack gear and the pinion gear is "actively" suppressed by a thrust control apparatus including a primary spring continuously biasing the thrust bearing against the rack bar, a secondary spring, and an electronic solenoid operated clutch operable to engage the secondary spring between the thrust bearing and the housing when the lateral thrust between the rack and pinion gears is high and to disengage the secondary spring from between the thrust bearing and the housing when the lateral thrust between the rack and pinion gears is low.