Steering Rack Replacement

[petethepug]

Quick work! Glad there were no surprises.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Took it on a shake down test drive and man does it feel good. Steering is nice and tight, no rattles or knocking when driving over bumps and dips.

Getting the old rack out was very hard with the tie rods on (diff drop puts the diff right in the way) but I wanted them to stay on for measurement, could probably remove them next time. Tie rod ends were on about 18 turns both sides. I ended up getting the rack down and then pushed it out the driver side a bit to get the passenger tie rod under the control arm and then slide the rack out towards the passenger side on my chest. Installing the new one in reverse order was pretty easy, only weighs like 30 pounds so if I can do it anyone should be able to do it. Just be sure to keep the long mount bolts near by so that you can pin it up when you are lifting it. I had to steer the rack a tiny bit to get it to mount up to the steering shaft. I understand you don’t want to turn the steering wheel to line it up. (?)

My old steering joint was in bad shape and was binding in rotation so I ended up putting in the new Dorman joint.

While the joint was out I pulled the steering shaft out of the firewall all it could and greased the part of the shaft that goes into the firewall boot with some blue synthetic brake caliper grease. This is supposed to help eliminate a lot of chatter in the steering shaft and column.

The reman steering rack looked suspicious on the outside but seems to be operating just fine.

Can’t wait to get an alignment and tire rotation.

 

[lspann3525]

Took it on a shake down test drive and man does it feel good. Steering is nice and tight, no rattles or knocking when driving over bumps and dips.

Getting the old rack out was very hard with the tie rods on (diff drop puts the diff right in the way) but I wanted them to stay on for measurement, could probably remove them next time. Tie rod ends were on about 18 turns both sides. I ended up getting the rack down and then pushed it out the driver side a bit to get the passenger tie rod under the control arm and then slide the rack out towards the passenger side on my chest. Installing the new one in reverse order was pretty easy, only weighs like 30 pounds so if I can do it anyone should be able to do it. Just be sure to keep the long mount bolts near by so that you can pin it up when you are lifting it. I had to steer the rack a tiny bit to get it to mount up to the steering shaft. I understand you don’t want to turn the steering wheel to line it up. (?)

My old steering joint was in bad shape and was binding in rotation so I ended up putting in the new Dorman joint.

While the joint was out I pulled the steering shaft out of the firewall all it could and greased the part of the shaft that goes into the firewall boot with some blue synthetic brake caliper grease. This is supposed to help eliminate a lot of chatter in the steering shaft and column.

The reman steering rack looked suspicious on the outside but seems to be operating just fine.

Can’t wait to get an alignment and tire rotation.

I am about to try to tackle the same job. Can replacement tie rod jam nuts be purchased locally?? I was wanting to pull my rack with the tie rods still on it so I can compare to the new rack. Do your rack come with new o rings?

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@lspann3525 The new rack came with new PS Orings, it didn't come with tie rod jam nuts I had to reuse them from the old inner tie rod. Just undo it after you get it out and write down how many turns it takes to get the tie rods off and then swap the old jam nuts over

 

[89Suburban]

This is on my to do list as well. Thanks for sharing.

 

[lspann3525]

I went with the detriot axle rack and pinion it came with new outer tie rods but no o-rings or jam nut...How are yall securing the steering wheel from moving

 

[89Suburban]

I went with the detriot axle rack and pinion it came with new outer tie rods but no o-rings or jam nut...How are yall securing the steering wheel from moving

This is handy for that

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B074PVYSSL?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@lspann3525 I just looped the seatbelt through the bottom rung of the steering wheel, that part wasn't a big deal