PS Rack Rebuild - Correct Lubrication?

[OK-944]

I’ve taken my power steering rack apart for a clean and reseal…and am guessing that a lithium based moly grease will be appropriate for re-greasing the geared portion of the rack shaft plus the lower tower needle bearing race (in other words, those areas from which I’ve cleaned the existing old grease), while I will pre lubricate the middle of tower bearings (along with seals) with ATF. Is this correct?

My general concern is the extent to which the heavier moly grease might intermix with the ATF present in this system, but my further thought is that the various seals are designed to sequester the ATF away from both the rack shaft and lower tower bearings. Does this sound correct?

[jjeffries]

Something that will stick and endure. I used a good wheel bearing grease.

John

[timmay]

Thanks for the information- I am pulling my rack soon to reseal it. I got the seal kit from Pelican-do you guys have any other tips?

[Ernie944]

Originally Posted by jjeffries

something that will stick and endure. I used a good wheel bearing grease.

John

+1:d

[9FF]

Yep, lightly grease the rack, pinion, needle bearing and ball joints inside the boots. Use a good quality wheel bearing grease applied like assembly lube.

[onZedge]

I just did this before Christmas. For references, I used:
ArnnWorx and Clarks Garage tutorials for disassembly, and the Rennbay video on Youtube for assembly/installation tips.
Hope it helps.

[azbanks]

You should not have ATF in the grease chamber of your rack. If you do, it means that your inner seals are leaking and the rack needs a rebuild.
In addition, figure #6 of the Pelican parts tech article on rebuilding racks is wrong. There is no gasket under the plate at the base of the housing. You can use a tiny bit of gasket maker if you want but there should be no fluid leaking out of that plate if there is a leak here, once again, your inner seals are leaking and you need to rebuild your rack.

[Peter Graham]

Originally Posted by timmay

Thanks for the information- I am pulling my rack soon to reseal it. I got the seal kit from Pelican-do you guys have any other tips?

Use a pilot bearing/slide hammer removal tool to remove the bottom seal in the control tower. I bought a puller set from HF: I had to tighten the snot out of the the third largest jaw set to get enough purchase on the seal, then everything worked like a charm. Steady the bottom of the tool set up at the top of the control tower to ensure tool does not contact any of the machined surfaces inside. I had the rack in a bench vice with soft (plastic) jaws.

The tie rod ends are easily removed without damage using this type suspension tool:


I used a dremel with a conical burr bit to remove the peens holding the locking collar (fastens the passenger side steel tube to the AL housing); then hammer and punch to loosen the locking collar.

I removed the rack with the pressure and return hoses in place. Sure as rain, one of the hose allen head (6mm IIRC) banjo bolt heads stripped out: I used an easy-out to easily loosen/remove the damaged bolt. Genuine Porsche replacement banjo bolts are 17mm ATF hex, p/n 999.134.018.02; I paid $9.38/ea. from Porsche Asheville for two bolts; got them in less than 48hrs (ordered out of Atlanta warehouse).

Removing the rack with the lines connected requires removal of two M6 bolt/nuts that clamp the hard line to the cross member (bolt head visible in the bottom of crossmember); access to the washer/nut of the one bolt closest to the control tower is damn impossible. On reassembly, I placed the bolts through the clamps (reversed) so that the washer/nut combo is on the crossmember side: access to the bolt head (10mm ATF) was as inaccessible but I was finally able to get enough purchase to tighten the nut. Time it took to find suitable tool to hold bolt head is withheld (let's just say more than ten different tool combinations were tried); turns out 1/4" drive 10mm short socket on a 1/4" drive flophead handle with a 6" piece of tubing to extend the handle ended up working for me.

I had just replaced the motor mounts the week before: the rack was dripping one drop (on me) every 30 minutes or so: I believe removing the rack at the same time the crossmember was lowered would have simplified the process. I also took the rack rebuild opportunity to replace the tie rods: I guestimated the lengths based on the old tie rod lengths: seating surface of the rack end to the bulge on the back of the tie rod end. When taken to the alignment shop, steer ahead was in spec at 0.02*, total toe was close but just out-of-spec at 0.36*: I was stoked at being so close by eyeball and the alignment technician was very suprised!

Peter