steering rack replacement - update & tips

[dondarnell]

I recently replaced the steering rack on my 944t. Thanks for all the help to all that contributed.

Couple of things that should be noted.

The Auto Zone rack is a good deal, and it comes with the two hard lines installed, so there is no need to try and take these off. On Clark's website, and write-up's here, it is suggested to take these off. But it really was a waste of time, since they were present on the new rack. All you have to take off is the two lines on the upper part of the rack.

The suggestion on Clarks to use a ball bearing to set the center detent is a very good suggestion, but I did not see a red dot on it.

I took the new and old rack to a local garage to have the inner tie rods swapped out. It was worth the $30.

Buy new outer tie rods. The pickle fork muks up the boots, and the pins were rusted in and broke off in the bolts anyway. $15 a side - pretty short $$.

Getting the rack off the steering coupler was a real bear on my car. Took much longer than the 30 mins that Clark's allows. Once I got the bolt off, the thing wouldn't budge. After letting a lot of pentrating fluid soak in, I was able to slowly get it off by using a long 3/4 rachet extension and a dead blow hammer to tap it up. I was concerned about getting it back on, so I took care to clean it up real well with a tooth brush, and it slipped right on.

While I was there, I replaced the sway bar bushings. I had a very difficult time getting the bushings back in the holders. I am glad I did, the car feels a bit tighter. One thing I could have done better is to take off the hanging mounts. I have a lift in my garage, and in order to not work with my arms and hands too far above my head, I had the bottom of the car at a bit below head level, and I kept running my bald head into those mounts.

In closing, I was glad I did the job. My time as a lawyer is more valuable than taking the time to do it, but I fixed some other stuff that needed attention, like replacing all of the hardware, including the batwing hardware, and I know the whole job was done well. And, as always, I cleaned the heck out of everything in the proximitity and take a look at other stuff, so it was a good experience.

Regards!

[John_AZ]

Originally Posted by dondarnell

Buy new outer tie rods. The pickle fork muks up the boots, and the pins were rusted in and broke off in the bolts anyway. $15 a side - pretty short $$.

AZ AutoZone will rent/deposit the tie rod end remover tool to avoid damage to your shoulder from swinging a mallet at the pickle fork.

An alignment check should be done after the rack replacement.
A quick check using the DIY on Pelican can work as well if you take your time...

Pelican Technical Article: Home Alignment

Good job, well done.

John