Mongo

Ah I get it. However, that is the reason for re-aligning the car. No rack install can get the splines perfect. I am not worried about this as it will be thrown on a Hunter DSP as soon as I can get 25+ miles on the clock post-op.

Imo000

8 pages to change an Fn's rack? This got to be some record for making a drama out of nothing.

Mongo

Taking my time. Most of it is cleaning. The tome in between is spent with family and work.

Bill Ball

My observation is that the degrees per spline are different between the rack end and the steering wheel end of the shaft. The steering wheel degrees per spline is twice that of the rack end. So, you have a 50% chance of getting the lower u-joint on a spline that will allow you to re-center the steering wheel by removing it and moving the steering wheel over to another spline. If you lock the rack dead center, centering the steering wheel by moving it over on the shaft is not always possible. It happened to me, and there is no obvious way to be certain you have the u-joint on correctly until the rack is bolted up. There is a flat cut into the shaft for the u-joint bolt, but that flat has enough clearance that you can easily get the u-joint on the wrong spline and still get the bolt to seat.

Mongo

Okay that makes more sense now. There is only one way to find out how centered it is I guess.

Imo000

You can judge how parallel the flat section of the rack splines by looking through the U joint bolt hole. If looking from the two ends of the U joint hole don't look the same, the rack splines and the U joint splines are in the wrong spot.

Mongo

Tie rods went on no problem last night thanks to the '*** smacker' fan clutch tool off Amazon.

Bill and Imo, you may be surprised, but the suspension actually looks centered with the steering wheel! I guess I did a pretty good job no thanks to Pirtle's write-up and a ****load of beer.

Mongo

And here is where trouble starts....

How the hell do you get these boots back onto the rack? I struggled for a good hour last night and still could not get them on. Clearly I am doing this the wrong way and probably should not have been using a screwdriver to slip them on.

wpgshark

Haven't taken a 928 a part yet, however I would expect it to be similar to a volvo, how different can it be? Boot goes on inner tie rod end before outer is installed, boot is pulled up to outer for installation of tie rod onto steering rack, and then back towards rack for adjustment.

Imo000

Do it in reverse.

jcorenman

Apply some "personal lubricant" and shove the boots onto the end of the rack.

If still no luck then cut the bottom off a plastic single-serving yogurt container. Slit one side and wrap it around the nose of the rack to make a cone-shaped "ramp". Slide the boot over that, pull it out, and viola!

And correct, the screwdriver is a bad idea.

Bill Ball

I grab the boot with two pliers ~180 degrees apart on the first pleat in the accordion section and pull out as I pull the forward lip over the rack housing. Mostly pulling forward. Takes 5 seconds and does no damage to new boots.

Mongo

Rack is in with a brand new reservoir. Just need to start it up and get the fluid to circulate. One thing I noticed was when I unscrewed the rack alignment tool, there was no point on the end of the bolt! Turns out that it was sitting on one of the threads after removal. I must have over-tightened it or something. I will have to order another one nevertheless - gotta lay off the beer as it causes an increase in torque.

davek9

AO was doing new boots on his GT yesterday, plyers slipped, he's now sporting some stiches over his eye
So I wished I had posted this sooner (at least that is what AO said) here is what I've been using along w/ some lube on the end of the rack. I got them at HF, standard panel removal plastic tools.

Also I always wondered why people think you need a thin 32 mm wrench when a standard works just fine.
It does look like one won't fit, however all you need to do is slid the rack stop (that round silver washer part) back, it does move there is an 'o' ring inside and it sticks sometimes on the rack shaft.

Hope this helps/saves others doing this job some time and pain.

Dave K

Mongo

You're kidding me!? My needle nose pliers slipped last night and I now have a puncture just above my upper lip.

No stitches, just lots of blood. People are now looking at me funny at work today