KuHL 951

I've developed a pretty good end seal leak form my 951 power steering rack. I have a spare rebuilt unit on hand for a quicker swap. How long should I expect the swap to take? Are there any good tricks to get the unit centered and still get the old alignment settings close enough to drive for awhile before realignment? I only have about 5 hours this weekend to do this so I thought I would ask.

Thanks

PorscheDoc

You can do it in less than 5 no problem. As long as you dont disturb the outer t rod ends, you probably shouldnt have to mess with the alignment much until you can get it done correctly. You of course will have to align the steering wheel to the rack once it is centered, but that is no big deal.

Scott at Team Harco

Yeah - I could probably do a swap in about one hour. Should be no problem doing it in two hours if you have everything handy.

Here is a rough summary of how I would do it (off the top of my head):
1) Get car off the ground and on jack stands.
2) Remove front wheels.
3) line up steering wheel (straight ahead).
4) Remove outer tie rod ends from knuckles (special tool needed).
5) remove bolt from lower u-joint on steering shaft at rack.
6) remove screw holding ground wire.
7) remove 4 bolts holding rack clamps.
8) remove bolt through crossmember that holds tube clamp.
9) lower rack away from crossmember - sliding out from steering shaft u-joint.
10) Remove bolt from hose fitting at rear of rack housing. (catch the leaking fluid in a pan).
11) Remove rack completely from vehicle.

Install:
1) Place 'new' rack in position with clamp bolts finger tight.
2) Place steering shaft end on splined portion of pinion shaft. Make sure the bolt goes in and thread the nut on. (might need to remove bolts from left side clamp to get enough gap between the rack and the steering shaft)
3) Put tie rod ends back into knuckles - finger tighten nuts.
4) Re-attach the P/S hose fitting with banjo bolt.
5) Re-attach bolt holding tube clamp through lower side of crossmember.
6) Verify steering shaft, hose fitting and other loose items can be accessed if the rack clamp bolts are tightened. Any that can not be accessed need to be torqued to spec before the rack clamps get torqued to spec.
7) Torque fasteners to spec in the sequence that works best with item #6.
8) Hit the steering shaft clamp bolt.
9) Tighten the tie rod end nuts.
10) Don't forget the ground wire screw.
11) Fill reservior with fluid.
12) Start car - look for leaks. Operate steering wheel from side to side. Refill reservior if needed.
13) Set toe.

This actually took about as long to write as it took me to remove the rack the last time I did it. A little practice and it becomes pretty easy.

Best of luck.

Izzy

I think 3-4 hours was the estimate on clarksgarage. Less if you know what you're doing. http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/steer-01.htm

KuHL 951

Scott-Thanks for the info. Doesn't sound bad at all. The only difference is I will need to use my old tie-rods. I gave Serge the ones off the rebuilt unit last year. Do the tie-rods thread into the rack ends to a fixed depth? I remember they had a large lock nut on them when I took them off. If it's a fixed depth then the alignment should be fairly close to the old rack I would think.

Scott at Team Harco

No, there is no predetermined or fixed depth on the tie rod ends. What you might want to do is measure from some easily identified location on the rack to a point on the rod end. You'll need to then try and duplicate that measurement when you remove the rod ends and install them on the 'new' rack. This is rather difficult to match up. You will still want to check toe after you finish assembling everything. Even then, you may want to have a complete alignment performed professionally.

PorscheDoc

Yes, there is a fixed depth to the inner tie rod end where it screws into the rack, that is why i figure you shouldnt throw off your alignment too much.

sm

Karl is right.

I want to add that you may want to spray the splines that the lower u-joint connects to with PB Blaster or something. Also, get a pickle fork from AutoZone just in case the u-joint doesn't want to come off. You will thank me later.

KuHL 951

This is what I suspected. On other racks I have worked on the solid inner tie-rod was threaded to stop and locked down with the lock nut or inner retainer. Any toe adjustments were taken up at the outers with the knuckle section.
I guess this leaves it up for some debate unless you were talking about the inner ends only? Maybe I'll just spray some paint on the outer tie rods after pulling back the boot. If I do this before disassembly maybe I can still see the mark after backing off the threads. I guess I'll know more when I get under there Friday.

Thanks again for the help.

Scott at Team Harco

Looks as though I misunderstood the fact that you are using the full tie rods - not just the outer tie rod ends. This is no issue. There is only only way to put it in. It is not adjustable - only the torque of the retaining sleeve can be varied. What ever toe setting you have now should carry over directly to the 'new' setup if you don't change the outer rod ends.

The problem now becomes getting the boots over the tie rods. I don't know of any way to get them where they belong without removing the outer rod ends. In this case you'll still need to measure or mark the jam nut and rod end location/ orientation. Be sure the boots are on the tie rods before bending the tabs that lock the rack sleeves from rotating.

The pickle fork idea is good for the lower u-joint connection. It can be a bitch to get off. As for removing the outer tie rods from the knuckle - I recommend a seperator. It eliminates the risk of tearing the grease boot.

Oh, by the way - you just added about another hour to the job by having to mess with the boots, the sleeves and the tie rods. Still should be about 2.5 to 3 hours if you don't run into any major snags.