86 951 Driver

My steering rack is leaking badly from the driver side. It stays in the boot for the most part, but eventually I want to have this fixed. How hard of a job is this? Any special tools required. I have used the mechanic for some of the bigger jobs, but I thought this one would be a day job tops. There is a place in town where you can rent a full 2 post lift to do work. Any tips and tricks?

Arominus

Its really not that bad, the worst part of it is getting the U-joint/steering shaft off the rack. Otherwise its really just messy.

You can get a rebuilt rack at Autozone for about $200ish. I did it on my 924S and replaced the lines and finally took car of all the leaks.

psychodoc

I just did this last week on my 84 944. Partsgeek.com had the rebuilt rack for around $125.00. No real issues, but it definitely makes it easier if you have a full lift. Be sure to check the banjo fittings for small cracks and replace any lines that look questionable.

Quattropower88

Overall not too bad of a job... my buddy fiddled with the U-joint for nearly a half hour until he finally got it right when reconnecting. If you loosen tie rod ends, measure and/or mark them to minimize alignment being out of whack until you get a proper alignment.

If you need motor mounts, do those as well. They're only about an hour or two deeper just hoist the motor a bit and drop the subframe.

Also, we were on our backs... use that lift and it'll cut down on time a good amount

Oh yea.. And get a set of these hose clamps. Very worth the 8 bucks at Harbor Freight...

Ky944TurboNewbie

Agree - This is the hardest part. But it took me a couple of hours to finally figure out how to get the U-joint loose. I also damaged one of my high pressure lines while doing the job and had to replace it. May not be as comfortable using jack stands, but you don't have to worry so much about getting a replacement part if something goes wrong.

Fara

Really not a particularly hard job. If you're willing to make the outlay, a front engine support bar will give you a ton more room to work under the car.

black944 turbo

I am having a bear of a time getting my u joint connected again. The first replacement rack went in easy, second not so much. Man I hate doing things twice. Any suggestions on getting the u joint in and lined up.

xsbank

You did tie the steering wheel so its straight and doesn't move? And you used a bolt to centre and lock the rack? Stick a flat-blade screwdriver in the gap in the connector to open it up a tad. Make sure the shaft is exactly lined up with the input shaft or you will not get the bolt in.

Do not clamp off the fluid lines - you want to bleed them and use new clean fluid. You probably want a new reservoir too (cheap) as they have built-in non-changeable filters. Make sure the fluid is spotlessly clean or you will be doing this same repair again, soon. Follow the bleeding instructions and clean up all the old fluid.

I tried an Autozone rebuild and it was a total POS - dirty and rusty. You could tell it was carefully rebuilt (not). I got mine from Zim's for a few bucks more and it was deluxe.

I forgot to mention to either anneal the copper washers before you re-use them or use new ones.

V2Rocket

Hook up the u-joint before you bolt the rack to the crossmember.

FRporscheman

+1 ^

Make sure you connect them at the right angle, or the bolt won't slip in, and you'll have to do it all over again.

I put a little bit of anti-sieze on the steering rack&pinion input shaft splines, and I stick a thick screwdriver or chisel into the slot of the steering shaft coupler to open it up. Then I curse and yell while fighting and wrestling with it for a while, and it goes in! Piece of cake!

turbo944

The hardest part I had changing out mine here recently was the stupid low pressure allen key head bolt for the low pressure steering line. Sucker was stuck in there but good. High pressure came off just fine though. Really messed up that low pressure bolt, but already knew it could be a problem so I had ordered the newer hex head bolts to replace both the low and high pressure and it's SO much easier to work with them.

As people have said, the U-joint needs to have the end opened up just a bit and I had someone hold/turn the wheel to help me line it up. It only goes in ONE way. The side of the U-joint where the bolt goes through is THE place to have the flat spot on the spline. I had also marked mine with a touch of red paint to make sure I could see where it went easier.

Don't know how bad yours are, but since mine had been leaking as well from the high pressure line AND the pump, the passenger side steering rack bushing was swollen and nasty. At that point I just opted for the new rubber ones to replace the old ones.

+1 on the new reservoir. The low pressure connection there was so brittle and broken up I had to take off the header panel and cut off the ferrule at the cooler and replace that section of line (no pressure coming back up to it).

+1 on Zims as well. Read lots of poor reviews of rebuilt racks from places like Autozone and Zims had a great price and the return was super quick to get my core charge back. New rack looks great and works great....no leaks at all from the power steering now!

Have to say it was easier for me in a way because I was in there doing the oil pan gasket and had the crossmember down at the same time as well as the exhaust out of the way.

mbardeen

I just resealed my steering rack. It's not a hard job but there are a couple things to watch for.. like the flat bearing furthest down the tower -- those rollers have a tendency to disappear. And the seal just under it is a pain to get off -- a heavy duty seal puller with some vice-grips leveraged against the top of the tower finally did it for mine.

Stubborn banjo bolts can also be dealt with fairly easily with vice-grips.

Mine's not leaking anymore, which is a good result. How long it will last is the next question...

FRporscheman

Dude... Yes... that seal is a MAJOR PITA!

I spent a few hours fighting it, finally I just made a tool with a threaded rod and a washer sized just right to fit behind that seal (fed in from below).

F18Rep

Strange, I've done 4 of them now and only had problems with one and that was 2 years later. Its true they are not as pretty though, no rust but mine have all had spray painted cylinder tubes - which is kinda tacky. To me the LIFETIME GUARANTEE is worth as much as the rack itself though, does any vendor offer that?

I think I paid $150 or even less. Maybe they have fixed thier system at AZ but if you order for an 83, the rack is the same but the price is lower. They come from a repair place called ATCO, if memory serves...
Bruce
PS... You guys always say it so easy but I think the rack change is the most dreaded of 944 jobs.

black944 turbo

Thank you f18, I agree with you. It is a awful job, having done it twice in a month, I can attest to that. I bought the autozone rebuilt and it leaked after 150 miles, hope the second is better. I have been reading great reviews of them for years that is why I went with it. This is the first thread I have seen complaints of them.