FredR

Jeff,

You can lower a lift to the height of axle stands if you are a masochist enough but you cannot get the car to lift height on axle stands. As we get older working under axle stands gets more and more testing. I'm 65 and can still work using my axle stands and home brew lift bars but a lift would be a godsend - might even be worth donating a ******** at this stage of life as long as the other one still works!

soontobered84

Utilize all available benefits including the car on a lift to do the motor mounts and the rack bushings. It is necessary to loosen but not remove the rack to move it out of the way to drop the crossmember so the MMs can be replaced. After replacing the MMs and reinstalling the crossmember, it is pretty easy to remove the old rack bushings and install the new ones. A lift keeps you off your back, upright, and able to access tools, etc.

bureau13

You have to remove the rack to do the bushings though, right? If not, I'm clearly misunderstanding this job...

Wisconsin Joe

You have to unbolt the rack and move it out of the way to do the MMs. You don't actually have to remove it (as in disconnect the PS lines, steering shaft & tie rods and set it over in a corner). While it is hanging, the holes are accessible and the bushings can be replaced.

Getting the old ones out can be a bit challenging. I used a hammer & cold chisel. I bent the 'overhang' up enough to get them out and then used a C-clamp to install the new ones.

At one point, Stratford Shark had a good writeup. Or maybe just a link to one. I searched around a bit and couldn't find it.

Edit to add - I've done my OPG twice. Once on a lift, the second time on liftbars (the orange silicone one was overtightened the first time and had to be replaced, long story). When I did it on the lift, we didn't have a 'cross engine' support (Dwayne made one out of 4x4s) and ended up dropping the lift down to the point we could use a standard 'cherry picker' engine hoist and had the car maybe 4' off the ground.

Having the car up high enough to stand up under it is far, far nicer. If you can use your friend's lift, I would strongly suggest doing so.

SeanR

You can leave the steering knuckle, lines and tie rods in place to do the bushings. A proper fitting replacement bushing will need to be pressed in slightly if they are going to work the way they should. I prefer the delrins. Once your MM job is completed then button the rack back up and then do the tie rods.

Taguid

I used the aluminum ones and I haven't had any problem in 2 years.

bureau13

I'm really kicking myself for starting an intake refresh right before the lift becomes temporarily available. I gotta hurry!

Wisconsin Joe

Don't hurry. Do it carefully, do it right.

You do not want to have to do it again.

If you end up doing the MMs & rack bushings up on liftbars, on your back, it's not that big of a deal. As I noted, the "crossmember off" part of the first time and the entire second time that I did it were done that way.

It just gets really old getting up and down that much (it doesn't help that I'm getting older).

bureau13

So reopening an older thread, with a question about the effect of bad steering rack bushings. I get a fairly severe (as in, getting worse) vibration during any sweeping right hand turn (or just veering right, to be honest) at any sort of speed. I get very little of anything going left. Does that really seem like a rack bushing problem? To clarify...I KNOW the rack bushings need to be replaced. I can see the rack moving around when I push/pull on either wheel. But the fact that I only get the shudder while turning right makes me wonder if there's something else going on. I'm not too worried about driving the car with bad bushings until I'm ready to do the job, but if there's another issue, depending on what it is, driving the car might not be very smart. Any thoughts if this really does imply that something else is going wrong?

soontobered84

How would you really know if there is anything else wrong until you get the steering rack locked down correctly?

bureau13

Might not..that does tend to hide other potential problems I guess. I didn't see anything else visually...the tie rods actually appeared fine. But does it make sense that bad rack bushings would cause an obvious shudder in only one direction? That just seems weird to me...

soontobered84

I thought about that before I posted what might seem to some a slightly flippant answer.

My thoughts are that if one of the bushings was worse than the others (and there is only 4 total), then if say the front left was worse, then it might manifest itself only on a right turn. Or it might make the left turn feel weird. Conversely, say one of the rear most bushings was worse, the rear ones might be more critical to a sweeping curve versus an actual turn. Just thoughts here, no actual empirical evidence.
It would be nice if we did have a troubleshooting tree that gave us that type of advice if, in fact, any one of the bushings make a difference than any other one of the bushings.

I'm excited to see what you DO find.

bureau13

That does make sense. FWIW I didn't think your previous answer was flippant. It was really the only truly correct answer, I think, but I need to get a few things in order before I undertake that job. I will definitely post my findings!

worf928

bureau13

I'm trying to remember....I had read this section of the guide before checking, but I can't say for sure that I properly differentiated between the rack itself and the steering arms. I THINK it was the rack, but I think I need to check again. If the rack is bad, I should just order a rebuilt one before I start the job, probably.