ok - had to take a step back from frustration.

what is the trick to getting the universal joint to slide off of the splines from the steering rack.

i have tried to separate at both the upper joint (attached the steering rod itself) as well as lower (right against the rack).

a couple of folks mentioned “a few taps with a hammer”... where? I have tapped laterally against the block, down onto the upper joint from above with a long rod and tried to tap from below but there is no way I can see to get and kind of angle from below.

i have soaked with pb blaster. There is some rust evident on upper but lower is fairly clean.

Also have attempted to pry to pry between the rack and the lower but again there is not much to leverage against.

any thoughts or advice...thanks! Everything else came apart very easily!!

-scott

Have you removed the clamp bolts? The bolts go into a slot on the rack spline and lower shaft.

I loosened the clamp bolts but did not pull all the way out.

sounds like that and the wedge will be the next step.

thank you all!

I used a chisel to wedge it open.
I had to unbolt the rack and pull it down some to actually get the joint off the rack.
Once that end was free, it took quite a few raps with a hammer to get it off the lower shaft.