enjoytheride

Over the weekend I replaced the seals in my LHD power steering rack using the KLA Industries kit but may have run into a snag on Step #5 of the installation guide: http://www.klaindustries.net/technic...rack-instr.htm

The new cup seal I installed doesn't seat tightly into the barrel of the rack to the point where I can force air through the rack with the tie-rod bellows. Note that the assembly is still dry, so will the cup seal be forced into place and seal to the rack when it's hit with pressurized hydraulic fluid? Or is something terribly wrong?

Everything else seemed to fit perfectly. Side note, the LHD racks seem to be slightly simpler to disassemble than the RHD racks covered in the guide. Here are some pics from this mildly terrifying endeavor:



All clean:

mr_bock

I rebuild my 1996 rack with this kit a few years ago with no issues. Not sure what you are trying to do with the air pressure. Using the proper sized socket and some pressure I was able to seat the seal.

Here is a tip... I felt that the teeth of the rack would/could damage the seal when passed through. The Work Shop Manual shows a special tool (metal 'condom') used to cover the shaft and teeth for insertion. Not having access to such tool, I used a length of one inch wide Teflon tape with adhesive one side to cover the teeth. Once inserted, I was able to pull the tape out. No damage, no leaks at all.

Good Luck!

enjoytheride

I reached out to KLA and learned that the 4 cup seals are actually 3 different sizes:

1ea 19mm ID x 28mm OD x 6mm thick (the obviously smaller seal)
1ea 26mm ID x 37mm OD x 7mm thick
2ea 26mm ID x 35mm OD x 7mm thick

I thought the 3 clearly larger seals were all the same size but apparently one has a 2mm larger outside diameter. I must have swapped the 37mm seal with one of the 35mm seals. I'm receiving 2 new seals this weekend and hope to confirm this hypothesis.

As for my "air pressure" comment: I was not applying pressurized air at any point, instead once the rack was assembled to the point in the picture above I installed the rubber bellows in order to protect the rack gear from the subframe during installation. By happy accident I "accordioned" one of the bellows and noticed that the boot on the opposite side moved as well. It was clear that I was able force air all the way through the rack hence my concern that the seals weren't working.