Jack667

Will do! When researching the DIY and watching the install vids, I glossed over the fluid aspects of the rack change and figured on paying more attention as I get ready to actually do the job. My assumption is that it would be a bit of a drain and fill as a normal part of the rack change. Maybe I'll think about a multi-step process - doing a bit of fluid work before the rack change to make sure I get most of the old gunky fluid out when the install is complete. Thx!!

Bruce In Philly

I had removed the pump for replacement and that made fluid removal easier... I suspect... that getting fluid through the pump and down and out through to the front of the car may be a bit difficult... maybe some positive pressure to blow it out... may have to get creative. If that doesn't work, you may have to remove ... or just loosen... the serpentine belt and spin the pump wheel by hand... that may push/pull the fluid through. The pump is an odd thing that uses centrifugal force to push out the pump veins... see my pic in my post... so not sure if it will let the fluid flow, or you may have to spin it by hand.

Peace
Bruce in Philly (now Atlanta)

Floyd540

A follow up to my above post. The rebuilt rack should come with new inner tie rod ends. If not, you want to replace them. There will be some people out there wondering about wear on the rack gear and pinion. This is extremely rare but can happen if the system was run for a long period of time dry. This never happens as you would not have any power steering. The life of the rack is not measured in miles as it is a fuction of the number of steering actions. A car with highway miles can go hundreds of thousands of miles while a car driven in the city with lots of steering wheel action will wear out the seal in 100,000 miles. Also bad tie rod ends cause more stress on the rack cylinder. There may not be any rerally new racks for older cars so that is why even manufacturers sell "remanufacturered " units. It is all in the new seals and O rings. As to removing and installing the rack, it is a nut and bolt job but use proper flare nut wrenches on the fittings. Fidily and cumberson depending on the car but is a DIY.
Don't pay thousands of dollars for $50 in seals and a hour or so of labor to rebuild it.