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Rack & Pinion Replacement Questions and Help!

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Old Apr 11, 2010 | 10:32 PM
  #1  
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Default Rack & Pinion Replacement Questions and Help!

I Need to replace my Rack & Pinion on my 2001 SS Camaro, I have a lot of play when i'm driving on the streets and especially on the Highways. Any little bump just Pulls the car now.

My Question is how hard is it to change out do i need to change out the power steering pump etc... just the in's & out's, and is there any write up on this that you could point me too.

Any answers to my question are greatly appreciated

Do's and Dont's would be appreciated also.
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Old Apr 11, 2010 | 11:17 PM
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I recently did mine few weeks ago and it was A PITA. I ended up putting lots of my labor into which went to hell because never got it right and then ended up having to pay for someone to fix my mistakes. Whoever says that the FE41 and the FE2 i believe will interchange that its just shorter is wrong because I tried it and the steering shaft is so much off that its like five times harder to turn the wheel plus its not the correct part. Make sure which one you have first as in big diff in price. The rack has to be centered before you put it on the car and also the shaft has only one way which it goes with that bolt guided into that groove which makes it uncenterd. I could never get that so ended up paying alignment shop to adjust once and for all. After it was all done I wished I woulda just pocketed out the 130 the shop was asking to install instead of the like the 150 i ended up paying in alignment and adjustment (guy cut me a deal) and not to mention having to take off n put on the rack 3 times to get the right one. Make sure its not something else before you go jumping into the rack and pinion pretty pricey part.
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Old Apr 12, 2010 | 01:06 AM
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it was a PITA........only because i did not know before hand to cut the bolt head off on the bolt under the ALT.....a sawzall and 15 min later.....success.....and remember..put new bolts in...........UPSIDE DOWN....new tie rods 2
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Old Apr 12, 2010 | 07:54 AM
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Damn I guess the lt1 guys got lucky with this one it took me all of 30 to remove the old one and replace it and fill it up with fluid
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Old Jul 21, 2015 | 03:02 PM
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cant you just remove the alternator and it will give you the clearance?. im going to be doing this in the next few days to my car. im sure ill get a better idea once i get under my car and take a look.
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Old Jul 21, 2015 | 03:57 PM
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Originally Posted by stevet8754
cant you just remove the alternator and it will give you the clearance?. im going to be doing this in the next few days to my car. im sure ill get a better idea once i get under my car and take a look.
you still have the AC compressor to deal with at the passenger bolt, or at least the 3.8 v6 cars do.

quicker to just cut the bolt then deal with the hassle, watch out for your brake lines, I used a cutoff wheel because something was wrong with the sawzall at the time and cut into the brake hard line
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Old Jul 25, 2015 | 11:42 PM
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Originally Posted by stevet8754
cant you just remove the alternator and it will give you the clearance?. im going to be doing this in the next few days to my car. im sure ill get a better idea once i get under my car and take a look.
Nope. The oil pan is in the way. Get your sawzall and several good 8" blades. There are no clearance issues on the passenger side.

There are some good howtos on it. It's not that big of a deal. I'm about to do another one.
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Old Jul 26, 2015 | 08:22 PM
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When I did mine, I pulled the MM bolts, lifted the engine about 2", removed the bolts, removed the rack, put the new one in Bolts upside down, put the MM bolts back.
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