SuperCuban

So ya find that my Rack and Pinion needs to be replaced. Mechanics want $1k which is money i dont wanna be spending so i was wondering if there's a write up on how to replace it, or if there's someone in the Olrando area willing to help me replace it, and how much of a bitch its gonna be for me to do it myself if i've never done it before. Any advice or help would be greatly apreciated. thx

GR33N GoblinM6

iTrader: (14)

its not all that difficult.. you do need to get your car jacked up about 1-2 feet (just because it gives you more room to work). Some gear wrenchs come in handy, you need to drain the power steering resevior (basically just take off one of the hard lines and let it drain itself), the rest is straight forward. Get a Haynes or Chilton manual from any autoparts store and follow the instructions.

You can get a whole rack assembly from Autozone for $220.. with core ... once you replace it, make sure you take it to an alignment shop.

EDS01SS

iTrader: (30)

like said above its a pretty simple job. 2 bolts to hold the rack on to the k-member and a couple lines attached to the rack.you will also need to remove your tie rods from the spindle. I would suggest getting some new tie rods and installing them while your in there.Also one other bit of advice......measure center tread to center tread on your tires so that your alignment will be good enough to get it to an alignment shop without tearing up your tires

SuperCuban

K well ya'll gave me enough faith in myself to do it so imma give it a try, not this weekend cause i'll be out of town but probably next weekend, and i'll let ya'll know how it goes. Hope i dont make it FUBAR. mabye i'll even take some pics to show other ppl how if all goes well.

Fibbado

iTrader: (8)

Also... the gear that goes into the rack and turns it... its a good idea to give it a quick turn all the way too one side... then turn it all the way to the other side and count the rotations. Then go back half that many rotations and you should have the rack pretty close to centered, take a look at your old tie rods when you take the old rack off and put it next to your new one and get them both to "neutral" or steering straight.... then try and get the new tie rods adjusted on about the same amount of threads as the old one, you'd be surprised you can get it damn near perfectly aligned by doing that.

lo_jack

iTrader: (27)

Make sure you get the right LS1 rack when you get a replacement - there are two different ratios, with slightly different output angles from the steering gear, and they are pretty much impossible to tell apart.

I believe they come up as two different part numbers, but I do not remember how to tell which one is on your car to begin with.

The swap itself is easy. Don't forget to bleed it. There is a process involving raising and lowering and spining lock to lock, with the motor on. It is in any haynes manual I believe.