URGENT - Steering rack removal - last bit
Discussion
Hi All,
I have to send my steering rack away tomorrow to catch a window where the refurbers can do it.
Have spent this evening undoing everything. The rack is free but I can't get it out of the car, it just seems too big to come out.
Do you have to remove the central CAT (exhaust) to get it out to the nearside ?
OR
Do you remove the radiator pipes and swan neck pipe to get it out through the offside ?
Do the pipes that run along the rack need to come off to make it smaller?
Believe me I have tried. I can get a spanner half on them but the ones on the input shaft housing cannot be turned because you can't get the spanner flat to the nut and they are tight so they're not budging.
Any help from anyone that has got a rack out would be gratfully appreciated as it is now beginning to get dark on me - no garage to work in !
Cheers
I have to send my steering rack away tomorrow to catch a window where the refurbers can do it.
Have spent this evening undoing everything. The rack is free but I can't get it out of the car, it just seems too big to come out.
Do you have to remove the central CAT (exhaust) to get it out to the nearside ?
OR
Do you remove the radiator pipes and swan neck pipe to get it out through the offside ?
Do the pipes that run along the rack need to come off to make it smaller?
Believe me I have tried. I can get a spanner half on them but the ones on the input shaft housing cannot be turned because you can't get the spanner flat to the nut and they are tight so they're not budging.
Any help from anyone that has got a rack out would be gratfully appreciated as it is now beginning to get dark on me - no garage to work in !
Cheers
To the nearside ?
Have now managed to remove one of the pipes that run along the rack - oddly it needed a 14mm spanner to start but then the other flats needed a 5/8 !
So it is now fouling on the nearside anti-roll bar. So that's going to have to come off now.
Didn't look that difficult when I assessed the job !
Anyone else any helpful suggestions /tricks to get this thing out please ?
Now setting lamps up to see what I am doing.
Have now managed to remove one of the pipes that run along the rack - oddly it needed a 14mm spanner to start but then the other flats needed a 5/8 !
So it is now fouling on the nearside anti-roll bar. So that's going to have to come off now.
Didn't look that difficult when I assessed the job !
Anyone else any helpful suggestions /tricks to get this thing out please ?
Now setting lamps up to see what I am doing.
Dungman said:
Comes out easily with the y piece removed.
Thanks Dungman,Took your advice and tried to remove the Y-piece. All clamps off and the one below the engine.
Withdrew the Y piece forward as far as it will go before it hit the chassis but still a good inch of pipe in the centre pipe, so I guess you have to drop the whole exhaust do you ?
The Y piece moved around enough to let the rack input housing to pass it anyhow. It is now wedged against the antiroll bar on the nearside, so that's going to have to come off next !
I love the way the Steve Heath book says it is a simple job and simply "withdraw the rack" ha ha, no mention of removing Y pieces or anti-roll bars.
It took me 1.5hrs to jack, and free the rack and all the pipes and shafts but it has then taken me 3 hrs so far trying to get the flippin thing out of the car!
Yes to dropping exhaust, Y out then a bit of jiggery pokery and it will slide out the near side,
The bible is a bit generic so ask on here and you'll be housed with the best methods without having to smack hell out of your chassis trying to remove it.
I can't quite remember but I might have released the ARB from its mounts and pulled it well out the way when I did mine,,, for the second time i
Make a mental note as you remove as I had to turn mine slightly etc to get past chassis without damage, getting it back in will be less stressful
The bible is a bit generic so ask on here and you'll be housed with the best methods without having to smack hell out of your chassis trying to remove it.
I can't quite remember but I might have released the ARB from its mounts and pulled it well out the way when I did mine,,, for the second time i
Make a mental note as you remove as I had to turn mine slightly etc to get past chassis without damage, getting it back in will be less stressful
phazed said:
Remove the Y piece as said above.
Remove both track rods, large spanner required.
Lift rack out through engine bay, simple, no wheel arch struggling.
Agree...the above will make the removal much easier.Remove both track rods, large spanner required.
Lift rack out through engine bay, simple, no wheel arch struggling.
Also, don't remove the copper pipes as the unions are likely to be corroded in place and you will damage them. With the track rods off you won't need to anyway.
It's finally OUT !! Got it out early this morning. Thanks for all the advice guys. PH is the best ! Where else can you get such fantastic immediate advice from people that have done the job before.
Didn't realise you could remove the track rods from the rack. That explains how you are all getting it out through the engine bay. I pulled one of the boots back but it didn't look like you could disconnect the rods.
In the end I half removed the Y piece. Didn't have time to drop the entire exhaust. Breaking it off the manifolds allowed enough movement for the rack input shaft housing to slip past underneath.
I had to break the ARB drop links off (the NS one actually fell apart - ball came out of the joint; had a service done 1 month ago, they obviously missed that !).
Then I used jacks under both front wheel hubs to increase the separation between the ARB and the lower wishbone and with a lot of tugging and twisting got the rack out through the NS wheel arch.
What a pig of a job though ! Got the rack disconnected and loose in about 1.5hrs, then taken around 6 hours to get it out of the car !
Perhaps I will drop the exhaust whilst the rack is being reconned and try the in-through-the-engine-bay technique when it comes back.
How do the track rods come off then please ? Can't look at it now as it's gone off with UPS to be reconditioned.
Didn't realise you could remove the track rods from the rack. That explains how you are all getting it out through the engine bay. I pulled one of the boots back but it didn't look like you could disconnect the rods.
In the end I half removed the Y piece. Didn't have time to drop the entire exhaust. Breaking it off the manifolds allowed enough movement for the rack input shaft housing to slip past underneath.
I had to break the ARB drop links off (the NS one actually fell apart - ball came out of the joint; had a service done 1 month ago, they obviously missed that !).
Then I used jacks under both front wheel hubs to increase the separation between the ARB and the lower wishbone and with a lot of tugging and twisting got the rack out through the NS wheel arch.
What a pig of a job though ! Got the rack disconnected and loose in about 1.5hrs, then taken around 6 hours to get it out of the car !
Perhaps I will drop the exhaust whilst the rack is being reconned and try the in-through-the-engine-bay technique when it comes back.
How do the track rods come off then please ? Can't look at it now as it's gone off with UPS to be reconditioned.
Removing the track rods is the key to making the job easier. You then won't have to remove the ARB but you will still need to move the Y-piece. Remember that it has got a flexi section so there is more 'wiggle' room than you might at first realise.
When you re-fit the rack, re-connect the track rod ends and gaitors before you fully tighten the rack mounting bolts as it helps if you can lift the rack slightly to be able to push the gaitors on.
Another slightly different type of ball-joint used.
Buy yourself the correct size spanner on eBay for about £6-7.00
When you re-fit the rack, re-connect the track rod ends and gaitors before you fully tighten the rack mounting bolts as it helps if you can lift the rack slightly to be able to push the gaitors on.
Another slightly different type of ball-joint used.
Buy yourself the correct size spanner on eBay for about £6-7.00
Edited by Hedgehopper on Friday 5th August 10:06
You only had to ask, I wrote a complete guide to it. Too late, I know...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=799...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=799...
Hedgehopper said:
Removing the track rods is the key to making the job easier. You then won't have to remove the ARB but you will still need to move the Y-piece. Remember that it has got a flexi section so there is more 'wiggle' room than you might at first realise.
What's this flexi section then. My Y-piece is all solid from the manifolds to the joint below the engine.I got the joint below the engine loose with liberal WD40 and slid the Y forward around an inch before the central CAT body hit the chassis. It won't come forwards anymore and there is still at least two inches of pipe in the central pipe so it's not going anywhere without taking the exhaust pipe backwards.
WinstonWolf said:
You only had to ask, I wrote a complete guide to it. Too late, I know...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=799...
Thanks for this. At least it confirmed my suspicion that there should be a bolt holding the exhaust to the engine - that was missing.http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=799...
The NS ARB drop link also fell into two pieces when I disconnected it and thee OS track rod had the wrong nut holding it onto the hub, so presumbly both have been lost at some point by a garage. Not impressed !
taylormj4 said:
What's this flexi section then. My Y-piece is all solid from the manifolds to the joint below the engine.
I got the joint below the engine loose with liberal WD40 and slid the Y forward around an inch before the central CAT body hit the chassis. It won't come forwards anymore and there is still at least two inches of pipe in the central pipe so it's not going anywhere without taking the exhaust pipe backwards.
My 95 & 99 chims had solid exhausts, no flexi's.I got the joint below the engine loose with liberal WD40 and slid the Y forward around an inch before the central CAT body hit the chassis. It won't come forwards anymore and there is still at least two inches of pipe in the central pipe so it's not going anywhere without taking the exhaust pipe backwards.
I could never remove the Y piece on either without removing the exhaust!
phazed said:
My 95 & 99 chims had solid exhausts, no flexi's.
I could never remove the Y piece on either without removing the exhaust!
Thanks Phazed. Thought I was being stupid or something there. Maybe the early cars had this flexi piece.I could never remove the Y piece on either without removing the exhaust!
In the end, disconnecting the Y from the manifolds and the fact that the exhaust-engine bolt was missing meant that I could raise the Y enough for the steering rack to slide by into the NS wheelarch and out of the car.
I had to break the NS ARB dropper, raise the OS hub and lower the NS one to increase the clearance between the ARB and the lower wishbone.
I had hoped that releasing both ARB drop links would allow me to push the ARB up out of the way (rotating it in its front mounts) but I couldn't shift it, seems pretty stiff in the front mounts. Is that normal ?
Hi, on my 95 I can remove the Y without removing the exhaust, it was a PITA, but doable, it went back in a lot easier, but it was just a case of wriggling it around until it came out, but yes mine also had about 2 inches left to go when the Y first hit the front chassis rail.
Removing or loosening the exhaust may be easier though.
Removing or loosening the exhaust may be easier though.
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