Steering Rack Removal

[Bruce Wayne]

So i finally got the 986 in the air slid my ass underneath and removed the undertray and got a pentosin shower.

The hydraulic lines to the rack seem to have sprung a leak (look like some corrosion)

so i'm looking at pulling the rack out.. has anyone done this before, i'm reading the workshop manual and it seems it can be done without dropping the front suspension carrier.

I was thinking about dropping that down to get to the rack, bad idea and a world of hurt or not ?

I'm in no rush to get the 986 back on the road, winter is setting in in the UK, so the range rover is getting the use instead !

[Bruce Wayne]

wow !! no one removed a steering rack from a 986 ??

[itsnotanova]

In my opinion, I think you should remove the whole front suspension. You'll have better access to the repair and it will give you a chance to maybe find anything else that might need some attention. How many KMs are on your box? I say if it's over 128,000, you should maybe consider rebuilding the whole front end too. That will depend on what you find. You say the car's put away for the winter anyway. Taking the whole front apart isn't that difficult. About the only negative I see is that you'll have to get it realigned when you're done.

[Bruce Wayne]

that's what i was figuring itsnotanova.. thank you... i was thinking well.... if i'm going to pull the front end off i may as well polybush it as well.

i would figure that alignment will be required anyway after replacing the steering rack, yes i can measure the tie rod ends, but an alignment is cheaper than wearing off a couple of P Zeros and will make sure the handling is where it should be.

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wayne

wow !! no one removed a steering rack from a 986 ??

Bruce,

Before removing the rack, remove the two hydraulic hoses that supply the hydraulic fluid to the rack, these have a fairly small (square type..?) O-ring that most likely (hopefully) is the cause for the leak..

A couple of years ago I removed the entire rack because I was planning to tread the inlet/outlet ports of the rack to install an oil cooler, but a friend of mine with more common sense (and a real mechanic..) recommended against because the walls of the ports of the rack had fairly thin walls and I didn't want to risk it.

I ended cutting off the metal ends from the OEM hoses and welded AN connectors to them, using new OEM O-rings like the original design and so far, four years later (and about 60k miles) I have not got a leak so I cannot complain.

BTW, removing the rack from the car was surprisingly simple..

Good luck!

[Bruce Wayne]

remove the two hydraulic hoses that supply the hydraulic fluid to the rack, these have a fairly small (square type..?) O-ring that most likely (hopefully) is the cause for the leak..

yes it's the lower of the two that has failed, it looks like corrosion has weakened it and the pressure caused a fracture !

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wayne

yes it's the lower of the two that has failed, it looks like corrosion has weakened it and the pressure caused a fracture !

Bruce, you may want to replace that section of the hose that goes from the connector behind the driver (US) to the rack because both ends of the hose are crimped

[Bruce Wayne]

you mean this..

[evifenocvt]

dropping the rack is super easy and theres absolutely no need to drop the carrier housing. its pretty straight forward. 8mm hex to get the hoses. 13mm to loosen it from the column. two 15mm bolts attach it to the sub frame. then you just have to pop the tie rods off the wheel carrier. pretty much no major obstructions and potential spillage is minimal.

[Bruce Wayne]

thanks evifenocvt..

i may just leave the whole polybush thought till its warmer..

though as for spillage.. little chance now.. most of it went on the road what remained on the underpanel ended up on me when the panel came off.

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wayne

you mean this..

Bruce,

After cleaning the mess, I would replace No. 1, 2, 17 & 18 and hopefully the leak didn't lower the fluid level too much to damage the pump in the long run

[Bruce Wayne]

You and me both !!

I'll hopefully have the rack out this week if time allows as i have to pick up my Range Rover classic from a full body respray this week, so that's hurt the finances a bit hence why the polybush thought is going on the back burner.

[Bruce Wayne]

So finally got back to the boxster having been putting the RR Classic back together following its glass out back to bare repaint and decided that as I've dropped the rack out.. While I'm there might as well see to the bushes... so new arms.. and if I'm doing that might as well do the rears too. Noticed a few other untidy things.. corrosion on the manifold to cat bolts. . Heat shields looking a bit corroded up.. funny how these things go.. now I'm trying to talk myself out of a set of bilstiens all round.. If this carries on it'll end up as a restoration.. oh now there's a thought. ....

Sent from my SM-G900F

[woodsman]

[QUOTE=Bruce Wayne;431984 While I'm there might as well see to the bushes... so new arms.. and if I'm doing that might as well do the rears too. Noticed a few other untidy things.. corrosion on the manifold to cat bolts. . Heat shields looking a bit corroded up.. funny how these things go.. now I'm trying to talk myself out of a set of bilstiens all round.. If this carries on it'll end up as a restoration.. oh now there's a thought. ....

Sent from my SM-G900F[/QUOTE]

well yes, since it's off the road for winter and it's already on jack stands and the tools are all handy...and if you're going to do something you might as well do it well....