Rack and Pinion
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 769
Likes: 22
From: California
FL Events Coordinator
St. Jude Donor'13
Rack and Pinion
I am reaplcing the rack and pinion in my 1989 standard corvette. I was wondering about how long it takes to remove the old leaky one and put in the new (remanufactured) one and be driving again. I am very mechanically inclined and know how to do it, I was just wondering what a good time frame most people do it in is. Mainly so I know when my best day to do it is.
Racer
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 409
Likes: 2
From: Toronto Ontario
I did mine few years ago at the time I didn't have too much experience. There's allot of stuff has to come off and most just takes experience or else takes longer. When you finally get everything off the racks a little tricky getting out, almost like it doesn't have enough room to but eventually does. I don't think this is a just a day, maybe a weekend, In my case when I had everything off I sandblasted and painted parts like the sway bar and brackets, also added grease nipples to the sway bar brackets. It took me better part of 2 weekends after all was said and done.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 769
Likes: 22
From: California
FL Events Coordinator
St. Jude Donor'13
I did mine few years ago at the time I didn't have too much experience. There's allot of stuff has to come off and most just takes experience or else takes longer. When you finally get everything off the racks a little tricky getting out, almost like it doesn't have enough room to but eventually does. I don't think this is a just a day, maybe a weekend, In my case when I had everything off I sandblasted and painted parts like the sway bar and brackets, also added grease nipples to the sway bar brackets. It took me better part of 2 weekends after all was said and done.
Pro
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 506
Likes: 12
From: Savannah GA
JS
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,141
Likes: 76
From: Santa Maria, CA
The sway bar needs to come out. Get a shorty 18mm open end wrench to remove the hoses. It's a bitch but should not take more than a couple hours and some choice swear words to get out.
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 3,953
Likes: 550
From: Mission Viejo CA
When I replaced my rack, I didn't remove my sway bar. I just removed the four sway bar mounting bolts, the pushed the bar out of the way. By rotating the rack to sneak it out, I was able to swap racks in about 4 hours. (That's assuming you don't do it 383vette's way!)
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,882
Likes: 234
From: Bangkok, Thailand
Take your time and it will be a half-day project with fewer skinned knuckles and less swearing. While you're doing all that work, go ahead and replace the lines and pump so that you have a "clean" system.
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 769
Likes: 22
From: California
FL Events Coordinator
St. Jude Donor'13
My pump is still good, I took it apart and cleaned it all up. I also replaced all the lines with newer better ones. In all, it took me 5 hours to remove it all and put it back in while taking my time. Just finished about an hour ago. I got the rack from ecklers and so far I am happy with how it drives.