I have underway a harmonic balancer replacement and all was well until I got to the steering rack removal. Everything out of the way, all bolts and lines removed, tie rods out.

The rack was loose and could be moved up by hand on the drivers side. I was working on prying the passenger side up when it suddenly moved up but twisted back towards the engine. Now it seems to be stuck/wedged tight and I can't seam to get it loose.

Any suggestions? Thanks, Mark

Drivers side



Passenger side

 

Some don't do it, but I had to lower the cradle on mine to get the rack to slide out.

 

Put a pry bar in there and muscle it a little, itll come out.

 

I can't see if you removed the power steering pump and alternator yet. If you've already disconnected the steering input shaft from the steering rack gearbox, then get a pry bar under that passenger side mount and pry it up. Some are just a booger bear.

 

Power steering pump and alternator are out. Steering input shaft slid right out and I have bungy cords holding my steering wheel centered.

The only thing I have not done is loosen or lowered the cradle. Is this something that will help? I noticed that the drivers side is tight up against the frame, but the passenger side still has an inch or better of space left.

 

If you lift the passenger side, will the driver's side pivot down from its frame contact? Careful prying, a few have broke the cradle fanges doing that.

 

That's what I am afraid of doing. I stopped for today, I sure don't want to brake the ears off the cradle. It's wedged tight. I have a 3 feet long pry bar and it is tight.

What is involved with loosening the cradle? Will or could that help? Mark

 

You just loosen the bolts that hold the cradle on each side to get it to drop a bit.

 

oh yea, make sure you put some jack stands under the engine so you don't drop that any. No need to flex the driveline.

You could just put it all back together, jackstand the motor and drop the cradle with the rack on it, no worries then.

 

Good that you stopped to take stock of the situation and ask for input. My guess is that you've used too much force trying to pry the rack straight up. The driver side cleared the flanges just as you ran out of vertical clearance at the pinion casting causing the rack to wedge in torsion. They don't like to come out that way.

Considering the situation you are in I'd try to get the rack rotated back to normal, then drop it back in between the flanges on both sides as if you were reinstalling it. That should relieve the stress on the flanges and may be safer than trying to go further with that twisting problem.

Once you have the rack in the original location push the rack toward the driver side of the car (not up!). I discovered the best way to accomplish this is by tapping on the end of a broom handle from the passenger side wheel well. (Note: Don't push or pull on the tie rods or let the rack gear move inside it's housing!!! That is just as bad as moving the steering wheel with it disconnected. You lose your center reference.) The other end of the handle should be in between the flanges of the subframe and dead center on the welded boss that the passenger side rack mounting bolt goes in. Gently tap the broom handle with a hammer until the entire rack clears the flanges at both mounting points simultaneously. Now the rack will be free to move around so you can pull it through the passenger side and out of the way of the balancer. You still won't be able to remove the rack entirely from the car because the diameter of the pinion casting is too bulky to slip between the rail and subframe but it will be far enough out of the way to get your balancer replaced.

Be careful. If there is no possible way to get the rack unwedged and back between the flanges your going to have to lower the subframe a little bit so you can straighten that twist. I haven't lowered my subframe before so I can't help you there.

 

Thanks Mike for the response.

I already tried to put a pipe wrench on it from the front and it would not rotate back at all.

I have the car on 4 jack stands now and I think I will need to do more research on ways to get it freed up. I not sure what is involved with the cradle lowering, so I will research that a little more.

Anyone else with any guidance, will be appreciated. Mark

 

Since the car is up, support the motor, remove the 4 bolts holding the cradle up, remove the bolts for the motor mounts and lower the cradle bit by bit watching the lines to make sure you don't stretch them too far. This should give you enough room to do the balancer and get the rack back in position.

HTH

Chris

 

I remember when I did my balancer, I considered lowering the subframe but couldn't see a good place to put the stands to support the car or to support the engine. Anybody have a good suggestion for jackstand placement?

(Mark, I know you got bigger worries at the moment but I noticed in one of your photo's the hydraulic lines are still attached to the rack. Once you get the rack back in place between the flanges those need to be disconnected with an 18mm flare nut wrench before trying to remove the rack.)

 

I didn't have to lower the cradle. I just softly pryed it up till it cleared and then a little to the passenger side then rolled it forward to get the head of the rack towards the front of the car. There should not be anything holding the rack down. You do have the column unbolted? Do you have the bracket for the ABS removed?

 

Column is unbolted, ABS bracket is out.

 

(Mark, I know you got bigger worries at the moment but I noticed in one of your photo's the hydraulic lines are still attached to the rack. Once you get the rack back in place between the flanges those need to be disconnected with an 18mm flare nut wrench before trying to remove the rack.)


Mike, I thought those 2 lines would come out with the rack since they are attached to the rack head. I can remove them, no problem. Mark

 

When I did mine, I had the jack stands supporting the car under the cross member.
What I did was loosen the front nut on the drivers side for the cross member and use a long prybar to basically lift the body up. I stuck something like a screw driver or a socket in there so the pry bar wasn't hanging out there in my way.

It sure was a pain to get out, but once the cross member and body were separated that small amount, it went a lot easier. I think I separated them by 1/2" to 3/4". You don't need a huge space.

You have the steering wheel held to center, but make sure when you hook it all back up, the wheels are straight. When I did mine, I pushed on the one of the tie rod ends and moved them out of center. It was no big deal. I just made sure the wheels were straight before connecting the steering shaft back up.

 

I removed mine with those metal lines still connected FWIW.

 

After some research and thought, I am thinking of moving my jack stands from the pics below, to all 4 side locations with pucks. This would free up my front rack and allow me to just loosen the 4 rack bolts and get some clearance in the jammed area on the drivers side steering rack.

What do you think?


This is how the jack stands are now.

 

Oops, my bad. In your first photo I only saw the flare nuts and thought they were the lines going to the power steering pump and cooler. Sorry for the false alarm, you're good.