I know that Turn One is the go-to for the steering rack rebuilds on C5's. I know that the steering rack is supposedly a "non-serviceable" part, as you cannot buy single parts or seals from any local parts store or rockauto. I know that my local power-steering shop doesn't mess with them.

I was putzing around on ebay looking at things and found this rebuild kit for a C5 steering rack. The company does have a website that you can order from directly, but it doesn't have a whole lot of detail about the kit. When we were repairing mine, my brother, who is a mechanic by trade, took the whole junction box with the magnasteer apart and gave everything a good clean and reassembled it. I put some stop-leak in the system to make the seals swell a little bit to compensate for their age, but that's it. It seems to be working well. Had I found this kit beforehand, I think we would have tried to replace the seals instead of just re-assembling. But we were of the mindset of "if we can't fix it, it has to be replaced anyways, so we might as well open it up and see where it failed".

I'm curious to know if anyone has tried to rebuild it on their own using this or any other rebuild kit?

Link to eBay Listing for Rebuild Kit

 

Bumping this up.
Anybody rebuild their own C5 rack, perhaps with the seal kit OP linked to? https://www.ebay.com/itm/222636724336
Looks like they ship from Irvine, CA (very local to me).

My Z06's rack leaked into the driver-side boot (haven't checked pass. side yet). Thinking that I could have a quick turnaround if I'm able to DIY rebuild, and save some money in the process.

As OP mentioned, Turn One would be ideal. Their current turnaround time is 4-5 weeks (not including shipping) or 2 weeks for an extra $150 rush fee. They don't stock cores or rebuilt racks.

EDIT: screw it, I watched a few generic power steering rack rebuild videos on Youtube and now I'm an "expert". So I bought the ebay kit and will give it a shot.

 

Please keep us updated.

 

There you go man! Take lots of pics! You might just create the best “sticky” thread of the decade!

To make one recommendation from when we took mine apart, do what my brother did to mine and “machine” a groove for the o-ring to sit on the magnasteer control wire plug. It’s been in the car for a few thousand miles and over a year without a leak.

pic for reference:

 

Will do!

So did you end up rebuilding your steering rack? This sounds like a great tip and I'd be thrilled if you have more tips to share.

 

My brother (an actual mechanic) took it apart to see if he could figure out if there were any glaring issues. It was leaking anyways and I had already resigned to buying another one, so we gave it a go. He said that he did this to the O-ring is just held in with the pressure of that collar, so he decided to put that groove in so that the o-ring has a place to sit. Other than that, he didn't say much other than it involved a lot of swearing and fiddling to get things apart without destroying them in the process because we didn't buy the rebuild kit. I also think he said he had to take some of the seals up to the parts store and rummaged through various seals until he found something that matched what he took out. I don't have a list or pictures of the ones he did, though. That's what happens when the car was on my brother's lift that's 100 miles from my house. I could only go down and work on it on the weekends with him.

 

That was a really quick shipping timeframe. The seal kit arrived yesterday, just a day after ordering it from ebay. Looks pretty complete considering I didn't anticipate it would include new boot clamps, retaining rings, etc.
I had the rack out 2 years ago (harmonic balancer replacement) but will work on getting the rack out soon after brushing up on the process to do so. Also currently in the midst of integrating an angle kit so it might be another couple days. Link to that project: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1604932548

 

Disassembly has begun... I've scoured the internet for relevant rack rebuild DIYs for other platforms (big confidence booster!), for example this BMW E30 rack rebuild DIY. I have been taking lots of pictures and hope you guys don't mind me dumping photos here. These should all be chronological, and will help keep me organized for the eventual goal of a more formal C5 power steering rack rebuild DIY.




























And this last one... is where I'm currently "stuck". The lock nut for the preload adjustment is about 1-3/4" hex. As shown the adjustable pliers weren't enough to break it free. EDIT: Actually, after re-watching some disassembly videos, I noticed that the guys doing the work would just take a flat head screwdriver and align it with one of the edges, and hit the screwdriver with a hammer to loosen the nut. This ended up working for me!

 

Once again, a thread with great detail and information for the community. Subscribing.

While they are apparently sold at Wal-Mart, I keyed in on the Sunex flare crows foot as being a superior option for the fittings on these PS lines. The Z06 is happy and clean. The 99 after a decade of ownership and about 3 (?) times removing the rack... one of them I had the socket begin to round it off. I got it back on, but the next time the car needs to come apart I need to change the line and fitting. Long story short - that piece looks like the wiser bet.

 

Wow! Good job! Really looking forward to the outcome of this. Hopefully all the seals match up well and this works out as a viable option. I have 2 friends that need racks rebuilt. This would certainly save some cost and time vs sending out.

 

Thanks guys.

My current obstacle: installing the teflon scraper rings onto the pinion shaft. This BMW E30 rack rebuild DIY goes over it pretty well: https://classicbimmerbits.com/e30-ho...-rack-rebuild/

However in my current case, there was no way to really get the teflon rings started without feeling like I was going to damage them.

Cue more research: this video was pretty useful: They show some thin flat tool to seemingly manhandle the teflon rings into place; this causes the teflon rings to expand. Then they use a cylindrical tool with a tapered end to force the rings back down to a smaller diameter so they fit the grooves well.

Well, I wound up designing and 3D-printing a teflon ring guide tool (which I sanded smooth before sliding on the rings). This worked well! In the 2nd picture the ring is pushed up against the tool, which really highlights how much the rings have to expand in order to slide on.






Now I'm at the point where the rings need to be compressed back down to size... in the last picture you can see how stretched out they are.
Taking some measurements, I believe that the 38mm tool shown in the video above would be the right size for this application:
https://servicems.eu/repair-of-power...ing-racks.html
However, I don't think it's realistic for me to acquire that tool in a reasonable timeframe (looks like a European company). I could potentially make one at work except I won't be back in until Monday. So right now the current plan is to attempt 3D printing one. If that proves unsuccessful then I'll just try machining one.

 

I wonder if you could use the housing itself to compress the rings. It might (wishful thinking) have an ever-so-slight taper like the tool that would set the rings instead of having to pre-set them like those German racks.

 

You know, @MetalMan2, yours would be a respected and watched channel if you were to put one on YouTube with your various projects and steps in development. We've got two self-agrandized channels which make me itch but represent the C5 community due to a lack of strong content.

If you tackled ebcm rebuilds you'd become C5 Yoda or something!

I'd subscribe.

 

The same thought crossed my mind. However, I don't think we could be that lucky. From what I can see, the magnasteer actuator in the rack body would have to provide that compression and I think that's unlikely.
BTW, speaking of magnasteer actuator, does your brother have any tips for removing it from the rack body? I've tried tugging on it a little from the underside inverted teeth but it's not budging.

Ha, I appreciate the thought. Back in the day I made a bunch of videos for fun just screwing around with friends. These days I don't really have time to get into doing videos, unfortunately. In general I'm already on borrowed time just tackling the projects ​​​​​​​

 

Well, the taper tool to shrink the scraper rings did end up working to shrink them smaller. I didn't photograph them in a shrunken state so you'll just have to take my word for it.



A little bit later it dawned on me that the magnasteer actuator does, in fact, have a taper to it. I tried to highlight that fact in this next picture. So in theory it ought to help with shrinking (or at least seating) the scraper rings.



Now for the part I am displeased to share. In a later step I was test-fitting the pinion shaft to ensure the lower seal I had just installed was fully seated.
The pinion shaft wasn't ready to be fully installed yet (I hadn't put the rack rod back in) so I took it back out... and was horrified to see the picture below.



I'm assuming the scraper rings were insufficiently compressed. Also, I inserted the pinion shaft dry / without lubrication because I don't yet have PS fluid (it's on order).
So now what?!? Order another $75+tax ebay rebuild kit just for the scraper rings? Hopefully not... after some research I learned that some other GM cars like 2000s-era Buick LeSabre had magnasteer as an option. This lead me to look at PS rack rebuild kits for those cars... and they look VERY similar to the C5 rack rebuild kit. So I ordered Edelmann 8786 from RockAuto for a whopping $18 shipped. Going to measure the scraper rings from that kit and see if they match. Fingers crossed!

Will also re-print the taper tool with a smaller diameter to put more shrink on the rings.

 

Continuing on with disassembly and rebuild:






Then I set aside the freshly cleaned and prepared rod.

Moving on to further disassembly of the rack body:

Popping out the pinion end bearing with a socket and series of extensions through the pinion body:


Next was getting out the lower pinion seal. This gave me a ton of hassle until I figured out a better method for removal (I'll spare you details of the wrong ways I tried):




Next up was the middle rack rod seal. Used the largest-fitting socket and a bunch of extensions. Of course my dad is borrowing my 12" long 3/8" drive extension right now... But this seal gets pushed out toward the left.


And at this point I spent a lot of time cleaning the rack body inside and out because all of the important bits were removed.

The central rack rod shaft seal is pushed in from the left side with a large socket and extensions. It actually just slips through most of the way, and then it is an interference fit right at the middle of the rack body where it seats. FYI it goes just barely past the right-most nipple in the picture:


Red/orange plastic lower pinion support bushing goes in:


This is my custom tool for driving in the lower pinion shaft seal. The blue tape made the socket a fairly snug fit inside the diameter where the teflon scraper rings normally reside. This way the seal could be driven down nicely.



And the installed seal:


Then I thoroughly greased up the (previously-cleaned) lower pinion support bearing. Started it gently with a hammer to seat it and ensure it would go in straight:


And drove it home the rest of the way with an appropriately-sized socket and hammer:


(the rebuild kit includes a new bearing retaining ring)


And this last picture was me using the old pinion end nut to tighten the pinion shaft into place (to make sure the lower seal was fully seated). FYI the rebuild kit includes a new nut.

 

Excellent pictures. Mine has a small dead spot in it, so hopefully doing this alleviates the problem.

 

Couple quick notes as I'm awaiting parts:

• I updated a prior post with regards to an alternative kit that hopefully will have the correct-size blue teflon scraper rings. The other kit I ordered had the wrong size (no surprise).
• After reaching out to the ebay seller where I bought the original PS rack rebuild kit and inquiring if they could sell me only the scraper rings, they offered to just send them to me. Very generous of them, and fingers crossed that pans out.
• I haven't been successful with liberating the Magnasteer actuator in the rack body. It looks like it can be gripped at the under side of the actuator (there are small cutouts that could fit a tool). But I don't really have an appropriate tool and also don't know how much force would need to be applied.
  • It's conceivable I could design & 3D print a custom tool, but I don't know if removing the Magnasteer actuator is that important to me. Maybe I'll just do it for fun...

 

I did ask my brother how he got the magnasteer out and he said "carefully scraped off all of the epoxy until the unit comes out of the rack". I know that's not super helpful, but he didn't mention anything about the "fingers" holding them. That's when he made a groove in the wire protrusion to hold the o-ring.

Here's a pic of the unit outside of the rack if it helps visualize what's behind it at all. (Also demonstrates the o-ring groove he added)

 

That's the pic that led me to believe it comes out by pulling from the little grooves on the inner diameter
But with this extra information you kindly shared, which I think is quite helpful, it looks like the epoxy you mentioned is as I highlighted with red arrows below.
Do you by chance know if he added similar epoxy after reassembly?