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Steering Rack Swap


fender2082

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'95 cutty supreme... i know the rack's on the firewall... how hard is it to replace? mine leaks out the seals and i'm getting sick of topping it off. Anybody do this and take pictures? (prolly wishful thinking)

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I am doing mine at the moment for the same reasons . I took it out this afternoon ,forgot to take pictures. Any way it goes better if you can lower the cradel like they say to do in the book. In my case I could not undo the cradel bolt. the bolt did not want to loosen and I was affraid of breaking them. It came out but it was very thigh. Hopefully it will go back in the same way tomorrow.

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Thanks a ton... As soon as I find one I'm taking a shot at throwing it in there and then I'm selling the car (can't unload it with good conscience with the leak).

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Just one piece of advice. If you loosen the rear subframe bolts to get a little more wrench room, just go ahead and pull them completely, with the subframe supported by a jack. Clean the bolts thoroughly, and use a good threadlocker on them when you re-assemble it.

 

Bad things happen when the bolts loosen and work their way out lol voice of experience.

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If I didn't know better I'd say you were telling me you lost the front of your car while driving... YOUCH! I can't imagine running over part of your own car would be a good thing...

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If I didn't know better I'd say you were telling me you lost the front of your car while driving... YOUCH! I can't imagine running over part of your own car would be a good thing...

 

Well, I didn't lose the subframe, but the rear bolts came out, and dropped the rear of the subframe enough to disconnect the steering shaft from the input shaft on the rack. Disconcerting stuff, when you're about to make a u-turn, and you turn the wheel, only to realize it's turning like it's on ball bearings, and the car's still going straight.

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Wow dude, that's one for the books. Yeah, if I don't unload the car in the next week and a half I'm going to fix the damn thing. Good to know I don't have to tear the whole front end apart... it doesn't need anything else up there to make the labor worth it.

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If I didn't know better I'd say you were telling me you lost the front of your car while driving... YOUCH! I can't imagine running over part of your own car would be a good thing...

 

Well, I didn't lose the subframe, but the rear bolts came out, and dropped the rear of the subframe enough to disconnect the steering shaft from the input shaft on the rack. Disconcerting stuff, when you're about to make a u-turn, and you turn the wheel, only to realize it's turning like it's on ball bearings, and the car's still going straight.

 

Did you hit anything?

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If I didn't know better I'd say you were telling me you lost the front of your car while driving... YOUCH! I can't imagine running over part of your own car would be a good thing...

 

Well, I didn't lose the subframe, but the rear bolts came out, and dropped the rear of the subframe enough to disconnect the steering shaft from the input shaft on the rack. Disconcerting stuff, when you're about to make a u-turn, and you turn the wheel, only to realize it's turning like it's on ball bearings, and the car's still going straight.

 

Did you hit anything?

 

No, luckily I wasn't on a heavily traveled road. When it disconnected, the car was perpendicular to the travel on the lane I was trying to u-turn into, I just let it roll off the road at a 90 deg angle. I'm very lucky I was only doing 5-10 mph. i still shudder to think what would have happened if I'd been going at a good clip, somewhere else, on a different road, in a curve...*shudder*

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If I didn't know better I'd say you were telling me you lost the front of your car while driving... YOUCH! I can't imagine running over part of your own car would be a good thing...

 

Well, I didn't lose the subframe, but the rear bolts came out, and dropped the rear of the subframe enough to disconnect the steering shaft from the input shaft on the rack. Disconcerting stuff, when you're about to make a u-turn, and you turn the wheel, only to realize it's turning like it's on ball bearings, and the car's still going straight.

 

Did you hit anything?

 

No, luckily I wasn't on a heavily traveled road. When it disconnected, the car was perpendicular to the travel on the lane I was trying to u-turn into, I just let it roll off the road at a 90 deg angle. I'm very lucky I was only doing 5-10 mph. i still shudder to think what would have happened if I'd been going at a good clip, somewhere else, on a different road, in a curve...*shudder*

 

My subframe fell at a gas pump. Just the previous week, I drove up to Michigan to my first W-Body meet. Let's just say I felt lucky.

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