Difficulty replacing the steering rack ?

David Neibert

SCCoA Admin
I seem to have sprung a leak on the steering rack of my 91 SC, and fluid is leaking from the driver's side whenever I make a sharp turn. From what I'm reading on this and other sites, if it is a seal on the rack and not a hose, the entire rack will need to be replaced and then the allignment will need to be redone.

Looks like a major pain in the azz to get the hoses off and I'm wondering just how difficult of a job this is ? This is the kind of crap I don't like doing, but I'm not entirely comfortable letting the average shop touch my car either.

David
 
My brother is a mechanic and has done it on his SC. He says it is a real bear to replace because the area where the hoses connect to the rack are in a very confined space. He says thats the only hard part is getting the hoses reconnected but actually removing and installing the rack assembly itself is pretty easy.
 
David,

I just replaced the rack on one of my SC's last fall. If I had to do it over again, I would definitely remove the alt/ps bracket & IC tubes in order to access the fittings from above. It's extremely difficult to get the lines threaded back into the steering rack (without stripping them of course). There's just no room to work - I have surgeon's (read: small) hands too. :rolleyes:

I think it's probably more frustrating that doing motor mounts from underneath the car even.
 
The best way to do it, from what I've heard in the past is with a lift, and a jack that allows you to lower the subframe while holding the engine/trans up. Then unbolt the rack and bolt the new one on.

any other way you'll be cussing.
 
The best way to do it, from what I've heard in the past is with a lift, and a jack that allows you to lower the subframe while holding the engine/trans up. Then unbolt the rack and bolt the new one on.

any other way you'll be cussing.

Well, you could probably lift the car with jackstands, undo the motor mount bolts and jack the engine up. Just another possibility.
 
The best way to do it, from what I've heard in the past is with a lift, and a jack that allows you to lower the subframe while holding the engine/trans up. Then unbolt the rack and bolt the new one on.

any other way you'll be cussing.

+1

It's the only decent way.
 
Thanks for all the input.

The Ford dealer that my company buys all our vehicles from, quoted me something like $850 for installing a new rack, tie rod ends and doing an alignment. Since I don’t have a lift, the proper tools or any desire to mess with this….I’ll be taking it to the dealer as soon as I confirm that’s where the leak is coming from.

David
 
Has anyone tried from the engine bay? Just wondering how bad it is in case I ever have to do it again. If it's as bad as underneath the car.....then I don't know. :rolleyes::( Unfortunately, a lift will not be an option for me for at least a good while either.
 
I did mine, it only took a few hours and was pretty easy to do.....:eek:

But I already had the engine out.....:p
 
The best way to do it, from what I've heard in the past is with a lift, and a jack that allows you to lower the subframe while holding the engine/trans up. Then unbolt the rack and bolt the new one on.

any other way you'll be cussing.

David,
This is the only way to do it. It is quite a bit of work and requires a lift, but can be accomplished in about 4-5 hours...I would be very leary of letting even a Ford dealer touch the car. These cars have been out of production for many years now. Not that they cant handle it, just that the guy that gets it may not want to. And end up hacking your car up. There were only two of us out of about 35 Tech's that would even touch a SC back when they were still IN production at my dealer...I'd definitely ask for a seasoned technician and even ask to speak to him prior....
The rack will come with inner tie rods. Make sure to replace the outers and make sure they replace the teflon o-ring's on the High and Low lines at the rack fittings.
 
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One other point for others, as Dave may have done this already, but if you're gonna pull the rack, and you ever thought about upgrading the front sway bar, now is the time to do that as well as the engine needs to be out of the way for easy access to the front sway bar as well.
 
David,
This is the only way to do it. It is quite a bit of work and requires a lift, but can be accomplished in about 4-5 hours...I would be very leary of letting even a Ford dealer touch the car. These cars have been out of production for many years now. Not that they cant handle it, just that the guy that gets it may not want to. And end up hacking your car up. There were only two of us out of about 35 Tech's that would even touch a SC back when they were still IN production at my dealer...I'd definitely ask for a seasoned technician and even ask to speak to him prior....
The rack will come with inner tie rods. Make sure to replace the outers and make sure they replace the teflon o-ring's on the High and Low lines at the rack fittings.

The service manager, the sales manager and even the owner of the dealership are all aware that if anything bad were to happen to this particular car, it will likely result in our company moving all our company vehicle and light truck business to another Ford dealer.

In the past I've had this car in their shop for replacement of one of the front shocks and a few other things. I've also had the 93 SC in there for some minor stuff. Now, every time I'm in there with my Expedition for service they ask about the tbirds. These guys are all aware that it's highly modded and requires some special attention, so I don't think there will be any problem. They are also under strict orders that only the service manager is allowed to test drive the car.

The only other shop I trust to work on the car, is already busy doing some more custom stuff to my 93 SC.

David

PS: Thanks for the heads up on the outer tie rods and teflon seals...I'll make sure they know to do that.
 
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The service manager, the sales manager and even the owner of the dealership are all aware that if anything bad were to happen to this particular car, it will likely result in our company moving all our company vehicle and light truck business to another Ford dealer.

In the past I've had this car in their shop for replacement of one of the front shocks and a few other things. I've also had the 93 SC in there for some minor stuff. Now, every time I'm in there with my Expedition for service they ask about the tbirds. These guys are all aware that it's highly modded and requires some special attention, so I don't think there will be any problem. They are also under strict orders that only the service manager is allowed to test drive the car.

The only other shop I trust to work on the car, is already busy doing some more custom stuff to my 93 SC.

David
Sounds like you have it covered then...and they take care of you. Good to hear...And are you still planning on bringing the Turbo car to the Shootout this year? I want to see it...
 
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Sounds like you have it covered then...and they take care of you. Good to hear...And are you still planning on bringing the Turbo car to the Shootout this year? I want to see it...

Jacked up the car and found that it was in fact the steering rack thats leaking, the drivers side boot was full of fluid. Must have caught it right away because it was only about half a cup low on fluid.

Not sure which car I'm bringing...may depend on how quick it is with the new blower.

David
 
David,
This is the only way to do it. It is quite a bit of work and requires a lift, but can be accomplished in about 4-5 hours...I would be very leary of letting even a Ford dealer touch the car. These cars have been out of production for many years now. Not that they cant handle it, just that the guy that gets it may not want to. And end up hacking your car up. There were only two of us out of about 35 Tech's that would even touch a SC back when they were still IN production at my dealer...I'd definitely ask for a seasoned technician and even ask to speak to him prior....
The rack will come with inner tie rods. Make sure to replace the outers and make sure they replace the teflon o-ring's on the High and Low lines at the rack fittings.

has any one done this by supporting the engine from the top with a board & strap around the crank pulley? The car is on a lift but it looks like a jack would be in the way and not sure where to lift, oil pan?

THNX!!!!
 
don't put any more stress on the crank than it already has

my 92 just started leaking from the rack too, except mine was leaking on the passenger side, i drove her up on ramps and then jacked the whole car about 3 ft off the ground, went inside took a bath and set the alarm for 6am the next morning, woke up did my dues then got busy. Removed both front tires, unbolted the tie rods and knocked them out the spindle, I pulled out the engine hoist and removed both the 13mm bolts from the motor mounts, removed the 13mm bolt on the steering shaft, removed both the 18mm teflon locked bolts from the upper control arms, and removed all 6 of the retainer 13mm bolts from underneath the arc cover over the shocks, then unbolted the 8x 9/16 multipoint bolts from the sub frame, had to unbolt a few 8mm bolts that retained some misc wiring and hoses. jacked the engine up just enough so it wasn't stressing anything and lowered the jack that was holding the front sub frame up, didn't lower it all the way the brake lines were still connected but just enough to unbolt the rack disconnect the lines and pull it out, slapped the new autozone replacement in that came with new bushings :D and reversed the order of disassembly replacing the outer tie rods in the process

by noon i was done and even managed to squeeze in an oil change

i got the rack from autozone for something like $180 with core
new outer tie rods for like $50
and actual clear p/s fluid for $10

i did a home alignment using alignment plates a level and a measuring tape, not for the faint of heart
 
has any one done this by supporting the engine from the top with a board & strap around the crank pulley? The car is on a lift but it looks like a jack would be in the way and not sure where to lift, oil pan?

THNX!!!!

Chains around the exhaust manifolds is the usual way. Definitely don't put anything on the crank pulley.
 
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