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Great write-up! My wife took her i30 for an alignment and they told her the rack is no good. She does have a creaking/popping noise when turning the wheel to the right (i believe). I thought it was the lower CA on that side and swapped both out this past weekend and told her to get it aligned lol The inner tie-rod on that side is torn (i'm lazy, i know). There is no play in the inner one. Is there a way to check if the rack is, indeed, bad? I did top off her ps fluid a few times since we got it in 2010, so it might be losing the fluid, though there were never any spots under the car. P.S. how is the rack holding up, kevlo?
coolio. I'm going to have her drop by our mechanic friend to check the rack and make sure it is, indeed, kaput tomorrow, then drop the dime on it. It did look wet around the knuckle when i looked at it tonight, but no leaks.
What did you mean by this phrase:
It comes with new inner tie rods and new o-rings.
What o-rings?
Also, the last part about removing the rack from the spindle joint. Does the wheel have to be locked and centered for the rack to be removed and put back on correctly? When you said you had to bang on the joint, did you mean bang on the bottom part of the rack to connect with the steering column?
Finished the job this Sunday. Definitely make sure you have the time and patience going into this. I sure was about to say **** it a few times.
First, my impact wasn't able to take off the engine mounts bolts (even after some intense pb blaster sessions), so I had to get creative with the manual tools I had. Exhaust bolts gave me some grief as well, but those are easy (the rear ones), after you remove the crossmember. Definitely buy new hardware if the old stuff is junk.
Sway bar was a cake to remove. Just like kevlo said, straight thru the passenger's side.
Removing the rack was rather straight-forward. Make sure you remove the driver side tie-rod prior to pulling the rack or it won't come out. Slide the rack towards the pass side, then out the middle, just like kevlo said.
Got to make sure you center the steering wheel when removing the old one, so it remains centered. Use the belt to keep it centered.
Before putting the new rackon, make sure it is centered, or you'll have to re-do almost everything again. Most remans should come in centered. However, if you are not sure, grab a pair of wise grips and gently rotate the pinion shaft (make sure not to scar it too much) all the way to one side. Once fully stopped, rotate it all the way to the other side and count the turns (mark the pinion shaft and housing with a marker), then divide that number in half and turn the pinion shaft this number of turns back. The rack will then be centered.
It will be somewhat of a pain to fit the new pinion shaft into the lower joint. Get creative, but don't damage the rack, banging the pinion shaft into the joint. Not sure how kevlo did this, as it's not clear how he was able to bang on top of the joint with a torque wrench, let a lone a breaker bar, as there isn't much room there at all, unless you start removing stuff from above. Oh, and watch for that dust boot that covers the joint. Don't twist the rubber under the joint, it's not fun trying to undo that.
Once it's in, put the bolt through the joint and re-assemble everything. Def. a good idea to replace the rack bushings, sway bar bushings (be careful with cheap rockauto stuff, as the ones i got - beck and arley - were too small in diameter to fit), tie-rod ends, engine mounts, and sway bar end links.
I do have a question to people that did this. I've noticed the high pressure p/s line did not have an o-ring when i removed it from the old rack. I've noticed tonight that the car had a small wet spot directly underneath the rack, and wondered if it's because of the lack of this o-ring? FSM mentions both lines having o-rings.
I'm thinking of replacing my steering rack to correct looseness in the steering that has gotten progressively worse.
I had the control arms replaced a year or so ago with ebay ones I picked up as part of a kit, but my mechanic did not install the inner and outer tie rod ends that came with the kit. The steering seemed tighter for a little while but it's looseness has returned and I wonder whether the steering rack needs to be swapped out to get it back to normal again. The car is aligned well as it does not pull to either side, it's just that there is free play when driving at highway speeds and that bothers me and feels somewhat unsafe.
I don't have any power tools and don't have a lift or jacks besides the one that came with the car so I don't think I'll try this myself.
This needs to be added to the sticky write up. Can this be done Kevlo? I was spending hours searching for this exact tip.
Originally Posted by 99zx2
Finished the job this Sunday. Definitely make sure you have the time and patience going into this. I sure was about to say **** it a few times.
First, my impact wasn't able to take off the engine mounts bolts (even after some intense pb blaster sessions), so I had to get creative with the manual tools I had. Exhaust bolts gave me some grief as well, but those are easy (the rear ones), after you remove the crossmember. Definitely buy new hardware if the old stuff is junk.
Sway bar was a cake to remove. Just like kevlo said, straight thru the passenger's side.
Removing the rack was rather straight-forward. Make sure you remove the driver side tie-rod prior to pulling the rack or it won't come out. Slide the rack towards the pass side, then out the middle, just like kevlo said.
Got to make sure you center the steering wheel when removing the old one, so it remains centered. Use the belt to keep it centered.
Before putting the new rackon, make sure it is centered, or you'll have to re-do almost everything again. Most remans should come in centered. However, if you are not sure, grab a pair of wise grips and gently rotate the pinion shaft (make sure not to scar it too much) all the way to one side. Once fully stopped, rotate it all the way to the other side and count the turns (mark the pinion shaft and housing with a marker), then divide that number in half and turn the pinion shaft this number of turns back. The rack will then be centered.
It will be somewhat of a pain to fit the new pinion shaft into the lower joint. Get creative, but don't damage the rack, banging the pinion shaft into the joint. Not sure how kevlo did this, as it's not clear how he was able to bang on top of the joint with a torque wrench, let a lone a breaker bar, as there isn't much room there at all, unless you start removing stuff from above. Oh, and watch for that dust boot that covers the joint. Don't twist the rubber under the joint, it's not fun trying to undo that.
Once it's in, put the bolt through the joint and re-assemble everything. Def. a good idea to replace the rack bushings, sway bar bushings (be careful with cheap rockauto stuff, as the ones i got - beck and arley - were too small in diameter to fit), tie-rod ends, engine mounts, and sway bar end links.
I do have a question to people that did this. I've noticed the high pressure p/s line did not have an o-ring when i removed it from the old rack. I've noticed tonight that the car had a small wet spot directly underneath the rack, and wondered if it's because of the lack of this o-ring? FSM mentions both lines having o-rings.
Many thanks to Kevlo and many others for these posts. I just completed this job on my 95 Maxima. It may have been the hard way, but I did not have to remove the engine crossmember and the exhaust Y-pipe. Maybe I'm stubborn, but removing the Y-pipe on my Max with 226K miles looked to me like a recipe for trouble, so I managed to R&R the rack without removing either. Full disclosure: I did remove the sway bar and the suspension lower control arms, because I essentially replaced/rebuilt the old loose front suspension components (new lower control arms with integral ball joints and bushings, new sway bar bushings, new struts, plus the steering rack, of course). Parts total about $1,000 (the AC Delco replacement rack was about $250 of that; also replace the two main rack rubber mount bushings; I bought Moog). Be sure to replace any O-rings for hydraulic lines that have them if you remove or dislodge the lines; those came with the rack from AC Delco).
If you're just doing the rack (without all those other suspension pieces at the same time), I think you can get away with removing only the sway bar. I rotated the sway bar and extracted it from the passenger side, but you have to loosen or remove the exhaust heat shield forward of the rack to get clearance for removing the sway bar. The rack itself came out the driver side. I had to remove 1) the 4 main mount bolts into the firewall (not difficult), 2) the neoprene boot between the rack and the firewall (several 6 mm bolts with 10 mm hex heads), 3) the yoke inside the boot (remove from both the rack input shaft and the steering column lower end--two 8 mm pinch bolts, which have 12 mm hex heads), 4) the outer tie rod ends (of course, bought new ones), 5) the large rubber hydraulic return hose and the steel pressure line next to it on the top of the rack,and, 6) the aforementioned exhaust heat shield (three 6 mm bolts). A couple of tricks: you pretty much have to remove the round plastic evap canister above this area to get to things (or at least remove the lower hose and cram it up out of the way).
To get the rack to rotate counterclockwise (viewed from the driver's side) sufficiently to allow the input shaft to clear the fender well cutout while you're sliding the whole thing out, you HAVE to loosen the steel line and flange nut going into the rack on the far right end (passenger side) of the rack and have someone bend it out of the way while guiding the rack toward the driver side (and vice versa for reinstall of the new rack). And you have to remove the yoke from the input shaft or the rack won't come out. And whatever you do, follow the advice in the FSM and these posts and be sure to center the steering wheel and tie it in place before starting this whole process. Rotating the steering wheel too far either way without the rack attached messes up something with an air bag cable, so I took pains to be sure the wheel was secured before I began any of this and that the new rack itself was centered before installed it. The steering wheel was pretty well centered when I was done, although I will still have an alignment to get the toe-in correct.
This job took me MANY hours, so it's not for the faint of heart, or those without wobble sockets, or those who don't have a couple of weekends to devote to it. Keep in mind that I haven't turned wrenches for a living in many years (read: I'm slow), but it's done and now my wife's old Max (she keeps it pristine) is good to go for many more miles and years, plus she's safe now that the front end is no longer loosey goosey. Sorry this is repetitious and lengthy, but thanks to all for the many helpful posts above.
It's a self bleeding system. Just turn the wheel left to right about 100x times(less ) and keep filling to the COLD FULL level.
BTW I used Mobil1 ATF full synthetic. 1qt will be enough.
I have a question about this. I just finished my install and now trying to bleed out the system but I've been turning the steering left and right for a while now and the ps fluid level hasn't changed dropped a bit. Do I need to do this with the engine idling? I don't want to risk running the pump dry and having to replace that. I what to do this correctly that's why I'm asking.
Fill up the reservoir up to the hot full line with engine off first.
Start engine and check level in reservoir. Level will drop down. Refill to cold full level and turn steering wheel left and right. Refill as necessary.
∆
Yes the engine has to be running for the PS pump to operate and bleed out the air. I raise my front end on jack stands while turning the front wheels.
but I recently paid a shop to do this, after buying the rack and accompanying parts myself (quality new or remans). They couldn’t remove the subframe, because the frame attaching the bolts has been progressively rusting, and they were telling me that removing would likely ruin the mounting.
So they did have to do the slide out part. I ended up having to pay nearly DOUBLE the original quote, which ended up being just over $600. I stopped by the shop after they got it in, so I was atleast able to see what they were showing me. I wasn’t annoyed so much about the double price, but just the whole thing in general.
it just pisses me off when, you go to get some work done (or even DIY) and there’s some defect which derails the whole job. This could have gone very badly. Either I could have not had enough to fix it, or they could have told me they couldn’t fix it, or the whole **** could have fell Thru. Who knows. The GXE was in the shop for a whole week. I think auto manufacturers need to be held accountable (as in, reimburse us or do it themselves lol), if a repair requires way more work than it should (like my Q45 starter, the 2nd time I took it to Infiniti and said, Y’ALL fix it!) lol. And the auto parts store reimbursed the labor.
But that’s also why a couple or so years ago, I made the decision to always have 2 cars. Both my cars are 97/98 so they are old and both have spent their time in the shop for DAYS on end sometimes. And if I don’t have transportation, I can’t get to work (I do gigs/private events and there’s been no decent public transit the last 3 addresses I’ve had), which means I can’t pay the mechanic. Which means: a potential harrowing situation, and I’ve had it happen twice (last year I was 1,200 miles out of town, so my 2nd car couldn’t even help me lol). I had to beg and plead with the mechanic to let me go half because I had already dumped $300+ into a crappy motel next door, and needed to get to work ASAP because I was running out of money.
Not to get off tangent any further, but that’s why I’m like the whole stimulus check thing was a true, true blessing. It almost grieves me that it’s waited this long to do them. I’ve finally been able to get both of my vehicles in almost perfect working order. And the state I live in requires inspections, and I’ve failed one due to the rack and pinion.
I like cars, but sometimes it’s just a money pit and headache. I once spent a week in Boston without a car, and honestly...I didn’t even miss it. Except when I almost left my wallet on the bus, or like the weather in Seattle... always raining lol.
That said, since the fix... the steering has felt like never before. Like, how it probably felt in 1997 😆
I hear ya man, I wouldn't even attempt this, I heard its a pain in the *** to do.. I didn't know my rack was leaking till recently and I would always see the lower control arm wet but thought it was the power steering pump and return hose. replaced those and still wet around same area, after getting under the car I saw the torn rack boot and fluid leaking. Im sure that's probably been leaking for quite a long while.. I've owned my 97 since new so the rack has gotten its use haha.
I was quoted around $900 with parts included to do the work and ill happily pay that. I have Vbands on my exhaust and Ypipe so if they need to move that it will be easy for them. I did the outer tie rods and sway end links last year so this will be good as new now.. finally won't have any fluids leaking from this car after this.
Bringing this thread back from the dead, would rather do so rather than make my own. Maybe this might be useful to someone down the line. I'm getting ready to swap my leaking steering rack from a 95 Maxima and will be installing the 99 steering rack,
Does anyone know if the return hose from the 95 rack is the same as the 99 rack?
Looking at RockAuto, the shape of the hoses are different. Can I just use regular 3/8" hose?
95 Maxima - Part Number {#4972531U10, 53725SE0951, 53732SD4954)
99 Maxima - Part Number {#4972531U10, 53725SE0951, 53732SD4954)
Bringing this thread back from the dead, would rather do so rather than make my own. Maybe this might be useful to someone down the line. I'm getting ready to swap my leaking steering rack from a 95 Maxima and will be installing the 99 steering rack,
Does anyone know if the return hose from the 95 rack is the same as the 99 rack?
Looking at RockAuto, the shape of the hoses are different. Can I just use regular 3/8" hose?
95 Maxima - Part Number {#4972531U10, 53725SE0951, 53732SD4954)
99 Maxima - Part Number {#4972531U10, 53725SE0951, 53732SD4954)
I believe the different rack is only in 97-99 SE models, not all 97-99 models. I can't answer your question directly without seeing the picture, but just be sure that if you have to replace any rubber hose that it's rated for ATF, which is what our PS fluid is. Most hoses are not rated for ATF and will fail if used in that application. FYI, fuel hose is not rated for ATF.
I got a 99 se and it appear to be spray painted even over the pinion gear..I'm just afraid if any seal was sprayed with black paint it would make the seal go bad.
Hoping someone knows the answer to this. I started replacing my steering rack last week and have the new rack in already, however, I am having trouble getting the high pressure line back into the rack. I bought a new o-ring ( 49745-01E00 ) and was able to place the high pressure line back into its intended place, but as i was tightening the line, i noticed the threads did not go all the way through into the port. I would say its about 3/4 in. Is this how it is normally supposed to be? If i leave it as is, will it leak? Really wish i took a picture before i removed everything. The pic below shows which line i am referring to (pic is from first post on thread). FYI i own a 95 and installed a 99 rack
01-29-2013, 12:14 PM
) and keep filling to the COLD FULL level.
