How to: Rack & Pinion Removal | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

How to: Rack & Pinion Removal

ExplorerDMB

Moderator/Technician
Moderator Emeritus
Joined
January 26, 2004
Messages
6,113
Reaction score
22
City, State
Mechanicsville, Virginia
Year, Model & Trim Level
2004 Acura TL
Racks!! :D



62572424


Special Service Tool Required:
Pitman Arm Puller


-Start engine.
-ROTATE steering wheel from lock-to-lock (entire gear travel). Record number of rotations.
-DIVIDE the number of rotations by two . This gives the required number of turns to place system in the on-center position. NOTE: Verify the front wheels and steering wheel are in the straight-ahead position.
-From the lock position, ROTATE steering wheel the number of turns determined in Step 3. This places the gear in the ON-CENTER position.

62572429


NOTE: DO NOT ROTATE steering column when the intermediate shaft is disconnected or DAMAGE TO CLOCKSPRING will result.


-Remove bolt retaining the lower steering column shaft to the steering gear input shaft.
-Disconnect the lower steering column shaft from the steering gear.
-Remove stabilizer bar attachment from frame for clearance to remove gear.


62572430


-Unscrew the quick connect fittings for the power steering pressure hose and power steering return hoses at the steering gear housing.
-Plug ends of fluid lines removed and ports in gear to prevent damage and entry of dirt.
-Remove two (2) nuts from the Power Steering cooler.
-Remove the Power Steering cooler from vehicle.
-Remove and discard the cotter pin retaining the nut to tie rod end and remove nut.

62575645


-Separate tie rod ends from front wheel spindle using Pitman Arm Puller.
-Remove the two nuts, bolts, and washer assemblies retaining steering gear to front crossmember.


62572431


-Remove steering gear from vehicle. If required, remove steering gear mounting bracket housing insulators and steering gear insulators from steering gear housing.


That should do it! The above information was recieved from Alldata. Just reverse for installation!


-Drew

logo-alldata.gif
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Great job. These instructions make it sound so easy. :D

Mine was fun! :p
 






bump

I have only expierenced one Explorer having the "rough steering" as many people have. Who has it and did a new R&P fix it?

-Drew
 






ok I followed the directions, everything is disconected. but I can not get the rack out of the truck. What am I missing?
 






found what i was missing. This http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124961 in 911 helped. I also wanted to add that you need to turn the steering gear so that the passanger side is all the way in (power steering fluid goes everywhere if you are not carefull. Then fish the passanger side throught the frame with the steering gear pointing downward then pull the driver side out the front and pull it the rest of the way out.

After pulling the tie rods off this was possable.

Thanks for the best explorer knowledge base on the web. :thumbsup:
 






ExplorerDMB said:
I have only expierenced one Explorer having the "rough steering" as many people have. Who has it and did a new R&P fix it?

-Drew

I will be doing this as soon as money allows. I have a rough shudder/shake when turning at low speeds and it also shudders when I turn my wheels when at a stop. Just need to get the funds to do this. It's not easy when my little baby girl is due any day now.
 






Removed my rack last night. It was a major effort trying to wrestle it out. I did not remove tie rod end, only unscrewed them from inner tie rods on both sides. That was enough. It took me 4 hour after that trying to wrestle the rack out. I did it, but I an sore today:) Ford manual makes it sound so much easier than it is.
 






On mine it looks like you should remove the sway bar and pull it out from the front.
 






Rack

Hi All,

I just pulled the rack out of my '95 explorer. I want to thank those who posted their experience. Made my job easier.

kz
 






once the rack is removed throw it out and start riping out the rest of the front suspension and SAS it.

lol
 






pictures missing

Are the pictures missing from this post? or is it my browser playing silly buggers?
 






Yep just the dreaded small boxes with x's in them
 






By by sway bar brackets
59A3E884-orig.jpg

Then tie rod ends
7F45450A-orig.jpg

Driver side inner
2792E788-orig.jpg

Lines, intermediate shaft, and cooler
95747508-orig.jpg

Flip rack upside down and pull
5D9A496B-orig.jpg

Took me and a friend 3 1/2hrs to swap the rack and pump. Also want to point out the lines are designed to move once tightened down. Don't panic. Its right
 






First thanks for info i need help what size nut are the bolts under front crossmember can't find the size
 






I have a 2003 Explorer 6 cyl. I had a rusted out, leaking power steering hose. Try getting it out of the rack and pinion after 13 years. Impossible. I removed the rack and pinion after I cut the lines. To get the rack and pinion out, I asked a neighbor who has a shop. His tech computer (he gets screen shots and instructions, step by step, on how to do different jobs; I think it is a proprietary system he pays monthly for) said to take it out via the driver side after removing tie rods *AND* unbolting and lowering the driver side differential. It came out easily but before that I spent about five hours trying to figure out what to do before asking. Stupid, I guess. I have a new differential, and it installed easily. Hoses went back in with the o-rings and bolt-down clip. Put the front end back together. Took it to get an alignment and all is well. Ugly business having to change out the differential to get the replacement ps hose into it. I got the differential for $125, rebuilt,and the hose for $39. I thought I would share this because the way I see it, some of the posts for 99's and so forth just do not show how with the 2003 Explorer. I never would have figured it out until the neighbor clued me in. All this just to have the car running to trade it in or sell it privately. Damn.
 






Forgot...with the old differential out I tried to pry off the bolted plate holding the hoses inside the differential. I of course took the bolt out and I pried some of it off but not the bottom part. It seems corroded on. Without the plate coming off, no hose can be removed and a new one reinstalled. I am not a mechanic...just a dad with a wife, house, kids, and bills. I try to make things work. Work like this will age a man.
 






FYI, here is my experience today. Just want to say thanks to everyone that posted info here. I feel like it sped up the process a lot for me.

The main mount bolts / nuts on the rack are 15/16th.

I didn't end up removing the outer tie rod ends, or the driver side tire. I just unscrewed the inner tie rod from the outer while the wheel was suspended so there was no pressure leaving the inner tie rods on the rack. (Swapped them out for HD ones later).

I did end up having to remove the passenger side tire to get the rack out. It didn't really give me much of a hard time though.

Rack removal:

Move the rack towards the passengers side until the passenger side mount of the rack is just to the right of the lower A arm mount bolt in the frame hole. From this position, you can forcefully rotate the rack towards the front of the truck until the rack is faced down (pressure line inputs facing the ground). From here, you can continue to push the rack towards the passengers side (removed tire) quite a ways until the drivers side inner tie rod end clears the frame. I then was able to pull the drivers side of the rack out the front of the frame moving the rack back towards the drivers side to fully remove it. Do the opposite to install the new rack. The entire process took about 10 minutes. 2001 Ford Explorer Sport 4.0L.

Cheers!
 






Back
Top