Rack and pinion removal help is needed.

[DoOver]

Hello, my rack and pinion started leaking, so I bought a new one. I've got my old R & P almost out but I'm stuck. It looks like I have to take apart the front cross member. The trouble is that the lower A arm is attached to the cross member. Does anyone here have any experience with this? I want to know if I'm doing this right. Thanks. Brian

 

[BrooklynBay]

Remove the two nuts holding the bolts going through the rack & pinion.

 

[DoOver]

Did that. The R & P needs to slide out one side or the other but the steering wheel stub prevents it from fitting. So it means I need to take apart the take-apart cross member the anchors the front end to the van. I'm just checking if this is true or if there is a better way.
Brian

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you remove the universal shaft that connects the steering column to the rack & pinion?

 

[DoOver]

Pretty big job. took longer than I expected. Of course the first thing I did was remove the bolt from the steering shaft at the universal. This bolt has no nut. Then there is two hydraulic lines, one from the pump and one to the oil cooler. These are all reached from the engine compartment.
Next is the front end. You need to block the van real well as you are going to be removing the front cross member as well as taking the bolts out of both lower control arms. This would be a great time to replace front springs and shocks.
Now the R&P is exposed remove the two bolts holding it in and drive out side ways the two spacers wedging the R & P in. Remove the two tie rod end nuts and viola! the old R & P is out.
I bought two new tie rod end, but you need to remove the old tie rod ends to salvage the jam nuts. I counted the turns to take off the old tie rod ends. One was 16 turns and on was 21 turns. My steering wheel was always a little off and this was why. So when I installed the new tie rod ends on my new Rack and Pinion I screwed them on 19 turns. I will still need to have the van aligned. The R & P came with two teflon rings to replace the teflon on the two hydraulic lines.
Thats how to replace a rack and pinion on a 1995 AWD AeroStar.
Brian

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update!