90 Stanza Rack & Pinion replacement question...

[tinaslynn]

Was going to put this baby in the shop and let a 'professional' do this... but due to my hard head and 'fix it' attitude, I'm considering doing this myself (other than the professional front end alignment).Curious tho on if this is a job better left to someone with 'really big tools' or possible to do on my own. I'm no professional, but I know my car inside and out and have been a 'shade tree' mechanic for many years (military trained as a vehicle mechanic). How difficult of a job is it, if anyone here has had the joyous opportunity to undertake this previously, and is there anything in particular I need to know prior to jumping in over my head?

Any tips/tricks/constructive critisism are welcome

(dont be afraid to speak the truth)

Thank you and have a nice day Tina

[NISTECH]

Its very tight but it slides out through the opening in the wheel well where the tie rod goes through. There are 4 or 5 17mm bolts holding it to the car. there is a 12mm bolt holding the input shaft to the coloum.[ need to pull boot up or down to get to it] there is a hard line need a 14mm line wrench to break it loose without stripping it. there is a hose with an 8 or 10mm head clamp screw. You have 2 19mm castle nuts that hold the outer tie rod to the spindle.

To remove the tie rods from the spindle. remove the cotter pin and castle nut. place a pry bar between the tie rod and spindle. while prying the tie rod hit the spindle where it surround the tie rod joint. this should jar it loose and it will pop out be preparred to catch your self or place the castle nut on by a couple threads. When removing the input shaft bolt make sure the steering wheel is straight ahead and the key is out of the ignition so it will lock the steering in place and not rotate. mark center on the rack.

For extraction you will slide it down off the coloum joint, move the rack toward the opening [prefferably the one on the passenger side] then you will need to angle and rotate the whole rack to get it to fit through the opening, this is the trickiest part of it. Be paitent and logical about your angles when moving it around.

The easy way to get it out is to remove the trans...lol. It practacly falls out with the trans out.

[tinaslynn]

Thanks so much for the input! I know about the spindles, been there done that.. just wanted to get a heads up on what I'm looking at... thanks for mentioning how it will come out from under the car.. that was my main concern... I'm gonna give it a shot... should prove to be an interesting challenge Thank you thank you!

Oh and I'll pass on the transmission removal lol... you know its always like taking a toy out of the package.. you never can get it back in the way it was...

Thanks again!T

[tinaslynn]

One more question.. anyone know what size the axle nut itself is? I know its pretty big at around 1-1/2, but more than likely metric... I can't remember what size it was last time I took them off and had to borrow someones impact/socket to get it off with.... Thanks...

[NISTECH]

36mm or 32mm. But you dont need to remove the axles to get the rack out. So I am assuming your doing something else too?

[tinaslynn]

Thanks.. wasnt sure of size and not much of a way to check other than load up sockets and guess lol (and they arent cheap lol)

Yea, I'm gonna replace the rotors and brakes while I'm in there and check for noise in the front end while moving... making an awful grinding rotating sound most prominent at lower speeds... (not the brakes as it makes same noise when brakes applied).

Thanks again for your help,T