[200q20v] PS hose: installation update

[Phil Rose]

It's finished! Er, I mean: it's completed. :0)

Installation of my new PS high-pressure hose was every bit as difficult and
tedious as was removal of the old one. I don't think I'd have been able to
thread the new banjo bolt into the rack without the beautifully slender
hand and long fingers of my very brave, cooperative, talented, patient and
lovely spouse. Without the 20 or 30 minutes that Judy spent (last evening)
tediously spinning the bolt with her fingertips, I'd probably _still_ be
out there trying to do it tonight. She was able to get thumb and forefinger
on the bolt head, which was something I absolutely could not manage to do.

Once she got the bolt started into the rack (I had already tried
unsuccessfully for almost two hours) it was only a matter of time--at a
rate of about 1/16th turn per minute--before I got it fully threaded. As it
became snug I was able to get a short, open-end wrench on the bolt head,
and then the problem became:  how to apply 35 lbs of tightening torque on a
bolt that can't be reached by a torque wrench (or, for that matter, by any
socket wrench)?

The solution was to use the same 42" cheater extension that had so nicely
worked for loosening the bolt. This time, the black-iron pipe was rigged so
that I could suspend a 1-gallon jug of water from the end. I calculated
that an effective force of about 35 lbs (torque) would be created by
hanging approx. 11 lbs from the end of the lever arm (42" extension held
initially at an angle of about 45 degrees from horizontal). The heavy pipe
itself supplied 2 lbs of force while the jug of water added about another
8.5 lbs.The weight caused the cheater arm to move about 10 or 15 degrees
before it stopped. I estimate the final tightening torque was between 30
and 35 lbs. Close enough.

The rest of the job was uneventful. That is--until I realized my spare
litre of Pentosin 11S actually contained only about 3/4 litre. But by then,
the Audi gods were smiling, because that amount was precisely what I needed
to refill the nearly-empty reservoir. I raised the front wheels off the
floor (jackstands) and worked the steering wheel from lock-to-lock,
checking for any change in fluid level. Then it was finally time for a
spin. There appear to be no (new) leaks, and the power steering is as quiet
as ever.

Phil R.

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*  Phil & Judy Rose           Rochester, NY  *
*        mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net       *
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