[Vwdiesel] steering rack r&r

[Nate Wall]

I did this once when (A2 Jetta)when I replaced the tie
rods. It took ALL weekend, and hopefully never again!
The problem is that you can not get to the inner tie
rod TWO-SIDED lock nut flats to loosen them with the
rack in the car. The other problem is that the rack
WILL NOT clear the car (stays "caged in") with the tie
rods on. So what the hell do you do? I removed
everything from the rack--Shifter bracket/coupler,
steering u-joint, and the "U" brackets (just unscrew
the nuts/bolts) and popped the tie rod ends from the
knuckles. I then removed the RF tire and slid the rack
as far to the right as possible. This allowed it to
stick far enough out of the wheel area to get to its
lock nut. I removed that tie rod COUNTING THE NUMBER
OF TURNS it took to release. WRITE THE NUMBER DOWN.
The rack then cleared the car. Remove other tie rod
(count turns again), on a vice. CENTER the rack per
Bently instructions. Measure the lengths of the old
tie rods. Set the new lengths the same. Assemble one
tie rod end with boot. (Turn the tie rod "on" the same
# of turns needed to remove). May want to grease the
rack w/ wheel beqaring grease (is this the correct
lube?). Put  the rack under the car, slide to one
side, install other tie rod, & boot etc. Before you
re-install the rack, check the condision of that big
boot on the firewall that covers the steering coupler.
Its about a $28 special order from VW. Mine was
trashed. Its a bitch to get on too! Then the rest is
pretty much the rerversal ov removal. But it took a
couple hours to get the second tie rod bood to seat on
its recess on the rack. Go get the toe set.

How in the hell do they do this in the shop w/ out
pulling the rack? Any ideas Loren?
Good luck!

--Nate
--- Dennis Pantazis <dennis at pantazis.org> wrote:
> greetins all:
>
> i am throwing in the towel, well actually all the
> dirty greezy rags, on
> trying to get the tie rods off with everything on
> the car.
>
> i am thinking its in my best interest to pull the
> rack of the car. shift
> linkage is already off the car. how bad is it. seems
> like 4 bolts and
> popping the uni joint on the steering.
>
> any hidden gotchas on doing this?
>
> bently shows the bolts going through the lower
> frame.
> are these bolts through bolts or are they welded to
> the frame?
>
> thanks in advance
>
> dennis
>
>
>
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