[Vwdiesel] steering rack r&r

[Shawn Wright]

Ouch! I'm glad I haven't had to do this one yet. I guess the good part is the
oem tie rods seems to last forever, so it's likely not a common repair -
mine were still fine after 480k km. (85 Jetta w/o P/S).

On 27 Apr 2003 at 7:21, Nate Wall wrote:

> 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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Shawn Wright
http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
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