1g AWD Power Steering Rack Removal/Install

[laserspeeddemon]

Well, my last run at the Nürburgring put in the bump stops at about 80 MPH. Needless to say my suspension was not happy about it. I did some extensive damage to include bending an inner tie rod. This tech article is an instruction on how to remove the power steering rack from a 1g AWD (and could be a guide for FWD).

Things you will need are a tie rod/ball joint separator, a hammer, a wrench set up 10mm to 17mm, pliers, and a ratchet set with sockets up to 19mm.

[laserspeeddemon]

I'm going to assume that A) You know how to open the hood and B) You know how to properly raise and support a vehicle and remove the tire. So with that said. Get under the hood. Located behind the engine near the firewall is the steering rack assembly. The first thing you need to do is remove the intermediate shaft pinch blot. This hold the steering column to the steering rack. This is a 12mm bolt (circled in red), that can be removed by a ratchet and 12mm socket.

Make sure you have a drain pan under the steering rack below the steering column. Because, next you will be removing the power steering lines. The power steering return line (yellow arrow) needs to be removed first and can be removed by moving the clamp back on to the line with a pair of pliers and removing the hose by hand. The power steering feed line (green circle) is held in by a 17mm line nut. Loosen the line nut with a 17mm Wrench and pull the line out of the steering rack. Be careful not to get dirt/debris into the lines. If you can cap them some how.

[laserspeeddemon]

Next we will go into the tire wells. To remove the tie rod end from the steering knuckle. Remove the cotter pin (red arrow) that holds the nut for the tie rod end with a pair of pliers. And then remove the 14mm tie rod end retaining nut (red circle).

[laserspeeddemon]

No comes the fun part, where you get to pound on your car. Using a pitch fork style, tie-rod end/ball joint separator, wedge the fork above the tie-rod end, below the steering knuckle so that the tie rod end pivot bolt is between the fork (as shown). With a hammer pound on it until the tie-rod end breaks free of the steering knuckle.

[laserspeeddemon]

Do the same to the passenger side.

[laserspeeddemon]

Now we need to take a quick break. I've been informed that I removed unnecessary parts off of the car. I was told that none of the under carriage cross members, transfer case, down pipe, etc. needed to be removed.

I don't care. I've seen people struggle to remove a part, spinning and wiggling the part to get it out, when the could have removed the items blocking the part in 3 minutes. They will spend an extra 30, 40, 60, 90, etc. minutes trying to do it thier way. I removed everything that will would cause me a head ache down the line. And it all came off in about 5-10 minutes. If I had power tools, I would have done in about 3-5 minutes. I like to clear up my workspace so I cans see what I working with. And you will sit it in the pictures.

So the next few steps you can opt out of. But I suggest taking the extra time as it will save time later.

[laserspeeddemon]

Remove the passenger side cross member and gusset. The gusset is held to the frame of the car with 5, 14mm bolts (circled in red) with a ratchet and 14mm socket and remove the passenger side gusset. Remove the rear passenger side cross member nuts (circled in yellow). These are 14mm nuts and can be removed with a ratchet and 14mm socket, as well.

[laserspeeddemon]

Remove the front, passenger side cross member bolts. These are 17mm Bolts (circled in yellow) and can be removed with a ratchet and 17mm socket. Be careful removing these bolts. The cross member is not light and doesn't feel good when it whacks you in the head.

Remove the passenger side cross member.

[laserspeeddemon]

Remove the rear, drive side cross member bolts. These are 14mm bolts (circled in red) and can be removed with a ratchet and 14mm socket.

[laserspeeddemon]

Remove the front, drive side cross member bolts. These are 17mm bolts (circled in red) and can be removed with a ratchet and 17mm socket. Again make sure you support the cross member when you take off these off as the cross member will fall when remove the lost bolt. Remove the driver side cross member.

[laserspeeddemon]

Remove the down pipe. Depending on your after market exhaust pieces, the size of the bolts can vary. I have shown a typical 2 bolt downpipe flange for DSMs. Remove the O2 housing-downpipe bolts. Remove the downpipe-cat/test pipe bolt. Remove the Down pipe. These are typically 14mm on the cat.and 17mm or 19mm nuts (circled in blue).

Note: Due to the postion of the down pipe, it was hard to get a picture of the bolts/nuts with the downpipe on. The pictures below are shown with the downpipe already removed and is just a reference to thier postion/location.

[laserspeeddemon]

Next, remove the transfer case by removing the 5 bolts (circled in green). Be aware that this is 1 bolt hidden on top of the 90 models (green arrow), the 91-94 models have all 5 bolts fairly visible. The transfer case bolts are 14mm bolts and can be removed with a 14mm socket and ratchet, it will require some muscle as these are pretty tight. Remove the transfer case with the yoke side slightly elevated. This will keep most of the fluid in the transfer case. Some fluide will come out of the yoke onf the drive shaft this is normal. You can also inspect the condition of the transfer case by the fluid. The fluid should be clear with a brownish/tan tint. If it could out silver in anyway, damage has occured to the bearings and the transfer case should be replaced or rebuilt.

[laserspeeddemon]

Remove the sway bar brackets by removing the sway bar bracket bolt. These are 14mm bolts (circled in red) and can be removed on with a 14mm socket and ratchet. There is only one bolt per bracket with one bracket on each side of the car (drive side and passenger side shown). This will give the sway bar enough room to get to the foward bolts of the power steering bracket bolts (next step).

[laserspeeddemon]

Finally brace the power steering rack. Remove the power steering rack bracket bolts. These are 17mm bracket bolts (circled in red) and can be removed with a 17mm socket and ratchet. Remove both power steering brackets.

[laserspeeddemon]

Push the power steering bracket as far as you can to towards the passenger side. The boot of the power steering inner tie rod should go out as far to the brake rotor.

[laserspeeddemon]

With the power steering ract pushed toward the passenger side. Lower the drive side tie rod and pull the steering rack towards you from under the car. This is the step that took me less then 1 minute. Instead of trying to wiggle it from behind the cross members, downpipe, transfer case, etc.