So you guys are dealing with a dumb@$$ here. Someone fill be in on where this bugger goes? Thanks.





The rack is pretty much completely disassembled at this point. Hopefully one of you geniuses can reply so I can get it back together with Rodney's parts tomorrow before I have to head out to work . Thanks!

Passenger side. You have to remove the rack from the housing. You are almost there

BTW, the snap ring is sometimes a bear to get out.

[This message has been edited by topher_time (edited 06-14-2011).]

I am glad I am not the only dummy here. I too was scratching my head about where the bushings go... . Step by step pics would be great if anyone has them.

These are for the 84-87 racks... I can post the same instructions for th 88 rack if anyone needs them:

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 06-14-2011).]

the bushing is for the rack, on the passenger side. the rack itself needs to come out, and you'll need some long nosed snap ring pliers.

another fun thing to do, after you get the old bushing out, and before the new one goes in: adding some grease zircs to the steering rack. one on the pinion housing, to grease the pinion & pinion pre-load, and one near the bushing, to grease the bushing.

Thanks Bloozeberry, can you please post the 88 instructions? I can't find it in my manual

much appreciated

didnt your bushing come with them same instructions??
when I got mine from Rodney a few years ago, it did.

- Got the snap ring out- the one retaining the pinion anyway, I don't own any snap ring pliers, so I just took a set of needle nose from a hobby set that I have so that the tips fit right into the holes. I pulled the ring out of the groove and used assorted flat heads to pry out/ slide the ring out. Got it out with minimal deformation, so that was a WIN haha. So theres another snap ring I'll have to deal with?

- I actually tried removing the rack, I was in a rush cause I had to leave for work- it seemed to get hung up at the end when pulling it out, maybe theres some specific slot it needs to go through to come out? During my rush, while stowing my tools away- my 260pc Crapsmen toolbox decided to let all 3 drawers go and I spent the next 25 mins looking for sockets and organizing them

- cam-a-lot: Theres only 1 bushing though right?

- As for adding grease fittings, I don't really know how the hell to go about that. I would have to drill and tap the rack right? I don't see why its necessary, the factory racks didn't have fittings?

As far as instructions, I have my service manual and Rodney included the same pages that are in my manual, however the bushing part was still unclear to me. Ahhhh its step 9, how the hell did I overlook that haha. Wow. Ah well, at least cam-a-lot has some benefit from this thread.

For nitro: You're doing it right but there may be rust or a burr on the driver's end of the rack that's preventing it from going through the pasenger end bushing.

For cam-a-lot: here are the instructions for the '88. They're mostly the same but one important difference is the distance the rack must be inserted when installing the pinion in step 5:

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 06-14-2011).]

This rack is fighting me every step of the way .

It appears to me that the rack and housing aren't 100% straight, the teeth were eating into the stock bushing- I had to twist it out with a wrench. The bushing in there is metal, I thought it was supposed to be plastic??? I don't see how the hell I'm supposed to get Rodney's bushing in without scoring the hell out of it, also the bushing thats in there now doesn't want to come out. Is there any trick to getting it out? I got a hold of it with some pliers but its not going anywhere...

About to throw this thing out on the street so it gets run over lol.

My 88 steering rack had a metal bushing in it, here is how I got it out https://www.fiero.nl/forum/F...HTML/116547.html#p10

Just took a VERY long drill shaft that fit through the rack perfectly yet was too large for the bushing. Stood the rack vertically, held a piece of 1.5" thick oak on top of the rack, and whacked the hell out of it with a 10lb sledge- it didn't move a millimeter. I think the next step is to torch the housing, or try to cut into that bushing to split it somehow.

Son of a b@$*%... Should have just bought a reman rack, then again it wouldn't have been the GT quick ratio rack. If I can't do this one, I'm just going to buy an F body rack and convert it to power .

[This message has been edited by nitroheadz28 (edited 06-14-2011).]

quote Originally posted by nitroheadz28: The bushing in there is metal, I thought it was supposed to be plastic???

I'm pretty sure this is right: 84-87 bushing is aluminum. Early 88 bushing is steel. Most of 88 bushings are plastic.

Yaaay come back from work and no suggestions on how to get it out.. Looks like I'll have to get creative and go at that sucker with a drill bit and hope I get rid of enough material to have it break apart. Only a Fiero would make me want to curse this much

[This message has been edited by nitroheadz28 (edited 06-15-2011).]

So you got the rack out, and now you're trying to get the bushing out? Did you remove the snap ring?

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 06-15-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: So you got the rack out, and now you're trying to get the bushing out? Did you remove the snap ring?

You're being funny right?

Of course I did lol. It just seems like it was pressed in there with a 20 ton press.

yes, I remember having trouble popping out the bushing too. if I remember right, I used the rack itself to tap it out. I think part of the problem is it gets jammed into the snap-ring groove, and gets itself stuck. make sure it stays square.

quote Originally posted by Pyrthian: yes, I remember having trouble popping out the bushing too. if I remember right, I used the rack itself to tap it out. I think part of the problem is it gets jammed into the snap-ring groove, and gets itself stuck. make sure it stays square.

It didn't even get to the groove, it wouldn't budge from it's spot. Not sure if I have drill bits long enough to get in the rack and make that bushing swiss cheese, I don't have a torch to heat up the housing with- just my oven lol.

quote Originally posted by Pyrthian: yes, I remember having trouble popping out the bushing too. if I remember right, I used the rack itself to tap it out. I think part of the problem is it gets jammed into the snap-ring groove, and gets itself stuck. make sure it stays square.

Lmao! I juuuust spent 10 hours removing, disassembling, rebuilding with ALL new tie rods and a new bushing from Rodney, and reinstalling my rack. It sucked. And just like you I had that bushing stuck in there and it absolutely refused to come out. What I did was stand the rack housing on end, passenger side down. I dropped a steel washer into the housing that was small enough to fit, but to big to fit past the bushing. I then used the rack itself to smash the bushing out. Looked like I was churning butter, but more violent with more swearing. I went through 2 washers as the first one got bent so much it fell through the bushing. Cling clang, the bushing fell out and I took a 15 minute break to drink an ice cold mountain dew. (It was 100 degrees out) 2 Notes though. A) I recommend using something OTHER than the rack for the smashing, as you don't want to damage it and it was pretty violent. B)Rodney makes Top notch products at a great price! The tie rods and bushing were all Rodney.

Additional note. Save yourself hours of frustration down the road. THE POSITION OF THE PINION GEAR IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE ORIENTATION OF YOUR STEERING WHEEL!!!! I accidentally put my gear 180 degrees-ish rotated wrong and I ended up driving around with my wheel upside down (Which blocked my speedo AND tach.) and wasted $80 on an alignment before I realized the mistake I made. The steering wheel and steering column shaft can only be put on one way but the pinion gear can be installed (I believe) 6 ways. Get it wrong and your only option is to start all over and pull the rack just to guess and try again. Took me 3 hours extra just to correct that mistake. You have been warned!!!!!

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TRSX

The Zombiero - "Thrice resurrected"

1985 GT, 4 Speed Muncie, 3.4PR V6, 15" Lace GT wheels, Power everything, sunroof, Red with gray effects. Driven and enjoyed daily.

Thanks shadow. What I think I'll do this time is lay down wood on concrete, stand the rack on that wood- and ram the drill rod through the rack. The thing that worries me is the drill scoring up the inside of the rack housing. I can't really mash it with a sledge cause its such a small rod.

Ehh. Thanks for the tip about the pinion alignment.

You wont have any problems with pinion alignment if you follow the instructions I posted above. As for the bushing, rather than use drill bits which can score as you suggested, I went to the hardware store and bought a 4' long steel rod that was perhaps 1/2" diameter (maybe $10). I then slid it into the driver's end and used it like a long punch and worked my way around the circumference of the bushing with a series of hammer blows. I wouldn't use the rack itself because you will mushroom the ends and potentially cause youself problems when you go to screw in the inner tie rods. Definitely do not use a torch to heat up the rack tube unless you know what you're doing. It's made of aluminum and will instantly melt just like solder when you hit the right temperature... this is easy to do accidentally with a torch.

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: You wont have any problems with pinion alignment if you follow the instructions I posted above.

Yup... Lol! I noticed that after the fact. I actually have those instructions on paper too. They came with Rodney's bushing. Luckily, I managed to get it sorted. But nevertheless, an important thing to get right and yes, follow the instructions!

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TRSX

The Zombiero - "Thrice resurrected"

1985 GT, 4 Speed Muncie, 3.4PR V6, 15" Lace GT wheels, Power everything, sunroof, Red with gray effects. Driven and enjoyed daily.

You should try a slide hammer (10 lb) to remove the bushing.