Hey,

I removed it to put in RD's bushing, put on new bellows, grease one of the inner tie rods and, unexpectedly, replace both outer tie rods. Now I'm trying to re-install it and I can't get the pinion shaft to go back through rack.

I have the instructions that RD gives w/ his bushing however there isn't much by way of reinstalling the pinion shaft. It has some pics but I'm kinda exactly what is required. Seems that I might have to get both ends of the rack even and there is a spot where the pinion shaft should slide right in, correct?

I even went as far as to remove the pinion shaft and linkage from the steering wheel and took it (as well as the steering rack back) out the car to see if I could get a feel for how to do re-install and I was going to mount them back in, mimicking what I did when they were out and STILL couldn't get it to work.

I know I'm doing something wrong.

I believe you have your terminology mixed up so some clarification is needed. The pinion shaft is item number 1 in the illustration below. The rack is item 2. I suspect you're having trouble installing the rack into the housing, correct? Also, what year car is this for... '84-'87 or '88. The assembly instructions differ slightly.

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: I believe you have your terminology mixed up ...

I had the same reaction. If the problem is that the rack shaft won't fit back through the new bushing, I suggest the following:

My experience is that the ends of the Fiero rack shaft can get mushroomed slightly with age. Why? I have no idea, other than it may happen when the inner tie rods are attached, or it may happen over time as the rod ends get pounded millions of times in normal service. Anyway, I have found that if you carefully file a small chamfer on the right (bushing) end of the rack shaft, all the way around, and dress it with crocus cloth or very fine emery paper, it will then fit nicely through the new bushing without damaging it.

If the rack shaft is badly rusted or corroded, that too will cause it to be bigger than normal and prevent it from fitting through the new bushing. Surface rust on the rack shaft will also act as an abrasive and cause the new bushing to wear faster than normal. The cure is simple, just remove the surface rust and corrosion from the rack shaft, clean it thoroughly to remove any loose rust or sanding dust, and then coat the entire surface of the shaft with a thin coat of good quality chassis grease (a synthetic like Mobil 1 is recommended) to protect it against future rust and corrosion.

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 09-27-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: I believe you have your terminology mixed up so some clarification is needed. The pinion shaft is item number 1 in the illustration below. The rack is item 2. I suspect you're having trouble installing the rack into the housing, correct? Also, what year car is this for... '84-'87 or '88. The assembly instructions differ slightly.

Thanks but no, I was correct on the terminology. The pinion shaft (item numbered "1") won't go back into the hole out of which it came. I never removed the rack from the housing and I couldn't remove it now because both inner tie rods have already been screwed on.

It's an '88.

Called RD and he said I have to remove the adjuster locking nut & plug as it's spring loaded and won't allow the pinion shaft back through without doing so. Now I just have to order the special steering rack wrench to remove the adjuster locking nut w/o damaging the ears on it....

[This message has been edited by akademikjeanius (edited 09-27-2011).]

Thanks for clarifying. Rodney is correct too... when you removed the pinion shaft, the spring loaded rack bearing under the adjuster plug would have over extended into the pinion shaft bore. As an aside, you shouldn't need to order the special wrench to remove the locking nut. I successfully used a large adjustable wrench on mine to break it free.

I'm sure Rodney provided you with the service manual instructions specific to rebuilding the '88 rack, but just in case, here they are again. The step just above box 6 is where the earlier racks differ. Use the 54.3mm dimension and the 4:30 and 3:00 clocking to be sure you've installed the pinion correctly so your steering wheel will be straight and have the same number of turns lock-to-lock. Good luck.

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: Thanks for clarifying. Rodney is correct too... when you removed the pinion shaft, the spring loaded rack bearing under the adjuster plug would have over extended into the pinion shaft bore. As an aside, you shouldn't need to order the special wrench to remove the locking nut. I successfully used a large adjustable wrench on mine to break it free. I'm sure Rodney provided you with the service manual instructions specific to rebuilding the '88 rack, but just in case, here they are again. The step just above box 6 is where the earlier racks differ. Use the 54.3mm dimension and the 4:30 and 3:00 clocking to be sure you've installed the pinion correctly so your steering wheel will be straight and have the same number of turns lock-to-lock. Good luck.

Hey Blooze,

Thanks for posting the images. Rodney did give me a copy of them but I had misplaced the page (of course) so ended up having to pull up your post on my cellphone and reference it while removing the adjuster plug. I, too, ended up getting the locking nut loose using a set of large angled pliers (was a helluva time though).

I finished it about a week ago but almost forgot to follow up in this thread. Thanks to everyone again for their input.

I don't think I got the rack centered as it seems like I run out of turns to the right and have more than I should to the left. Will do my best to fix it but maybe I'll just let whoever does the alignment handle it.....

quote Originally posted by akademikjeanius: I don't think I got the rack centered as it seems like I run out of turns to the right and have more than I should to the left. Will do my best to fix it but maybe I'll just let whoever does the alignment handle it.....

If the steering wheel was close to centered before you disassembled the rack and now it's not, then you probably didn't correctly index the pinion gear to the rack shaft when you reassembled it. In that case, an alignment won't fix anything.

That's why I made it a point to highlight the instructions in the box above step 6. This is a critical step. Did you do it that way?

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "index" but I did follow the instructions Blooze posted it up and measured it to approx 54.3cm (had a standard measuring tape and converted the metric value to standard), inserted the pinion shaft at the 4:30 mark and then turned it to the 3:00 mark. Even tried to confirm it by measuring from tip to tip and then measured from the halfway point of the rack to each tip and it came out to half of total length on both ends.

[This message has been edited by akademikjeanius (edited 10-06-2011).]

i just finished my steering rack including new tie rod ends and a new bushing (which i didnt need as my steel one was perfect, but i put rodneys in anyway...)
here is how i look at it: the pinion has six (6) teeth. therefore there are 6 different ways that the pinion can fit into any ONE given groove in the rack. five (5) of these ways are INCORRECT, only one is the right way to put the pinion into the rack, any other spline fit into that certain groove will result in steering problems - more turns right or left. the instructions said 49.8mm (millimeters) but my pinion would only fit in a groove on my rack at 50.6mm. the grooves are about 6.5mm apart. so my choices were to be 7.2mm off, .8mm off or 5.7mm off. i choose .8mm. THIS WAS MY GROOVE - yours might be a little different, but you must find that groove on your rack. then you have to put the correct pinion tooth into that groove. thats why you start at 4:30 and rotate to 3:00. you will then have the correct orientation of the pinion to the rack.

i measured from grease fitting to grease fitting and got 52 1/4" center to center. i set the new RD tie rods at ll turns from the end - where the stock 84's were, and found that RD's measured only 52 1/8" so i backed each tie rod end off 2 turns as the RD outers were 1/16" shorter. my car was perfectly aligned (front toe) after a short run, as checked by my two 4' levels bungied to the wheels and measured left to right front and rear of the front tires.
just my $.02 worth

jon

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I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 4-wheel drifts are fun!