Projects - Rebuilding Steering Rack / Quaife Quick Ratio

This is the second one of these steering racks I've put together. One of the most fun upgrades you can do to better the enjoyment of driving your Bunny, Jetta or Pickup. It's like a free workout when you're parking your car. This applies to MANUAL steering racks only.

First, remove the steering rack from the car. Follow the procedures in the shop manual for removal

1. Flat blade screwdriver
2. Wrenches
3. Sockets
4. Large adjustable wrench
5. Medium - large Vice grips
6. Needle nose pliers (or stork pliers)
7. Ear clamp pliers
8. Hammer
9. Drift punches
10. Wire brush (for cleaning any parts)
11. Shop rags, paper towels, etc
12. Nitrile / Latex gloves
13. Cleaner / Degreaser
14. Swepco grease (or any grease for this application)
15. Vice (makes working on the steering rack a bit easier)

Parts:
Tie rods assemblies (Comes with new hardware), steering rack boots (Make sure you get the correct ones for your application. Also comes with new hardware), Quaife quick ratio kit (Comes with hardware and a tube of Swepco grease) and steering rack bushings (depends on application. Opted for the better bushing in this case)


Here's some comparisons of the stock parts compared to the Quaife parts. Pinion gears


Comparison of the stock rack to the Quaife rack. Notice how much wider the teeth are cut


re Close up of the rack and pinion parts


Secured in the vice, here's the tired old steering rack from the project truck. Tie rods were a bit tired and worn out (Pulling on the tie rod actually showed some play...not good)


As you can see, the steering rack boots were pretty much useless


Start by removing the steering rack bushings (if not already done or is applicable) and remove and band clamps holding the rack boots on.


You can remove the bands by using the flat blade screwdriver. Pry up the rounded end of the clamp and remove it. There may be some spring clamps as well. Remove these by pressing the two ends together. You can use the needle nose pliers.
Now that all the clamps are removed, pull the boots from the steering rack housing. You'll should be able to see the end of the tie rod assembly now.


Now you can loosen the jam nuts that secure the tie rods into place. Place the vice grips on the tie rod assembly and a wrench (adjustable can be used here) on the jam nut. Loosen the jam nut by turning it counter-clockwise (remember, left-loose : right-tight)


Here's the jam nut loosened


Now that the jam nut is loosened, remove the tie rod assembly


Repeat the above steps for the other tie rod assembly.

Here's the jam nuts. Not a cheap item from the dealership...try not to lose them.


Now that the tie rods are off, we can start removing the pinion shaft. The pinion has a bearing housing around it and is held in place by a retaining plate and two 10mm bolts. There is a seal that sits on top of the pinion plate to keep debris out of the bearing housing.


Start by removing the two 10mm bolts. Pull the plate up from the steering rack housing to remove it and the pinion seal. Now you can see the bearing housing that is pressed into the steering rack housing. Notice when taking the plate off how the inner hole is dished a bit on one side. This will be important when installing it.


Now you want to position the steering rack so that you are turning the pinion to PULL the rack back into the shorter end of the steering rack housing. Turning the pinion counter-clockwise. It's important that this part be done correctly or the pinion will not come out.

Place a pair of vice grips near the bottom of the splined part of the pinion shaft. Do not lock the vice grips on too tight as to damage the splines.

Turn the pinion until the rack is completely in the steering rack housing. At this point, the pinion will stop turning. Now, continue to turn the pinion until it pops out of the housing.


Pinion pulled out of housing


Now we can move on to removing the adjuster. The adjuster is a threaded part with a jam nut used to keep it from backing out. The threaded piece is used to apply more preasure to the rack to keep it from pulling away from the pinion. This is all held in place by a plate with two 10mm bolts.


Start by taking out the threaded piece. I'm not sure if the jam nut used on my steering rack is the correct one so use the correct size wrench in your application. The jam nut was 17mm on mine. The threaded adjuster is 7mm. Hold the adjuster in place while turning the jam nut counter-clockwise.


Back off the threaded adjuster about half way. Now, remove the 10mm bolts. The spring in the adjuster housing will start to push the retaining plate up as you remove the bolts. I loosened each one a little at a time so there wasn't too much force on the bolts. Didn't want to risk breaking a bolt...I hate it when that happens. With the adjuster retaining plate removed, the spring is now visible.


Remove all the adjuster parts from the steering rack housing. Be careful not to lose any parts. There is a small metal puck in the spring housing. That's what the threaded adjuster piece presses on. Here you can see all the parts.


With the adjuster removed, you can now pull the rack out of the housing. Clean out any grease left in the steering rack housing. Use brake cleaner or solvent to get out as much as possible. This will also help get any debris that may have made its way into the rack housing from the torn boots. Thoroughly dry out the rack housing.


Time to open up the Swepco and get things rolling for re-install


Time to install the bearing on the pinion.


Remove the rack housing from the vice and place a rag in the vice jaws. This is to make sure the pinion does not get damaged. Place the tip of the pinion in the rag and take up the slack on the vice. Don't tighten it down completely yet. When the vice is close to securing the pinion, press the pinion down so the tip is in the vice and the shouldered part is resting on the jaws. You're trying to make it so the pinion is wedged up against the vice and can't be moved downward when installing the bearing. Now, tighten up the vice so it's just snug. Snug enough that the pinion doesn't move around too much. You don't want to tighten the vice too much. Damage to the pinion could result.

Place the bearing over the end of the pinion that is pointing up.


Using a hammer and drift punch, start pressing the bearing housing down on the pinion. Tap the drift punch lightly and start moving it around the INNER part of the bearing housing. Slowly work your way around the housing until it's seated firmly against the machined pinion gearing. Make one more pass around the bearing housing to make sure it's seated correctly.


Remove the pinion from the vice and check to make sure the bearing is seated. Hold onto the outer bearing housing and spin the pinion to make sure it spins freely.


Place the steering rack housing back in the vice so that the pinion housing hole and adjuster hole are closest to you.
Using a brush or just your fingers (you're wearing gloves, right?) put a good coat of grease on the Quaife rack. Making sure the toothed part gets a good coating of grease.


Insert the greased rack into the rack housing with the solid end going in first. The toothed side should be facing the pinion housing hole. There is a guide in the longer end of the steering rack housing. Make sure the solid end of the rack slides easily through the guide bushing.

I've tried finding a part number for the guide bushing in the steering rack housing but have turned up nothing from the ETKA or dealership. I've also run into some steering rack housing that didn't have the guide bushing. This can cause a "clunk" in the steering.
Time to install the Quaife pinion. Put a good coating of grease on the pinion gear.


Start sliding the pinion down into the pinion hole on the steering rack housing. You will have to twist the pinion as it start to engage the teeth on the rack. It may also help to push on the rack while twisting the pinion clockwise so it pulls itself into place. Get the pinion down far enough that the bearing housing it resting in the rack housing hole.


The next part can be one of three ways. I took the slightly safer way of doing it... You can place the retaining plate over the pinion and use the two 10mm bolts to press it into place. I thought about this for a bit and decided against it because the rack housing is aluminum. Didn't want to risk breaking a bolt or stripping the rack housing. OR You can put the retaining plate into place and use a large, deep socket to drive the bearing down. OR You can use a drift punch to press the bearing into the rack housing. Using the same technique as pressing the bearing onto the pinion, drive the bearing into the rack housing. Work the dift punch around the OUTSIDE of the bearing housing while tapping with a hammer. Continue until the bearing is completely seated.


If the plate is not yet installed, go ahead and intall it and the two 10mm bolts. Make sure the dished side is facing DOWN when installed (in the pic you can still see the outline of the rack housing imprint). Snug down the bolts. Not too tight since the rack housing is aluminum and you don't want to strip the bolt holes.


Now for the pinion seal. The seal has a small lip on one side (kind of like a rubber sticky dart). The small lip should be placed against the pinion retaining plate.



On to installing the adjuster. Put a good coating of grease on the adjuster. Get some grease in the adjuster hole of the rack housing. Place the adjuster into the rack housing so the curved part is resting against the rack. Wipe up any excess grease.


Now, place the small metal puck in the adjuster housing. Place the spring in the adjuster housing so the puck is in the center of the spring.


Now comes a slightly difficult part (helps to have an extra set of hands...) While pressing down on the adjuster retaining plate, start threading the 10mm bolts into their holes. Doing this by yourself could be a little frustrating so take your time. When the bolts are threaded in, snug them down the rest of the way so the plate is all the way down against the rack housing. Snug the bolts down a bit.

If the threaded adjuster is not installed, install it now. Back the jam nut all the way to the top of the threaded adjuster or at least so you have enough threads to get it into place. You'll want to thread it down into place by hand so that the threaded adjuster has just a bit of tension on it. DO NOT use a wrench to tighten the threaded adjuster down.

Using the vice grips, turn the pinion to check for tension on the rack. If you can't move the pinion very easily, try backing the threaded adjuster out just a bit (a quarter to half a turn should do). Check the rack movement again. Grab the end of the rack and see if there is any play up and down. There should be pretty much none.

After adjustment is set, hold the threaded adjuster in place while tightening the jam not down. Check that you can still turn the pinion and get the rack to move back and forth.

Now it's time to center the rack. You can eyeball this part to get it close and then measure to get it exact. Turn the pinion until the two ends of the rack out each side of the rack housing look fairly equal length.

Using a tape measure or calipers, get the rack centered. The measurements on either end should be the same. This method is in the shop manual as well.

With the rack centered in the housing, now we can intall the tie rod assemblies. There are measurements in the shop manual to follow when doing this so your steering will be equal from side to side.

Install the steering rack boots on the tie rods. There is a small rubber piece on the tie rods that the lipped end of the steering rack boot will fit into. Make sure the orientation is correct so that when the tie rod is installed, the rack boot can be installed properly to the steering rack housing. In this case, there is a rack boot that has a much larger opening on one end. This one should be installed on the end closest to the pinion and adjuster.

You can use a small drift punch to help the install of the rack boots. Rotate the drift punch around to help work the rack boot into place



Thread the jam nuts onto the rack. Thread them all the way to allow plenty of room for threading on the tie rod assemblies. Following the measurements in the shop manual, thread the tie rod assemblies on until the correct measurements are reached. Using the vice grips and adjustable wrench, tighten the jam nuts into place to secure tie rods. Double check your measurments.
Now that the tie rods are on, it's time to button everything up. Get the rack boots into place. The larger end of the the one rack boot can be difficult to get into place. Work the end up onto the steering rack housing until the lip of the rack boot is correctly positioned.


Next, the other rack boot uses a clamp to hold it in place. The band clamp will need to be opened by pressing together on two opposite sides. It should pop open. Position the clamp in place on the rack boot


Close the clamp as small as you can by fitting the end with the holes over the small ear on the clamp. It should now stay in place on its own. Take the ear clamp pliers (or a set of crimping pliers) and secure the clamp in place.



Now place the remaining compression clamps in place on the rack boot ends that are on the tie rods. You can use needle nose pliers to hold the clamps open while you get them into position.
Put the new steering rack bushings into place (if applicable)
That should be it now...


Now it's time to re-install the new steering rack into the vehicle. Follow the shop manual and torque all the bolts to spec.

NOTE:
You will probably need to use the same method of turning the steering rack all the way to one end so you can fit it back down through the engine bay. Make sure you re-center it when you install it (this isn't too important at this point since you can just take the steering wheel off and re-center the steering that way). After all the install is done, you will need an alignment.

Time from start to finish:
For a beginner with proper tools, I'd say 4-5 hours. That should include the time of removing the steering rack, R & R of all new parts and installing the steering rack back in the car.

Cost of parts:
The Quaife kit is the most expensive part of this project. I like the kit so much though that I've got it installed in two cars now. I love it!

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