86GXL

Tore out the PS and looped the lines and yada yada... Now when i drive it feels like the wheel is pushing against the direction i'm trying to turn. And it doesnt react as fast. Is this normal? Or did i do somthing wrong?

WAYNE88N/A

You have to make sure you didn't form a hydraulic lock by looping the lines together...

A long time ago I wrote a long piece on totally removing all fluid from the rack and repacking everything with grease to solve that very problem- see if a search on "power steering" pulls it up...

The main problem with trying to keep static fluid in the system is sooner or later the center needle bearing in the servo assembly is gonna **** itself, resulting in your steering locking up...

86GXL

ok found it... but how do you remove all the fluid? and how do you take apart the servo valve stuff to pack it with bearing grease

Mint87RX7

Did you remember to turn the wheels all the way from one side to the other before looping the lines, i did this to get a lot of the fluid out but leave enough in to lube it, then i looped them. mine feels great but ya it doesnt react as fast. it feels so weird driving my stock vert now, its like super steering lol.

WAYNE88N/A

You gotta take the rack out. It's really not that hard to do- get her in the air, remove the belly pan, remove the sway bar, remove the rack. Just a bunch of big bolts. Don't forget to mark the splined shaft from the steering column so she goes back in straight with the steering wheel...

Then put the rack in a vice, pull the big nut (or bolt- it's been a while), remove the valve...It's all in the FSM, and in that writeup I did. Can't find it using search?


Mint- that's exactly what I did- just leave enough fluid to lubricate. Found out the hard way that it doesn't work that way for too long. If your steering starts to bind up during turns, immediately tear that servo down and remove that needle bearing. Your steering WILL lock up on you when you least want it to. It's pretty freakin' scary turning into an oncoming traffic lane because you can't get the wheel to return, lol...

Kenteth

you fugger have me scared now...

86GXL

No i didnt find the complete writeup... just found you talking about it... so i have to completely remove this "pin"? Then pack that area with grease?

Kenteth

actually this happened to me once already. I thought it was a sparkplug wire getting caught around the steering knuckles :/

86GXL

ok i pulled the looped hose off and squirted lythium grease inside till it shot out the other end of the gear thingy. Took almost a full can. Havent driven it yet but i'll let ya know

Oh and we took the PS off my neighbors car exactly the same way i did mine and his drive VERY nice... mine sucks *****...

WAYNE88N/A

Crap, OK I'll try to put this all down from memory again. Note that I'm an old fart and have forgotten most of it. To wit:

Remove the rack out of the car. In the FSM. Took me about 10 minutes once the front end's in the air.

Remove all lines, from the rack, and the valve.

I forget exactly what held the valve in, big circlip, big nut, something like that...

Pull the valve out from the aft side of the assy. There are three bearings in the whole shebang. The two at either end are ball bearings. Mine were in good shape, so I cleaned 'em up and relubed 'em. You kinda need them for proper operation once everything goes back together anyway.

The needle bearing sits in the middle of the servo bore. Once I pulled the valve out, 1/2 of the needles fell out anyway, so I removed the remainder and mentally performed a "eureka" since I had found out what was locking her up.

I totally bled all fluid out of the rack's piston bores, and repacked them with graphite based grease. If you have a vice, put the rack in there to keep everything still, and use a wrench (I think) to turn the steering assy one way, then the other, allowing the suction from the receding piston to suck the grease in through the port.

I used two clear PVC hoses for the overflow grease that will result from going stop-to-stop once installed again. Ran the hoses along the rack, then angled them up towards the battery area. I think it took about 18" total length apiece to keep all of the overflow contained. Once the rack is turned the other way, the grease tends to get sucked back in to the other bore. Keep the ends of the hoses open to the atmosphere.

This setup assures that no hydraulic lock will ever occur...

Before reinstalling the valve, everything was packed liberally with bearing grease, including the pinion gear at the front (the actual animal that turns the rack). the three ports at the top of the servo were also packed with bearing grease, to prevent water and other fluids from gaining entry into the valve.

I did this "mod" about 25K miles ago and haven't had a single problem with the steering since. Note that the steering will be very loose feeling, almost like a go-cart, because you're not fighting any hydraulic pressures anymore. That means you must keep your hands on the wheel now! You'll be able to turn your entire steering system from stop-to-stop with two fingers on a tire now (when she's in the air, of course).

Hope I haven't left anything out that's important, lol...Any problems let me know...

86GXL

So i've been driving around with the lines unhooked all day and the stearing hasnt gotten any easier. Is it because of the needles? Do i have to unhook the spline from the stearing or do i have to undo that bolt on top to get them out? Cuz it seems like from what your saying that will fix my problem. And i'd rather avoid dropping the rack out of the car because i drive this car every day and get home late and tired and dont feel like working on cars.

WAYNE88N/A

A couple of other items popped in my head after that last post:

When pulling the rack, DO NOT mess with the tie-rod ends. Just beat the spindle out of the steering knuckle at the end of the tie rods (big nut & cotter key for those). If you bust the jam nuts & remove the rod ends, you'll probably have to get a front end alignment done. Maybe not if you're careful and count threads, but in any case the whole rack can be removed with the tie rods still in place. I pulled mine out the driver's side area...

Also, you may have to remove the 4 radiator mounting bolts and push it up about an inch to clear the rack. I did, anyway...

ultradef

Thanks for the writeup.

Has anyone removed power steering from a vert? I love the look of a bare engine bay, but I think the extra 500 lbs. or so in my turbo vert may make unassisted steering a chore. I was just looking for people's input if anyone's tried it. Thanks...sorry for the hijack.