Hello,

I am de-powering my steering rack and now I want to remove the pinion shaft. I unbolt everythinf on the bottom and on the top, I also removed the snap ring on the top... but I still have a problem of removing it. I was trying to tap it out but no luck. Now I am sceared that I will brake something. I punch it quite hard but it won't budge....

What is your experience? Thanks!

 

Put the nut on it and give it a good smack on the bottom side, I used a rubber mallet and it popped right out.

 

A dead-blow hammer is your friend during this conversion. Pick one up if you don't have one, they are fairly inexpensive. Also, below in my signature is a link to the mazda factory service manual. It will assist you with any questions like this one you will encounter while working on your FD.

Good luck on the "depowering" project, you are going to love it.

 

Thanks for replay! I managed to tap it out. I read every post on this topic and everybody said that the pinion pups right out, so it was strange for me. But it just need a little more persuation. I also have the workshop manual but because I have 1999 Jap Rx7 I was thinking that there is some difference.