I removed the steering rack from the car to see if it would be possible to rebuild it but I'm not sure how to get that bushing or whatever it is on the passenger side out.

That metal ring was in there holding it in and I got that part out no problem, but how do I get the actual bushing out?
It didn't seem plastic, it feels metal but I could be wrong.

The red is a mix of some rust and ground up cinders they put all over the road in the winter time here, the boot was torn.


I may have more questions later.

When I had to rebuild mine.
I started by pulling apart the steering shaft drive gear(knuckle)
Pop off the cap remove nut by holding the other end with a wrench( it has flat sides).
There is a snap ring just inside the knuckle that holds the bearing in place.
Make sure to have the shaft turned all the way to one side or the other, and mark the top of the shaft.
So when you put it back together your steering wheel will be correct.
Then you can simply twist the steering shaft out the top.
This will allow you to slide the main shaft freely.
When you go looking for new boots. I found Moog boots with straps at O'Rielys
Make sure to check the knuckle bearing.
They rust out and the balls get mixed in with the grease....very dangerous as they can jam in the teeth of the worm gear and shaft teeth.

Also remove the large nut on the side of the knuckle.
be careful it as a spring inside that pushes a slider against the worm gear that keeps the two sets of teeth in place.

[This message has been edited by 88_4mula (edited 05-29-2011).]

I'm interested in this also. I think my rack is damage in some way. It makes a metallic bang when I go from full-right to left. If someone knows what this is please let me know. So... I was wondernig where you get parts to rebuild these. Although I'm not sure what I need yet I'm guessing it might be more than just the bushings on the ends. I've never had one of these apart so I'm lost right now.

I can post the instructions from the '88 service manual later today if no one else has responded by then.

Mine was more of a bind then a pop when it broke loose.
When turning from center to full right or cent to full left.
This is the balls from the bearing on the bottom of the knuckle.
After it rusts out. The balls get mixed in the grease.
The balls are the size of bb's.
Simple enough to check.
Just pop of the cap from the bottom and see if the bearing is still in tack.
Instead of a bearing it looks like a small pulley because it hads no sides and no balls.
I got a replacement at Dixie Bearing here in Flowery Branch GA
Its if I remember 9mm Thick? odd size.
Cost me about $8

[This message has been edited by 88_4mula (edited 05-29-2011).]

That sounds differnt. I originally thought it was the tierod or maybe a control arm but all that checks out fine. I think I'd like to get a spare and tear it down and learn a few things.

Worked on it a bit more today, still didn't get that bushing out.... It is definitely some type of metal, I think its kind of rusted in but not sure.

However, I did get most of the other pieces of the rack apart.

The inner tie rods just screw on to the main bar inside the rack, there are a couple places where the metal is bent down to lock it in place so they don't unscrew when you don't want them to


I used a hammer and a metal chisel (spelling?) to bend the piece back out/break it off.


The threads are further back and down lower so you don't really have to worry about messing them up.


The passenger side that had the torn boot was quite the pain, the inner tie rod end had kind of rusted to where it goes over the center shaft, I had to stick it in the vice and use a wrench with a really long bar on it in order to break it lose. The inner tie rod ends are junk anyways and need to be replaced so I tightened the vice up on it, they do have two flat sides that you could get a large wrench over don't know what size 1 1/4 was too small, 2 1/8 was too big. I didn't have anything in between :P so to the vice it went. A large crescent wrench or pipe wrench would have worked too but I was too lazy to go find one.


The drivers side came off a lot easier, didn't need the long bar :P
I just left the inner and outer tie rod ends together, I had no need to pull them apart. I will need to replace them both anyways so this way it makes it easy to get the new ones close to where the old ones were without having to mark stuff. And of course once its back together and running an alignment is going to be at the top of the list of things to get done.


With the ends out I popped the little cap off the end so I could get to the nut, it was quite gross inside there.

I removed the nut and took out the little snap ring, although the ring I didn't really need to remove to get that shaft out I dont think.


The little shaft you just kind of twist and pull to get it out, I also took 88_4mula's advice and turned the shaft as far to one side as I could before I removed it and marked where the top was.




The bar in the middle came out pretty easy after that, a bunch of ground up rocks fell out too

[This message has been edited by Blacksheep (edited 05-29-2011).]

Here are the reassembly pages from the service manual I promised (note these are specifically for the '88 and not for earlier cars):

Thank you for posting those Blooz

I finally got the bushing out
I set the bracket on the side of the chair so there was nothing below the bottom of the rack and used an old socket extension and hammered it out from the back side, popped right out after a couple of smacks.
The rag was in there to hold the extension over to the side at an angle so I didn't have to try to hold the extension over and the rack with one hand and end up smacking my fingers :P



And here is the bushing


I did a bit more searching in the archives and found a few people who also had this steel? I guess bushing, I guess it came in a lot of the early '88's, something to do with the 88 rack and power steering maybe I didn't really read the whole post I just read "Hit it with a hammer!" and so I did That little hammer is the most used tool in my toolbox :P
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...060811-2-069415.html

[This message has been edited by Blacksheep (edited 05-29-2011).]

good job. I wonder after seeing all that if its worth just spending the $175 and get one already rebuilt. Maybe I'll start with some junkyards and see what it'll cost for aused one and go from there.

As far as where to get the parts to rebuild one, I'm most likely going to order from Rodney Dickman as long as I can get the rest of the rack cleaned up. From what I have read his parts and service are pretty high quality.

To clean up the rack is there any reason I can't drop it in a bucket of parts cleaner stuff and let it soak to try to get some of the rocks and junk inside loose or out? I would remove the rubber mounts and pull that bearing and the rubber piece across from the bearing out first of course.
Then maybe find some kind of pipe cleaner type thing or something to try and break up any more rust/rocks/junk on the inside? Not sure, I imagine I will figure something out as I work on it.

Also planning on taking some steel wool to that center bar to get the surface rust and junk off and polish it up a bit to try and get it smooth.

[This message has been edited by Blacksheep (edited 05-29-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Blacksheep: To clean up the rack is there any reason I can't drop it in a bucket of parts cleaner stuff and let it soak to try to get some of the rocks and junk inside loose or out?

There's no harm in doing this, in fact, you'd be crazy not to!

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 05-30-2011).]

The little bearing on the back side is shot, its still together but it doesn't spin so I think its just a matter of time before it explodes and ends up in the gears and causes me to not be able to turn so I need to replace it. The parts store I use here is better than most but they couldn't quite match the bearing what they had was about 1mm too thick.

The seal on the opposite side looks ok I think, but there was another part in there as well not sure if it was part of the seal or not, didn't really look like it. Maybe a bushing to support the pinion on that side? Maybe it was part of the pinion, is it supposed to have a little bearing built onto it? or is it just chewed up here? or?


I don't imagine you could get just the pinion by its self, does anyone know if the pinion on the 88 racks is the same that was used on the earlier ones?

Blacksheep, as much as I hate to admit defeat, but when a rack looks like that, it is probably trashed. My original 88 rack was in the same condition when I got the car. It wasn't unsafe, but the front end always had a clunk about it, and it had some play in it when driving straight. (it had 200,000 miles) Eventually I narrowed it down to the passenger side plastic rack bushing being worn out. Your's has the rare steel one that has shown up from time to time. My rack gear too was a bit rusty and crusty on the passenger side, but at first I thought nothing of it really.

So I went ahead and bought Rodney dickman's 88 rack bushing, new boots and went ahead with it. scoured the rack gear with a scotch brite to take the rust off so it wouldn't damage the new bushing.

I was less then pleased with the results. The rack bushing solved the clunking, the wheels had less play about them. but the steering wheel still had a bit much play.

So I pulled the rack apart. Popped the cap off the back, took the nut off and pulled the shaft out. The bearing on the input side of the pinion was completely shot, If I recall correctly it had needle bearings, some were liberated, some turned sideways and scored the crap out of the shaft. It looked just like yours. The shaft would wander left to right when rotated. Once I got the tension shoe off as well I pulled out the rack gear and it looked pretty bad. The teeth were pitted, and the pinion was also pitted and a bit worn. So this rack had nothing left to offer. It was toast. Im pretty sure that bad boots, water, and time had taken this rack to the grave. I found one in a U-pull-it, that had good boots, the shaft was still shiny steel, problem solved.

Ya, that shorter shaft is pretty messed up, I will definitely need a different one. I could probably save the rest of it, however I think I'm going to search around the local junk yards to see what I can find and chances are any with good boots/bellows/whatever that have a good pinion will probably have the other parts in a lot better shape than mine anyways.