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Old September 17th 2006, 17:44
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MattKab MattKab is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: NW UK
Posts: 371
Quote:
Cleaning a rack and pinion should be possible and easy. I am sure you don't need pictures for that
Rebuilding the thing is 'not possible' so I heard or that is what VW lets us to believe...
Good call Wally.

Remove the passenger side mounting bracket from the housing by removing the M8 nut and bolt. Next is the second hard part..

Remove the ring-clip from the end of the housing, this may be hard to find and even harder to remove. Be carefull, it will come out.

Remove the plug that is retained by the ring-clip. This may be rusted in. If it is, drill out the centre and tap a M6 or M8 thread. Screw in a bolt and improvise a slide-hammer to pull the plug out. Don't try to push this out with the rack by turning the pinion with grips, the pinion splines are hardened but you need them in good shape!

Behind this plug is one of the foam stops, remove that also.

Remove the plate held on with 2 M8 bolts. Just leave the grub-screw and jamb-nut where they are.

Remove the coil-spring

Remove the little 'tablet' that the grub-screw bears on.

Remove the two half-bearings that hold the rack in mesh with the pinion.

Put one of the inner track-rod end bolts back into it's hole and use it to slide the rack out of the housing.

Remove the large hex headed cap, after 'un'peening the external lock washer.

Without the rack in the way, you can check the pinion shaft bearings for play.

Remove the pinion shaft complete with ball race and it's retaining nut. This nut does not need to be undone unless the bearing is shot, which is unlikely. Drive the pinion shaft out from the spline side. Don't damage it.

That's it! It will be a good idea to renew the pinion roller/needle bearing, one of mine was dry/galled. A bad design as there is no seal. I used an online bearing company: http://www.ondrives.com/products.asp?recnumber=176

bearing OD 24mm
shaft OD/bearing ID 18mm
length 15mm

If your bearing and shaft look good, Ace! If not, find a replacement bearing before drifting the old bearing out.

I could only find 16mm long bearings, look at the shaft and bearing bore, it may take a bearing upto 17mm long, maybe 18mm.

Note, all the steel lost from rack and pinion due to wear and tear is still suspended in that old gease, not good..

I used a molybdenum C.V. joint grease.

Like Mr. Haynes likes to say: "Reassembly is in the reverse order of dismantling"

The hard part is reinstalling the ring-clip. Seal it with a smear of copper slip.

The pinion shaft is somewhat self installing, the large hex headed cap will press the ball-race bearing fully home as you screw it in. 're'peen that external lock washer.

When refitting the rack assembly to your car, the last bolt to be tightened is the M8 nut and bolt that goes through the passenger side mounting bracket.

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The modification for adjustable steering limits, to prevent your expensive wide tyres from fouling the innerwings/failing your anual inspection consists of 2 screws with jamb-nuts. One each side, they push the foam buffers deeper into the housing, which will pull the wheel away from the innerwing on full-lock on the same side.

Note, my Beetle is RHD.








You will have to drill through that plug, all the way through and tap it to either M8 or M10.

The M8 nut and bolt that passes through the plug and passenger side mounting bracket will have to be omitted. Drill the holes in the bracket and the housing out to 10mm. Tap the hole in the plug that the M8 bolt goes through out to M10 and replace with two M10*15 bolts. You will need a ~60mm length of tube ID 10mm to put the jamb-nut out beyond the mounting bracket.

The drivers side requires you to remove the cap that is welded into the housing. Either grind through the weld or saw beneath the weld, only cutting the housing and not the cap. The cap will then need a hole drilling in the centre. It has to be removed to keep the swarf out of the grease. Weld an M10 deep nut to a large, thick washer and weld this into the cap so that the M10 screw will pass through it dead centre. Reinstall the cap and reweld it in.

I ground through the weld on the first rack I did, the heat destroyed the foam buffer. Before rewelding the cap back in, send the rack all the way to the passenger side and push the buffer deep down inside the housing, out of the heat. The rack will move it back to the stop. I glued M8 repair washers to the buffers and profiled the ends of the screws to suit. I used M10 studding, and cut 8mm spanner flats for the adjustment/jamb.

Matt
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'79 Karmann, Nrburgring or bust...

Last edited by MattKab; September 18th 2006 at 11:30.
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