Date:         Fri, 9 May 2003 06:36:12 EDT
Reply-To:     RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: power steering rack
Comments: cc: Themervino@cs.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

In a message dated 5/8/2003 11:43:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

> I have a leaking power steering rack and was thinking about getting a seal
> kit and trying to fix it myself. Does anyone have any imput on how 
> difficult
> this is or any wise words on what to do or not to do to make it easier. I
> have never done this before and Bently only covers a little on this. Any
> thoughts are greatly appreciated.

       Merv, I've done this many times and it's all quite simple except for 
getting the end housing retainers to break loose.  Make a tool or use a blunt 
nose chisel to get them to turn.  Soak liberally with some good rust 
penetrant.  Use of propane torch heat will help also.  Once you get these 
retainers to back off then start the disassembly process slowly.  Smack the 
allen headed screws with a sharp flat blow before trying to remove them, they 
will back off a lot easier.  Make sure you understand where all the pieces go 
that are in the kit. There are no diagrams anywhere to help you out if you 
mix up the parts or reverse the seals and bushings.  Clean and keep clean all 
the parts and work in a clean environment.  A small particle of dirt will 
bugger up the new seals in short order.  Once you get it back together and 
installed, flush the system with one litre of ATF by removing the return line 
to the reservoir and run the engine pouring fluid into the reservoir.  
Reconnect the return line to the reservoir and fill the system with fresh 
ATF.  If you need power steering lines because yours are rusted, I have an 
inexpensive solution.  See my <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/hose.htm">Vanagon Power Steering Lines</A> 
{http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/hose.htm} webpage.  Happy motoring !

Cheers  

Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm">BusFusion</A> a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 12 ~ 15, 2003
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains
Member: <A HREF="http://www.vanagon.com/">Vanagon List</A>, <A HREF="http://www.bcn.net/~limbo/">LiMBO</A>, <A HREF="http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/">IWCCC</A> & <A HREF="http://www.ccvwc.ca/">CCVWC</A>  
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm">STEBRO/Vanagon Stainless Steel Mufflers</A>  
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html">Frank Condelli & Associates</A> or http://frankcondelli.com