Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 14:23:26 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Pwr Steering Rack Maint.
In-Reply-To: <4825F5FE.80404@ucsb.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I would not expect Bently to have it detail at all.
What you do is, identify the low pressure return hose at the Resevoir.
The high pressure one going to the pipes has a metal fitting with hex nut.
The low pressure one has a hose clamp.
That's the line you want to open.
Warning, don't try to undo it from the bottom of the reservoir. Those are so
stuck and heatened on there, you almost can't get them off, and you'll not
get it back on either.
Undo that at the pipe.
Plug the hose you just took off.
Put a long hose on the pipe and run that to a bucket or drain pan.
Run the engine at idle and keep adding fluid to the reservoir it uses it up.
Run maybe 4 qts, at least of ATF through.
Flush it for 5 minutes at least this way.
Usually you can't tell a lot about the fluid, except maybe it will turn from
'pretty dark' to not as dark, as fresh gets in and old goes out.
Flush 5 qts though, I'll suggest that.
Clean the screen of course.
Clean out the bottom of the res.
DO ad a high quality 'power steering conditioner' to the fluid when you are
done getting new fluid into it.
Here's a cheater way to deal with the tie rods to replace a tie rod boot.
'normally' on would undo the outer tie rod end from the steering knuckle,
then take that off the tie rod.
No need to do that.
Undo the 22mm lock nut at the outer tie rod end.
CAREFULLY unscreew the tie rod from the outer pivot thing, counting how many
turns it takes to come apart.
BUT FIRST ...........YOU COULD btw, measure toe-in before you take this
apart.
You do that with two yardsticks, with the van on a flat surface, and the
suspension settled. You can't jack it up, then lower it, and then measure
toe.
You want it fully settled, I even stop it with the parking brake so as to
not disturb the front suspension to do this measurement.
Measure from mid point up from tire to tire, in front, then in back.
As I said, two yard sticks.
Measure it several times.
What you should find is that it's up to an eighth inch or so toed-in, that
is the forward measurement is that much less than the aft one.
You might get zero toe, that's fine.
You just want to know what it's been running at.
Any worn ball joints or tie rod ends - forget it, you need to fix those
first.
So get the toe,
Then undo the ball pivot end from the tie rod by unscrewing the tie rod and
counting the turns. Mark with paint first too, of course.
The tie rod has to turn in the outer end of the boot.
When you have that outer pivot thing off, take off the 22mm lock nut,
Then you can remove the boot and put on a new one.
I've had a hell of a time getting the new boot on the rack too, around that
lip.
I've struggled an hour many times, on just one boot there.
I've also gotten the wrong steering rack boot many times.
I like to lube the rack gear a bit, but on PS I don't.
Check for up-down play at the end of the rack - the linerar rack gear should
have zero up-down play.
I've seen a solid 1/8th inch up-down play there from having a person who
jerks the ( non-PS ) steering drive the car for year, or from running out
of round or out of balance ties, or worn shocks.
( here's one for you, speaking of out of balance, I saw a Dodge 200
Tradesman Van - those big old V-8 ones.......the RF tire was so violently
out of balance at 60 mph, there was two inches of light showing under the
tire every wheel revolution !!!! I looked at the two occupants - they were
oblivious. Had no idea - they just though 'a little vibration' was 'normal'
These vehicles can kill other people on the road too of course, not just the
people driving them. )
so just leave that outer pivot in the steering knuckle, measure toe first,
count turns unscrewing the tie rod, replace the boot, put it back together
counting turns to get it as close as you can to where it was.
Check the toe to see that it's about where it was.
You need to move the van at least 5 van lengths, driving it ideally, to
re-settle the front suspension before re-checking toe.
You can tweak the toe adjustment with it fully on the ground too.
Best results are if you move it a few van lengths after each adjustment
before re-measuring.
( I also have ways to check camber and castor with these back yard methods.
Those get awfully tricky as changing camber, changes toe and castor, etc.
Just stick with toe adjustments. )
Manual checking of toe is a valid measurement, and while medium crude, is
quite effective.
Regarding steering wheel centering.............. besides indexing the
splines where the steering wheel mounts its shaft, there is even a way to
figure out which side to lengthen or shorten to bring the steering wheel do
dead center going straight ahead.
I'll share on that sometime if anyone is up to it.
There are professional alignment shops that don't know how to center
steering wheels, honest !
Which is a joke, because that is fundamental to an alignment.
I have also seen a woman come directly from an alignment shop where she had
'an alignment' and there was a totally shot tie rod end pivot, with an
eighth inch of play in it. Just no way to align that car. She got totally
ripped off.
Seriously, there is a huge amount of bogus professional care repair. It's
scary. I've seen THOUSANDS of incidences of bogus and incompetent
professional car repair.
Scott
With upwards of 30 + years of full time professional car repair.
Vanagon, and Vanagon Engine Conversion specialist.
Do good work, and stay SAFE - that's first, safety. And do solid good work.
www.turbovans.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
John Goubeaux
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 12:23 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Pwr Steering Rack Maint.
As I see a few others are dealing with aging/leaking power steering
racks I thought I would jump in and offer some info and ask a few
questions of those who have been down this pathe.
Mine has not "blown out" yet but has a real slow ( a few drops over
time) leak at one of the boots where the tie rod exits the rack. Both
boots are cracked and split though and I have replacements for them as
well as a new reservoir filter.
Can anyone offer tips on if a complete fluid change - will it help
prolong the life of the internal seals at this point, or maybe it will
speed up the inevitable? Is flushing and replacing the fluid pretty
straight forward? I suppose Benteley has this in detail.
In order to replace the boots that fit over the tie rods the tie rod end
needs to be unbolted right? I replaced tie rod ends on an old 1963 Volks
Van I had way back but don't remember if i needed to press the end out
of where it connects to the steering arm. My question then is: does
this require a special tool and or how difficult is it to get the tie
rod end free?
Any advice is much appreciated.
-john
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