Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2019 08:45:47 -0400
Reply-To: Eric Caron <eric.caron@ICLOUD.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Eric Caron <eric.caron@ICLOUD.COM>
Subject: Re: Powersteering update
In-Reply-To: <CACiW0sN-wzEdn_37=QVhh6XoNRZG=3bw01AQM=B9hYvdcBOFpw@mail.gmail.com>
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Hi Bruno and others,
I can’t add this to my list of Vanagon repairs I did on my own or mainly on my own.
My job was getting the parts and needed tools and such together. I did a pretty good job with that thanks to the list and Ken Wilford.
Luckily, the VW friend community is strong! Art Hayttko came over and did a great job basically doing the power steering exchange and showing me how it was done.
We will know more after the alignment. It did well on the test run but the steering wheel is off now and the van pulls a very tiny bit left. It used to go straight down the road. We won’t drive it more then that test run until aligned Wednesday.
I’m not sure I’d take on this job alone due to the high pressure fittings and exactness of keeping the alignment close to original. Still. I now have my own tie rod remover and some idea of how it works. And the splines are nice and clean so it would likely come out better in the next 30 years as I try hard to keep it garaged and clean when not camping!
Still, I have a few tasks on may list that I’ll either try on my own or look for a VW person with some electrical engineering background!
Eric Caron
85 GL Auto
> On Apr 18, 2019, at 1:03 PM, Bruno Walser <bruno.walser@multavista.com> wrote:
>
> Eric,
>
> Congrats. I am impressed. I never replaced the steering rack.
>
> Bruno
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Eric Caron <eric.caron@icloud.com <mailto:eric.caron@icloud.com>>
> Date: Thu, Apr 18, 2019, 11:44
> Subject: Powersteering update
> To: <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com <mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>>
>
>
> Hi List,
>
> Power steering rack is replaced. It seems to be working great but it is really too early to tell. the van gets Aligned Wednesday then we can do more substantial driving.
>
> I went with the rebuilt unit from Ken Wilford. The main reason was that it came complete and ready to be installed. As I hd help but only for a day I was afraid that gathering parts from all over would take too much time and leave me with something missing. As it was the two crush washers for the fittings almost did us in. They turned out to be in a different mailing but we didn’t find that until loosing a couple hours driving around hunting them down.
> I also went with Ken because he is great about answering my questions and has been a positive support for years.
>
> I hope to report many years of good service, but if I have to replace it I have a much better understanding of what I’ll need to do and what I’ll need to have for the job.
> If I had extended time and local help I’d have sought out the high end equipment and parts from the several venders, but I just didn’t have the time or support.
>
> Fingers crossed like Dave in mass, I got a good one.
>
> Eric Caron
> 85 GL Auto
> With quiet happy steering rack
