removing steering rack

[Stej]

hey iam trying to remove my steering rack on my ae86 iam having trouble with the joints on the ends of it where you got the split pin going through the thread was wondering do ya just put a nut on the thread and knock it and be a little rough with it or is there an easier way
thanks

[Rollabender]

That is the simplest way to do it, yes.

A balljoint splitter works wonders, as does a big hammer. Hand sledge ftw.

Apart from that the removal of the rack itself is fairly straightforward, it's secured by 4 bolts, 3 underneath, one on top from memory.

Remove the bolt from the uni joint first though.

Then pull the rack out, this may require some rotating and back / forth movement, but it's once again very straight forward.

Edit:

While you have the rack out, i'd reccomend installing new tie rod ends and rack ends + regreasing the rack itself.

Why are you pulling it out?

[RobertoX]

Also put a paint mark on the splines where you remove the steering shaft. This way it is a lot easier to line up when you put it all back together.
It is important to get the uni joints lined up as they were from the factory. This is because you get a torque fluctuation due to the uni joints and they are positioned to give the best feel.

[ghetto ke]

yeah undo rackends/tierods first - a lot easier than if the rack is floating around

if you're whacking them with a hammer leave nuts on threads to protect them!

[af300e]

And use another heavy hammer against the steering arm from the opposite side to give you something to hit against. Then hit the loosened nut and it should pop off.
Just bashing the nut without another hammer against the arm might take you a while.

[Stej]

yeah i have power steering atm and putting a manual one in

[choom78]

use a piece of 6x9 wood under the steering arm before u give the tie rod a bashing for its life...assuming you don't have a ball joint remover.