Steering Gear: Reassembly
- Before assembly, coat (or fill) following parts with a lithium base grease: pinion teeth, mating surface between installed pinion and gear housing, sliding parts, rear surface of rack support, rack teeth, tie rod ball joints and inside right and left boots.
- Secure gear assembly in a soft-jawed vise. Coat piston seal ring with ATF type F. Attach Protector (49 G030 595 ) to rack. Install rack to gear housing.
- Install oil seal, rack and bushing assembly. Check that rack and pinion gear are correctly meshed. Coat control valve, bearing and seal with ATF.
- Install control valve, bearing and oil seal assembly by tapping with a piece of pipe. Using snap ring pliers, install snap ring. Finger tighten rack support, spring, yoke plug and lock nut.
- Secure toothed end of rack in vise. Tighten tie rod to specifications. Tap in new roll pin. Install bearing. Tighten tie rod lock nut to specifications.
- Apply sealant to pinion plug and install. Tighten yoke plug to 48 INCH lbs. (5.5 N.m). Loosen and retighten plug. Repeat this several times. After final tightening of yoke plug, back off plug 35-45 degrees.
- On MX-6 and 626 with engine speed sensing power steering, go to next step. On all others, attach Preload Attachment (49 0180 510B ) and a spring gauge, measure pinion rotating torque. Pinion rotating torque should be 700-1300 grams (24-46 ozs.). If incorrect, repeat step 6).
- Complete reassembly by installing return lines, tie rod boots and tie rods.