how to(with pictures): de-power, disassemble, ects.. 318is steering rack

[mr.vang]

I have a 318is steering rack laying around so i decided to open it up and give it some lube.

TOOLS:
impact gun(unless you want someone to hold it)
19mm
17mm
12mm
13mm
7/8 socket
long, bent nose pliers
auto grease
flat head screw driver(for the seal)

lets begin shall we:
lucky my rack was already out because i replace it with a m3 rack. The rack was kind of dirty so i give it a wash with one of my mom kitchen cleaning.


remove these line from the steering rack using 12mm(your going to need it later)


I let the rack dry and went to eat breakfast, played some CODmw2, and went on m42club. ok first thing remove the cap(as seen in the picture)

sec. use a bent or long nose pliers and grab the locking ring( there should be two holes on the ring for you to grab it)


next step: use either 19mm or 17mm(i forgot) socket and impact gun.

now you should see some balls bearing inside( don't worry they won't fall out)


it should come out like this

remove the o-ring(replace it if you are going to power your rack)


next step: remove two 13mm bolts

there should be a spring and a washer inside



next step: on the other side, there is a locking ring inside. you can see it through the hole. push it up through the hole and grab it with the pliers. (i already got it taken out in the pictures)



hooray!! the steering shaft is out

as you can see my o-ring seal was no good(also hard)

remove it


now: everything should be out of the shell by now. clean the inside as good as you can ( mine was as clean inside)


grease time( look how hard and dirty the old grease was. p.s. look like shit too)

[mr.vang]

you can replace all these seal. i didn't because i'm not planning to power this rack




don't forget to lube the ball bearing


now put everything back where it belong(finish product)



P.S. I enjoy some homemade peanuts along the way

[1991 E30 M42]

Great writeup, too bad this wasnt up when i did my rack

[e30boarder]

so no power steering? is it a bitch to drive or is it like driving an old porsche?

[mr.vang]

so no power steering? is it a bitch to drive or is it like driving an old porsche?

it feels good over +5mph, parking sucks though

[doitover]

Pictures aren't available? I'd really like to see this.

[mr.vang]

Pictures aren't available? I'd really like to see this.

opss...i forgot i had this on my picturepush file. my account was closed. i'll take some new pictures when i'm not so busy.

[deansweet]

Pictures to post? I am looking in to replacing or rebuilding the steering rack in my E30.
Pics would be so much appreciated.

Thanks
Dean

[rjcaptsean]

All of the picture links are broken...

[-318is-]

All of the picture links are broken...

any idea when your have pictures? maybe delete this thread and start a new one once you have more pictures

[deansweet]

I asked, he stated the pictures are gone forever...

[DesktopDave]

Not to kick a dead thread, but I found the Miata thread and figured I'd share...

http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php?x=1

Excellent pics.

[mcibmw533]

I just depowered my e36 steering rack using the flyingmiata link posted by desktopdave above.  It's very similar to ours.  I took a handful of photos during the process and thought I would share for those that are interested.  It took me about 3 hours but that included 1.5 hrs of emptying a corner of the garage after the stop ring (photo 6 on the flyingmiata directions) shot out of the end of the housing .  I had to completely empty the one corner of the garage just to find the stupid ring, but I did find it!

The first 3 photos (attached in this post are the rack in exploded diagram mode.  I did mess up the layout a little bit in the first pic - the component to right of the housing actually goes on the top, below the snap ring on the pinion shaft.  I also don't have the seal ring in the photo that comes out of the left end of the housing from behind the stop ring (will be in the next group of photos).

[mcibmw533]

You can see in these photos, the "enemy seal" (as noted in photos 7 and 8 of the flyingmiata post) was ground off and removed.  The first 2 photos show the top and bottom of the seal to be removed to help anyone get an idea of what they're working with.  I used a dremel tool with a cut-off wheel to cut the seal ring off on either side of the shaft.  I went just far enough to cut through most of the seal but not enough to cut into the shaft.  I then pried it apart with a large flathead screwdriver. 

The third photo shows what the shaft looks like when you pull it out of the housing after removing the stop ring.  As you can see, it looks a little different than photo 7 of the flyingmiata post.

I set the removed seal into place in the fourth photo just to show what it looks like when you pull the shaft out and remove the large cylinder before cutting off the seal.

I removed all of the tubing on the outside of the housing and will be installing bolts with the same thread/pitch to just plug the holes since they aren't needed anymore.

The dissasembly and reassembly was pretty straight forward.  Just make sure you have some way capture that stop ring during dissasembly, otherwise there were no surprises when following the flyingmiata post.