Thefeek

Sages,

When changing oil a few days ago I saw a stain on the exhaust pipe. Looking up from there I saw a torn rack boot that was wet with Pentosin. (see pic) I've searched archives and found a DIY without pics that step through the process, so I'm ok with that. It's the replacement or rebuilding part I'm not sure of.

First, can we rebuild these with a seal kit of some kind? Second, if I go with a re-manufactured rack, is it advisable to remain with the OEM ZF item or is a cheaper Mayle acceptable. Price difference is about $500. Time is on my side because the leak is not bad, just there.
Thanks
Mark

UrS4boy

Replacing the steering rack is not a pleasant job. But it can be done.

I think the instructions you probably found were Audi/S/scott's and they went something like this:

Stuff you'll need:

10mm to 21mm sockets
10mm to 21mm wrenches
bottle or 2 of ps fluid, depends how much you lose.
PS washers for banjo fittings


1) Center your steering wheel, off lift the front of the car on jack stands and remove the passenger front wheel.

2) With a long screw driver bend back the safety tabs that secure the bolts that hold the tie rods (located in center of rack).

3) Loosen these bolts and remove bracket and steering damper. Be careful they're spacers under there that you need!

4) Remove the 2 PS hoses connected to the rack and the servotronic plug. ****note which one hose goes to which location or you'll be doing this again****

5) Remove the 2 bolts holding the rack to the driver fender bracket and the 1 bolt holding the rack to the passenger fender bracket. (note, there isn't enough play in the steering column u joint to slide off so the rack has to be loose in the engine bay)

6) Go inside the car and remove the bolt on the steering column U joint. It's a bitch to get in there but it can be done. You should have a free rack now!

7) Go to the passenger side because the rack is coming out the passenger tie rod hole. I removed the rubber boot thing that keeps the crap out of the engine bay.
The hardest part is getting the rack to not to catch on anything, a extra set of hands would be very helpful. As you stand on the passenger side you have to slightly rotate the rack to the left while pulling towards you. The splined nub that the steering U joint connects to has to fit under the firewall, it's the ONLY way it'll fit out so don't waste your time trying other variations.

8) Throw rack on ground and take a picture like this:

9) BE VERY careful reinstalling the steering column U Joint, it's very soft aluminum. There is **ONE** spline that is wider than the others. Bolt on U Jount

***Be careful because if you get it wrong, you can't get it on and you can mess up the splines, trust me I know, no one mentioned this to me.***

10) Bolt down rack

11) Bolt on new PS hoses with new washers. (sorry, don't have the part numbers handy)

12) Reconnect tie rods and damper, rebend safety plate

13) Top off SP tank and start car, watch level and add as needed. Once it looks good keep turning lockout to lockout and add more PS fluid.

14) Have a beer

UPDATE: TheatTau87 added these suggstions:

"If you remove the RH tie rod completely the job is amazingly simplified. With that out of the way it's no longer a chinese puzzle to get the rack out.

Some other stuff that may be helpfull, YMMV.

Make sure that both LH bolts that attach the rack to the fender turn freely. For some reason the bottom one likes to sieze up and you think it's turning, but the head of the bolt just spins off. I broke the bolt on my car and the bolt was stuck on my parts car and required heat to get it out in one piece. Use generous amounts of heat on the weld nut on the fender to free up the bolt if it doesn't turn easily.

Check out the steering damper when you have it off to see if it's worn out. It's easy to replace (15 min job) at a later time if you find it's worn and don't have a replacement on hand. Also, replace the boot if your rack does't already have a new one on it. The boot requres pulling the rack to replace it. Big PITA R&R for a $20 part."

Audi/s/scott's Original Audiworld Post:

Post No. 8 in this thread:
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...php?p=18922739

Thefeek

Thanks, Dave.
Yep, that's the write up I found. Any input to the repair parts? Rebuild or re-manufactured? ZF or mayle?

lliejk

This is who I used (and others):

http://jorgenauto.com/

Ed

Thefeek

One more question. How does it compare to an airbox rebuild? I've done that and it too was unpleasant. Just wondering if it is similar.

UrS4boy

Airbox rebuild (whatever that is) = easy

Extracting and replacing the steering rack with the engine in the engine bay = hard.

Replacing the steering rack undero these conditions would be less difficult:

lliejk

I'll vouch for that. I am doing the rack as part of the engine rebuild while the engine is out of the car. I would not want to do this with the engine in.

Also, I have no idea what an "airbox rebuild" is, so I can't compare that to the rack, but if you mean pulling the box that holds the airfilter, that is a very easy thing to do.

Ed

Thefeek

OK, now I'm scared. The Airbox is where the heater blower and heater core reside. It's under the rain tray behind the engine and under the dash. I found it to be what is termed "PITA".
Steering Rack worse? Yikes.

Thanks for the awesome picture Dave.

UrS4boy

Hmmm,..first time I have heard that called the "Airbox". Most people call the item in your photo the "Heater box" because it contains the HVAC fan and the heater core. Removing the heater box to replace the fan or the heater core is not fun but it can be done without too much blood. I am working on a R&R DIY based on a procedure that a trained Audi tech and UrS enthusiast took 2.5 hrs to do the job from start to finish (mere mortals will be double that). I partipated in one such heater box R&R following that procedure and it wasn't too bad.

The steering rack will be somewhat more difficult than that.

PS: I might steal your "Airbox" photo for my DIY write-up.

Dave F.

scarman

I believe you are guilty of selective reading. It is common to call that assembly the airbox since it distributes all the climate control air to the vehicle interior, hot or cold.