Buick Rack Replacement: tips, tricks or advice?

1988 Buick LeSabre needs a new R&P assembly. Haven't been under there recently but...Anyway, I'm not a complete clown with a wrench so I'm wondering if there is anything particularly useful anyone has learned other than just jump in there and go at it? As i understand, it is simple: Wheels off, lines off, tie rod ends separated, separate unit/ shaft, unbolt mounts, slide out, slide in, rinse, repeat. Right? Thanks for any specialty advice or links.

Kevin

Reply to
funkykev
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Saw this somewhere else: DO remove the brake booster and master cylinder. makes life a lot easier. Leave MC brake lines attached...just bend it out of the way a little. This makes getting to the bolt on the intermediate shaft quite easy, as well as the fittings on the rack and some of the mount bolts. Allows a lot more of the job to be done from the top. Good luck, kevin. Oh, yeah!! And the 5th bolt??? The one that doesn't attach from the top, but screws in on the horizontal plane??? That nut (the only end you'll readily see) is FIXED. You want to get to the head of it on the other side through the sub-frame. I've done all of this and it works!

Me.

Reply to
funkykev

The post that you are quoting doesn't really make sense for a Lesabre. Sound more like what you would do with the firewall center take off racks that you found in the old Cavaliers...etc. There is no need to remove the master cylinder...everything is done from under the vehicle. I always get the bolt that holds the intermediate shaft to the rack thru the left wheel well...if the steering wheel is in the "straight ahead" position, the head of that bolt will be staring right at you.

Other then that, your original description of how to do it is pretty much how it goes. The only thing I would add is to loosen the nuts that lock the outer tie rods to the inner tie rods "before" you take the outer tie rod out of the spindle. It's just easier to do at this point.

Make sure you have a quality 18 mil wrench or crowfoot when you go to break the ps line connections. It can be easy to round the nuts off if you have sub-par tools for the job.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

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