1990 Mustang rack and pinion

The R&P on the Mustang is a oiece of cake if you have much mechanical skils and the tools. I have used racks for Pep Boys and Autozone before with no problem. If you swap the rack, you need to install what is known as a long rack assembly which includes the tie rods. The short rack will not include these. The inner sockets are a primary wear point in the rack assemby and are included as part of the long rack. There is not much point in trying to seals a leaky rack as the leaks are usually due to wear. A reman long rack will have bushings installed which can greatly extend the life of a good reman rack over a new OEM.

Good luck Lugnut

You will not be able to do the seals yourself. You need a rebuilt rack. If you want to try to put off the repair, you can try a stop leak product - they usually don't help but usually don't make things worse either.

Go with meridianautoparts.com if they carry your rack, they have decent prices and excellent toll-free support.

Replacing the rack is not bad. Use jackstands because both front tires will have to be removed and you will be under the car. There are two fittings to remove that are usually rusted, so get the correct size line wrenches and spray with plenty of pb so you don't round them off. Aside from that, you disconnect the outer tie rod ends (little ball joints) by whacking the SIDE of the steering knuckle until they drop out (or use a ball joint fork if you are planning to replace them anyway). Once the fittings and the tie rod ends are disconnected, you can remove the mounting bolts and anything else that is in the way. On my car, the rack slid out the passenger side wheel well.

Take this opportunity to do sway bar bushings and anything else that suddenly becomes convenient to access with the rack out of the way.

Once you have the new rack in place and hooked up, flush out your power steering system until it runs clear by disconnecting the return line at the pump and routing it into a pan, then continuing to add more fluid as someone turns the wheel back and forth with the pump running. Existing contamination in the system will take care of the new seals in a hurry if you do not do this. It would be a good idea to use whatever power steering fluid that the manufacturer of the rack and/or seals recommends; some seals will swell and leak with the wrong fluid.

You will need a toe adjustment afterwards. Make absolutely sure that the alignment shop DOES NOT twist the steering boots when they set the toe. I have had two separate alignment shops do this to me; the second one went unnoticed, and now I have a torn boot to deal with. When the boots tear, contamination gets onto the inner tie rod from the outside, and destroys the rack seal as it scrapes back and forth inside the seal. The alignment shop may try to argue with you about this. Be adamant or you will end up with a torn boot like me and your nice new rack will eventually be a leaker again if you don't fix the boot in a hurry.

If you do notice a boot tear, the only thing that should be inside of it is a bit of grease. If there is any power steering fluid, the seal is leaking and leaks will only get bigger. If the boot is torn but it is still dry, replace it immediately to prevent seal contamination. Clean the shaft thoroughly with brake cleaner, then apply grease to the tie rod as you slide a new boot over it to avoid the tie rod threads chewing up the boot.