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HOW TO: Power to manual rack

10K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  Stangrcr1 
#1 · (Edited)
I spotted a thread in the 4th gen area with a similar question to my recent one about the speed sensor, and in the thread was this link..
http://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1517004&page=1
I had already purchased a rack rebuild kit, so I thought instead of just resealing the rack & looping the lines, I would give this a try. The main objective here is to remove the innards of the valve control body, and the piston seal. The rack will then become free moving, instead of hydraulically controlled. Allow yourself an afternoon for this project. If you are familiar with steering boxes, you could probably go from start to finish in an hour or two. If not, then double that. Yeah, I know I did this on top of two TV dinner stands....I'm ghetto.

Remove the two rubber mounts. Remove the hose linking the two boots. Just twist & pull.



Remove the two boot clamps and pull the boots back. Watch out for escaping fluid. Remove the tie-rods from the rack. You will see a washer with two bent sides. I used a hammer and a stubby screwdriver to bend the washers straight enough to get a bite with a vise grip and squeeze them flat again. I have never done this before, and have limited tools & resources, so if there is an easier or better way to do this, please let me know. Use an open ended or adjustable wrench to loosen the rod, and twist it out. Repeat for other side.



Remove the two 10mm bolts on the valve control and pry it from the rest of the assembly. Remove the two 10mm bolts from the valve cap and remove the cap.

Slide the roller pin out of the control valve and 'dump' the contents of each hole. Pry the bottom of the control housing off. I used a tiny drill bit to apply force to the little brass piece and 'pull' it up until there was enough exposed to grab it with a plier. Poke a drill bit or other small tool through to pop out the last little blue plastic piece. Reassemble your gutless valve body.




This should be everything...the only things going back in are the misshapen o-rings. (I of course used the new ones)


Moving on to the rack. I did not have a large enough tool to fit the rack locknut, but I vise gripped it and it was not difficult at all to loosen. Remove it, then remove the rack guide screw with a 14mm socket or wrench. Remove the rack guide with your fingers or whatever....I used some small snap ring pliers.




Remove the 4 10mm pinion cover bolts. Slide the cover off the pinion. Remove the large snaprings from the ends end of the pinion. Slide the pinion and lower bearing out of the rack.


(see those two o rings? keep or replace them, but take out the white plastic bits [not shown] in the holes. )

Remove the 4 10mm cylinder bolts. Remove the cylinder housing. Remove the cylinder spring & rack bushing. Pull the piston & housing out of the gearbox. Remove the outer & inner rings from the piston.



No more pics, because it started getting real greasy here. Liberally grease everything with some quality grease and begin reassembly.

I am on my way to the hardware store to find something to plug the p/s holes in the valve control, then on my way to work. I'll add my finishing touches after work.

Edit:

I was totally unable to find any hardware to fill the power steering lines. I ended up just using the existing lines and just cutting each one down to about an inch and capping them with some vacuum line plugs. I've had the rack in since Friday, and so far everything is fine. The feel of it is marginally better than the afunctional rack that was previously there. I am glad I will never have to deal with a leaky ps system again. Only people who are hardcore about simplifying their systems and don't care about power steering, or hardcore racers who think every pound counts should consider this project. Everybody else should just consider repairing their p/s to normal. I have always thought that power steering was overrated on small cars like ours, and I enjoyed the hell out of ripping all those lines out.
 
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#3 ·
wooooooooow i knew i could be done i had in my mind to do this . hey where did u purchase the rebuild kit . how much
please sticky ths
 
#5 · (Edited)
Nice job on the howto. That's pretty much the way I did it and it works great. Just be sure to grease the hell out of everything and try not to get PS fluid all over the garage. This is one messy ass job so be ready.

I noticed that your rack is all nice and clean, which is not fair. Mine was totally covered in old fluid and road crud.

C|
 
#12 ·
I'd assume that one, there's no oil going to is so it'll end up breaking on you. Two lose weight.
 
#13 ·
When I gutted mine, the only reason I did it was because I was concerned that just removing the pump would cause a heavier steering feel due to having to push the fluid around in the system (and through the valve body) without the aid of the pump. But then if I drained the entire system there would be no lubrication for the gears and sliding parts. So I drained the whole system and repacked any wearable parts with grease. Then I gutted the valve body just to make sure the valve wouldn't cause any issues with pressure buildup (it is just a big piston after all).

I don't really know if it was really necessary or not, but I already had the thing apart so I figured I might as well go the whole way.

C|
 
#15 ·
Hi Jacking

Hi Fellow luders

I dont intend to hi jack this thread but it would be pointless for me to make my own as this one is so well demonstrated and I think I could add to the sticky with the final result

First off thanks to the creator of this thread 5stars and a big thanks to Don for his thread on how to do a power steering delete here is the thread
http://preludepower.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325865

Well in the abouve thread he talks about creating a delete plate but in my case weight is not a problem and I feel that this plate might not seal the rack properly (no offense its a great thread)

So here are my questions

This is the main housing, the red block you see there is an oil passage that goes to the main rods to provide lubrication


This is the port where I was talking of the oil passages



Now this is what I want to do, the pic below is of the cover plate for the housing I want to wend shut the area's indicated by the blocks, can I do this



Now if it is possible to weld the above I would need to cut the shaft off this on part as seen in the pic below


Now the last two pics you will notice will have yellow blocks this is were the parts fit together , so can I cut the shaft off ?

In the below pics you will see the parts were the power steering system had all its little bits and pieces I want to remove them all !!!
And then I want to weld the ports closed were the pipes screwed in




Now my main concern is that I want to add grease and atf oil to keep the rack well lubed so if I do these above mentioned will it work correctly with out seizing

And where can I get a rebuild kit including new bearings

Thanks in Advance
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww237/fmn716/SNC01266.jpg?t=1266946189
 
#16 · (Edited)
I did not worry about lubricating it, as the rack is lubricated with bearing grease now.

As far as the pin on the sleeve, yes I did cut it off. Not flush though. I also drilled a shallow hole in the delete plate that the pin sits in.

That pin is what moves the pinion to change the amount of assist. The hole in the delete plate must be drilled fairly precisely to keep the rack with little or no freeplay.

As far as the ports in the body(the ones in the square below), I just took a die grinder and made a shallow cut between them to allow flow, if there is any. Not sure if the cut is required once the power assist is removed.


I have to admit, I did not totally disassemble my rack as it was fairly tight as it was. I just removed the valve block and made the delete plate to fit.
 
#17 ·
I had a manual rack in both my 84 base and my 86 base model preludes. Couldn't a rack from a base model be swapped in, eliminating all the plumbing? Or is the power rack closer ratio?

Chris
 
#18 ·
The power rack has a faster ratio. Less turning the steering wheel but more turn at the tires. Makes it a little harder parking and slow speed turning, but once moving, not noticeable.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Thanks, I will look more into this so you say that the steering rack doesnt really need oil can anyone with a manual rack explain what kind of luderication it has

Does anyone know where I could get a full gasket kit with bearings, boots and ball joints for that rod


Thanks George
I have not taken apart a lude manual rack, but I have redone several other makes, and all of them had bearing grease in them.

So long as the seals on the rack shaft and steering shaft are good, bearing grease will last a long time.

Mine is lubricated with Mobil 1 full synthetic wheel bearing grease(SHC 100). It is actually a high speed bearing grease, but seems to work fine here.

Once you remove the power assist, the only things needing lubrication are the bushings that the rack shaft slides in, and the pinion to rack shaft teeth. And the ballcups at the ends of the rack shaft, but those should have bearing grease already.
 
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