1997 - 2003 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP Rack & Pinion Replacement.

[zepol]

Rack & Pinion Exploded View

(1)Torque Prevailing Nut (2)Tie Rod Seal (3)Outer Tie Rod (4)Hex Jam Nut (5)Tie Rod End Clamp (6)Rack and Pinion Boot (7)Boot Clamp (8)Inner Tie Rod (9)Adjuster Plug Lock Nut (10)Shock Dampener (11)Cylinder Line (RH)(12)Cylinder Line (LH)(13)O-ring Seals (14)Rack and Pinion Gear Assembly (Partial)(15)Dust Cover (16)Torque Prevailing Nut (17)Tie Rod Seal (18)Outer Tie Rod (19)Hex Jam Nut (20)Tie Rod End Clamp (21)Rack and Pinion Boot (22)Boot Clamp (23)Inner Tie Rod (24)Breather Tube (25)Shock Dampener

Rack & Pinion Connected to the Intermediate Steering Shaft


Shiny New Rack & Pinion


REMOVAL PROCEDURE

1. Raise and support the vehicle.


2. Place a drain pan under the vehicle.

3. Remove the tire and wheel assembly.

Caution
Failure to disconnect the intermediate shaft from the rack and pinion stub shaft can result in damage to the steering gear and/or intermediate shaft. This damage can cause loss of steering control which could result in personal injury.

Notice
Set steering shaft so the block tooth on the upper steering shaft is at the 12 o'clock position, the wheels on the vehicle are straight ahead and set the ignition switch to the LOCK position. Failure to follow these procedures could result in damage to the coil.

4. Remove the intermediate steering shaft lower pinch bolt at the steering gear stub shaft using an 11 MM socket.

Note: The pinch bolt is located under a plastic "Cowl" that sits on top of the rack and pinion stub shaft. It is not secured onto the stub shaft and can be pushed upward and out of the way so that you can access the pinch bolt. You can see the black plastic "Cowl" in the picture below.


*** Tip - I had to use several extensions on my ratchet in order to reach the pinch bolt as it's pretty deep inside of the wheel well. Thank goodness that I never got rid of all the extra tools I have acquired over the years in all those tool boxes that I lost parts to or were not as good as the new and bigger set I bought etc. Here is a picture of the frankentool below.


5. Remove the intermediate steering shaft(1) from the steering gear stub shaft(2).


6. Remove both of the tie rod ends from the steering knuckles using an 18 MM socket.


7. Support the rear of the frame using jackstands.


8. Remove the frame bolts from the rear of the sub frame using an 18 MM socket


Notice
Do not lower the rear of the frame too far as damage to the engine components nearest to the cowl may result.

9. Lower the rear of the sub frame

*** Tip - What I did to "Lower" the sub frame was actually lift the 3 ton jack that I had on the front of the frame higher while keeping the jack stands at the same level which lowered the sub frame down once the bolts are removed. During this process I have to admit that I lifted the jack a little too high and the sub frame lifted off of the jack stands. There was no damage done to any components because the sub frame didn't drop too low. I don't recommend lifting the main jack too high because even though nothing happened to my car this doesn't mean that nothing will happen to yours. After all I'm sort of a lucky guy. ***

10. Remove the power steering pressure line from the power steering gear using an 18 MM flare wrench (Crows foot)
11. Remove the power steering return line from the power steering gear using an 18 MM flare wrench (Crows foot)

Note: The power steering pressure and return lines are the two steel hoses that go directly into the rack stub shaft and are located on the passenger side of the stub shaft. You will see that there are two plastic caps on the passenger side of the new rack and pinion that you bought. This is where the pressure and return lines go into on the old rack. Remember to remove the caps before trying to connect the lines to the new rack!

*** Tip - I recommend leaving the return line in the plastic bracket that connects the two lines to the body of the rack and pinion so that you know which line goes into which hole when reconnecting the lines to the new rack. Not sure if they will fit in each others holes but I didnt want to take a chance.

12. Remove the Magnasteer® Variable Assist electrical connector from the power steering gear assembly, If equipped with variable effort steering.

Note: This step is only for the GTP model as the GT and SE models do not typically have the Magnasteer® Variable Assist as an option. (You can see the electrical connector coming out of the rack in the picture of the new rack at the top of this page.)

13. Remove the power steering gear mounting bolts and nuts using 18 MM socket and my secret tool below.

Note: This was easily the most difficult part of the job for me as there are nuts on the back of these bolts that are virtually impossible to get to as there is not enough room for a ratchet back there and is a little out of position for a typical wrench. It literally took me over 2 hours to figure out what to do at this point. I had almost thought that I had gone this far only to be thwarted in my quest for steering normalcy.

*** Tip - After foraging through my house I finally found something that I thought would do the trick with those unreachable nuts. I found a plumbers tool called a basin wrench that is meant for grabbing onto hard to reach nuts with little or no hands and it bites down on the nut which creates the tension you need to screw off the bolt. I stuck this wrench through the wheel well over the sway bar and onto the nut and held it on with my finger tips as I used a ratchet on the bolt. Not sure if there is a mechanic equivalent to this tool but here is a picture of a basin wrench below.


Note: After the clever usage of the basin wrench you probably think your out of the woods with these mounting bolts but you would be wrong....Very very wrong. I found there is a clearance issue after taking the nut off. The bolt is too long and is obstructed from coming all the way out by the sway bar as pictured below.


Here is a closer look


*** Tip - I attempted to take off the driver side mounting bolt first which seemed to have a much more prominant clearance issue than the passenger side bolt. I fought and fought with this bolt for not kidding what was about two hours...With a couple of breaks in there of course. I then tried the passenger side bolt and found while this had a slight clearance issue itself it was nothing like the driver side and I was able to get this one off in about 5 minutes of pushing and pulling. Once I got the passenger side off I was able to wiggle the rack and pinion around enough to get the driver side off in about 30 minutes. Ha ha. I'm serious. But alas...your hard work with be worth is because you will be onto the next step!

14. Remove the power steering gear through the left wheel opening.


Woot! Out with the old and in with the new.


15. Remove the tie rod ends off of the old rack and pinion

*** Tip - Remember to count the number of turns it takes to get each tie rod end off of the old rack and pinion as you will be using the exact amount of turns to put them back onto the new rack and pinion!


INSTALLATION PROCEDURE

1. Install the power steering gear through the left wheel opening.

2. Install the mounting bolts and nuts Tighten the mounting bolts to 80 N·m (59 lb ft).

*** Tip - Remember to install the driver side mounting bolt first in order to make sure you have enough play to get past the clearance issue I had when removing this bolt.

3. Inspect the threads on the pressure line and the return hose.

4. Inspect the O-ring seals on the power steering lines.

5. Replace the seals if damaged, lubricate the seals before installation.

6. Install the clamp that holds the power steering lines to the power steering gear.

7. Install the power steering pressure line to the power steering gear.

8. Install the power steering return line to the power steering gear.

9. Install the Magnasteer® Variable Assist electrical connector to the power steering gear assembly, If equipped with variable effort steering.

Note: Again this is for the GTP model only.

10. Raise the frame into position.

Note: I just lowered the main jack on the front allowing the jack stands to guide the frame back into position. If you did this the way I did....Remember to lower the jack slowly!

11. Install NEW rear frame bolts.

12. Remove the jackstands.

13. Install the tie rod ends to the steering knuckles.

Note: My vehicle had the OEM GM tie rod ends on it which are different than the Moog or any other aftermarket tie rod ends. There is no castle nut or cotter pin etc. and I had to deal with the tie rod end bolts spinning with the nut as I was trying to tighten them up again. This was something that took me about an hour to figure out because I had no clue what to do in order to keep the bolt from spinning. Arent you happy that I went through this junk before you so that I can give you a tip so you dont spend an hour trying to figure out solutions to these issues?

Important
Do not hit the tie rod end into the knuckle trying to jam it in to stop the bolt from spinning. You will damage your tie rod end and your rack and pinion job will get 50 dollars more expensive real quick.


*** Tip - The OEM tie rod ends have a hex shape at the bottom of the bolt. This allowed me to grab the nut with a plain old adjustable wrench and then grab the bottom of the bolt (Hex shape) with another wrench and twist the bolt (Not the nut) which spun the nut up into place. Once the nut is tight enough to the knuckle you can use a ratchet and torque it into place.

Notice
Set steering shaft so the block tooth on the upper steering shaft is at the 12 o'clock position, the wheels on the vehicle are straight ahead and set the ignition switch to the LOCK position. Failure to follow these procedures could result in damage to the coil.

Important
During the installation of the intermediate steering shaft, ensure the steering shaft is seated before you install the pinch bolt. The two mating shafts may disengage if the pinch bolt is inserted into the coupling before the steering shaft installation.

14. Install the intermediate steering shaft to the stub shaft

Note: This is the part of the job that everyone warned me would be a PITA. Guess what...It certainly was a PITA. I had my wife jump into the car and wiggle the stearing wheel while the key was in the accessories position so that I could reach up and wiggle the ISS back onto the stub shaft. This takes a lot of patience and once you have the ISS into a straight enough position on top of the stub try and pull it down so that you can get the bolt back into the linkage. REMEMBER DO NOT HAVE YOUR FINGER IN THERE WHEN THE PERSON IS ACTUALLY MOVING THE STEERING WHEEL! That could probably get real dangerous quick.

15. Install the lower pinch bolt to the intermediate steering shaft. Tighten the pinch bolt to 47 N·m (35 lb ft).

16. Install the tire and wheel assembly.

17. Remove the drain pan from under the vehicle.

18. Lower the vehicle

19. Fill the power steering system with power steering fluid.

20. Bleed the power steering system.

21. Inspect the power steering system for leaks.

22. Perform a front end alignment.

Note: Do not skip getting the car aligned! Your steering wheel may be off center a bit which is normal this is part of what will be fixed by getting an alignment done. Even if your steering wheel is not off center you should still get a professional alignment done so that you dont wear your tires out in uneven fashion and lots of other bad things.

Congrats You Did It!

SPECIAL THANKS GOES OUT TO MY WIFE FOR THE PICS WHILE MY HANDS WERE REALLY GREASY! SHE IS ONE GREAT WIGGLER! (THE STEERING WHEEL YA FREAKS) I MUST GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE. SOME OF THIS INFORMATION CAME FROM THE GM REPAIR MANUALS WHICH I JUST BOUGHT BUT ALL OF THE NOTES AND TIPS ARE ALL ME! THE MANUALS ARE NOT ALL THAT HELPFUL FRANKLY AS THEY ARE ABOUT AS BLAND AS YOU CAN GET WITHOUT ANY TIPS OR SUGGESTIONS AT ALL.

[tblake]

Nice Write-up!

When I did mine, I had to take the stabilizer bar off to get the rack mounting bolts out. There was juts no room. I think that may be because I have a larger GMPP stabilizer bar.

Other than that, the worst time I had while working on mine was getting that intermediate shaft to connect to new rack. I just couldn't get the darn thing to line up.

[rkvons]

Gosh! I hope I never have to do this!

[ronaldgtp]

just a quick question. you cannot get the rack out with out lower in the frame in back look like there is enought room. good right up.thank ron.

[tblake]

Lowering the back of the frame is going to be the easiest way.

[zepol]

If you don't lower the frame I don't think you will be able to wiggle the rack out of the ISS. Everything I have ever seen says to lower the frame and after doing it I really don't think you will have enough room to wiggle the rack out without having that frame lowered. It's very easy to do.

[Mouser]

The frame on our car has to be replaced, along with the rack n pinion {the brackets broke] . Is this the same job on a grand AM?

[LMP]

Excellent..I'm just about to go for my son's 2000GP. I did that twice on my '93 Transport and it is rather similar. 1st time I found it was PITA...2nd time was easy...but from what you describe, I did have a little more room in the TS....

[zibster]

just finished changing, info posted of great help, removing stabilizer bar made big difference in access, was not too bad, needed 18mm different wrenches which deleted basin wrench, changed both hoses as well for simplicity of work,car is 12 yrs old and had bad experience of busted one before in different car, thanks alot for sharing your adventure

[vicb2007]

very good write up! I noticed a leaking driver's side R/P boot...had to replace the rack. All went very well until I got to the ISS... long story short... extreme PITA; left the car on jack stands and will hit it again in 2 days when I have a day off again. Spent over 2 hrs trying to get it to seat to no avail.

[spddmn1]

I had no problems removing the rack or installing new one. I never removed the stabilizer or never removed the support bolts. I laughed at the book when I read that you have to lower the sub frame in the rear.

[GrandPrixman8]

You can watch a video on youtube now, showing exactly how to repair your cars rack and pinion.

2005 grand prix steering rack replacement.

[baron1701]

Im doing a rack this weekend for my Wife's cousin. Looking this write up over will have been invaluable. TY