Hmmm... okay, then something's wrong on my side. I bought one like that from Schuck's.

Ya' know that sharp point on the business end? It didn't want to stay on the top of the stud that comes through the ball. I got things jerry rigged such that I could counteract the torque from tightening the bolt wanting to cause the point to slip, and twist... twist... twist... SNAP! I sheared the bolts. twice.

I was told that I was using the wrong kind of puller. That the one I needed was one that had a cup on the business end, not the sharp point. And that (the "cupped end") is what I'm referring to when I said that I couldn't find one.

After all that Chicago winter road salt, nothing's easy on my truck. It's even a pain to get the skid plate off!

 

Daryl's got all the right toys. Dang him! Good thing I know where he lives! ummm... I mean that in a non-threatening-to-overtly-borrow-his-tools kindof way... of course.

$83.50 for that set huh? Hmmm... I should just do it. I'm not getting it fixed by breaking Schuck's pieces...


(uh-oh... I'm finding it for cheaper! $72.12!)

 

If you have an autozone where you are, you can rent these things for free. It's called their "loan a tool" program. You basically put a deposit down for the price of the tool, then when you bring it back, you get the deposit back. Check out their website for the stuff they have for "loan a tool".

 

Yeup, Schuck's has the same type of program, but like I said above, I kinda' wanted to own one. The deposit/cost of the set from Schuck's is about $150.

Thanks though!

 

midiwall,
I feel you pain here. Try living in Eastern Canada for a bit. I've seen people that live near the ocean with 4 to 5 year old vehicles totally disintegrate due to a combination of road salt and sea salt.
I'm rather jealous of you fellas down South. Especially when I see pics of you trucks with no rust. Makes wrenching quite a bit easier!

Cheers ,
P

 

It is nice let me tell you!
I moved from Arizona to here and I forgot how bad the roadsalt problem was.

BTW....Where are you in NB anyway?

 

I'm in Saint John, it's in the southern part of the Province along the coast.
Cheers,
P

 

Mark,

Sorry to hear that style gave you so much trouble. With the smaller puller, I was able to slip it over the TRE so that the claws were gripping more or less on a perpendicular to the TRE. It couldn't rotate much to slide off, and the point just sort of dug into the top of the TRE.

One alternative to the buying the expensive pullers is just welding a nut or large enough socket onto the top of puller that could slip over the TRE bolt ?

 

Im confused. Are you leaving the nut on the bolt? Or did you really shear the bolt?
I removed the nut before using the puller.

 

Ahh.. I confoozed you. I sheared the bolts that attach the side arms to the puller frame. I replaced them with something a bit larger and sheared those as well.

And yes, I pulled the nut off of the TRE before using the puller. I'm not THAT much of a noobie (anymore!).


David; I like the the idea of using a socket or something to get the point of the puller to set into. I still need a new puller though - so do I spend the same money again on basically the same thing, or trade up and call it "lesson learned about dealing with a salted truck"? (hah! my truck was... wait for it... "assaulted"!)

 

ok... so after taking out my old rack and installing my new one... the wandering on the highway was about 60% better with the new rack, however it was still sort of present. I took a look at the old rack and then i took a pair of pliars and started wiggling the part of the old rack at the part where the steering shaft usually connects. The freeplay is actually in the rack because when i wiggle the plairs and i apply resistance to the inner tierods by putting my hand in the way to prevent them from moving, i can tell the freeplay is actually coming from inside the rack.

So... this got my curious and i decided to take a stab at opening up the rack to see how the inside was done. I did not have any luck with that big bolt but instead, i saw that i could actually take the neck off of the rack with just the removal of 2 bolts. So that's where i opened up.

As someone mentioned here earlier, they were going to try to open up the rack and fix the "guide" (#9 on chart) in there to try to tighten it up. That will NOT work because upon further inspection, the rack consists of a big worm gear, and sort of a corkscrew like gear on the neck of the rack. So the worm gear is actually facing sideways instead of straight up like previously thought. Adjusting that guide will do nothing in this case.

I took a close look at the corkscrew gear and looked at the side that faced the worm gear when the rack was centered. I figured that it might be that the corkscrew part of the gear is a little worn and therefore the freeplay/clunk noise is coming from there. So i turned that gear about 180 degrees before sticking the neck back into there so that the corkscrew gear was using a different side/part of the gear than previously to hold the worm gear in center.

After reassembling the rack i took my pliars and gripped the part that connects to the steering shaft again. Then i tried to wiggle the pliars back and forth and test again for the freeplay.

To my surprise, the freeplay was greatly reduced. I think the way to fix the problem is to replace part # 8 in this chart.



Does anyone see what i'm talking about? or have i completely confused everyone?

thanks, input is appreciated.

 

What about just doing what you described- rotating that piece a bit?

 

Too bad you didn't take any pics while you were doing this.
I would love to see some if you have a dig camera handy.

 

Pics would be great. Also, can you get to that piece without removing the whole rack from the vehicle?

 

I sheared the same ones on my Harbor Freight pullers, so I installed grade 8.8 bolts and if it's gonna fail now it'll just break. But I did have the same problem with the two-jaw twisting out of position and popping off the stud. I managed to get a three-jaw style one, that came in the set, and it worked fine.

 

Thanks Chris.

 

It just seems a bit tighter when i use my plairs on the neck of the steering rack and wiggle back and forth. At least when i do it, i can physically feel the rack getting a bit tighter when it's in the center position. I can't guarantee that it will work 100%.

Yes. trust me, it'd be a lot easier to do it with the rack sitting on the floor instead of in the truck. You'd have to pretty much disconnect some hydraulic lines and the drive shaft to get the neck off anyways... so 4 extra rack bolts and it'll come right off, you'd might as wel take the whole thing off. Plus those bolts are tight and the neck is tight after you take it off. I had to use a rubber mallet to get that next back on.

Once again, it just feels like less freeplay when i use the pliars. But i can't guarantee when it's actually hooked up to the steering wheel. I bet it's worth a try though. Or if anyone wants to try to order just that part (#8) and replace it? and see what happens?

You guys want pics? argh... i already put it back together... ok... i'll get them when i get a chance.

 

Hmmm... I didn't think I could get a 3-jaw one in there, I'll have to look again. Thanks!

 

When I get back to la casa next week I'll try to load it back on there and snap a good shot of it for you.

 

Just an update that after replacing the inner and outer rack ends on the driver's side, I'm still getting some play in the ds wheel when jacked off the ground. Its not making any noise, but my guess is that the play is coming from the rack itself, and not the inner TRE as I had originally thought.