Steering Rack bushings . . .

[New-to-240z]

Hey guys, i just bought a set of MSA poly. bushings for my 73 steering rack. I had no trouble getting the old ones out, but now its almost impossible for me to get the new ones in!! they are cut just like the old ones, and when i put them on, they have this HUGE gap between the two ends that should meet!! I'm having a FIT trying to do this job. Does anyone have any ideas as to what i can do?

Do i have to have the LCA's off in order to do this? (I got the poly's on so i wouldn't think so.) I am honesly going to just throw these things out and put the old POS's back in! Has anyone tried using these?

[New-to-240z]

I've done some reading up on the boards, and it seems like the MSA haven't had too many problems. I'm going to put on some grease i had from my last poly upgrade on my 240sx and hopefully that will solve the problem. If not then I'll live with the stock ones until i swap out my engine.

Another question . . Can I replace the steering coupler by just unbolting the 4 bolts and then sliding the coupler out and the new coupler in?

[ta240]

On the one bushing that is thinner I believe it has a correct direction to it. If it has a huge gap, rotate it 180 and then slide it on.

-Trevor

[New-to-240z]

trieed that and it STILL doesn't go on correctly. I think when i pull the tie rods it should give me a little more play in setting it up. I'm hoping at least. I'm going to be tackling it in like 2 hours, will post results. Hopefully MSA will be helpful if this doesn't fit right.

[e_racer1999]

i plan on getting the full set tomorrow. let me know what solution you come up with, or i'll let you know my solution.... one way or another

[New-to-240z]

U going to be at the shop? I am getting off of work around 7pm and will be home at 7:30. If ur in the area, i'm only 10 min away from the shop. Maybe we can tackle this problem together. 2 minds together are better then 1 alone. haha

I'm hoping a little poly grease and some tweaking will set them in place and make it work.

[New-to-240z]

Well, after talking to a few guys and heading down to MSA, I found that boiling some water, letting it settle then dropping in the bushings for about 5 min make all the difference in the world!!!! From what i gather, because poly is made at such high temps it can handle the heat from the water and it makes it very pliable, and then after about 10 min it returns to it original state. So, that helped me squeeze them in there and get those lips over the tops.

Anyway, I was still wondering if i can just unbolt the steering coupler and swap them out with the poly? Or is it more indepth then just that?

[e_racer1999]

i haven't done the steering coupler yet. i would assume it's just the 4 bolts, tho

and i plan on leavin the orange area around 4, so i'll miss ya off work. sorry

[New-to-240z]

its all good man. Maybe next time before i head out to SD i'll let you know and we can meet up at the K-Kart racing track or something. (I think its the Dromo-1 track actually.) Later

[e_racer1999]

for sure!

[tp1gbw]

For what it's worth - When I replaced my steering wheel bushing (78-280z) with a poly one, I stripped the bottom steering wheel u-joint bolt by having the steering rack in tight and the steering coupler bolts tight before bolting on the u-joint. I had the groove in the splined shaft on the rack lined up properly, but it seemed like the tension pulling the steering shaft up away from the steering rack, pulled the bolt against the splined shaft. Reccomend you tighten u-joints first before rack or steering coupler.

[e_racer1999]

i did the steering coupler at the same time as the rack bushings. otherwise those bolts would have NEVER made it back in there.

and a side note, don't try to put the bolts in the other way (from the bottom) because they will hit the steering knuckle