Removal and Replacement

POWER STEERING GEAR AND LINKAGE


Removal and Installation


COMPONENTS





CAUTION:
Spiral cable may be cut if steering wheel turns while separating steering column assembly and steering gear assembly. Be sure to secure steering wheel using string to avoid turning.

REMOVAL
1. Set vehicle to the straight-ahead position.
2. Remove tires from vehicle.
3. Remove undercover from vehicle.
4. Remove lower side fixing bolt of lower joint.





5. Remove cotter pin (1), and then loosen the nut.
6. Remove steering outer socket (2) from steering knuckle (3) so as not to damage ball joint boot (4) using the ball joint remover
(suitable tool).

CAUTION:
Temporarily tighten the nut to prevent damage to threads and to prevent the ball joint remover from suddenly coming off.
7. Remove high and low pressure piping of hydraulic piping, and then drain power steering fluid. Refer to Service and Repair.
8. Remove steering hydraulic piping bracket from front suspension member. Refer to Service and Repair.
9. Remove power steering solenoid valve harness connector. Refer to Overhaul.
10. Remove rack stay (2WD) or front cross bar (AWD). Refer to Component, Component.
11. Remove mounting bolts and nuts of steering gear assembly, and then remove steering gear assembly from vehicle.

INSTALLATION
Installation is the reverse order of removal. For tightening torque, refer to "COMPONENTS".
- When installing lower joint to steering gear assembly, follow the procedure listed below.
- Set rack of steering gear in the neutral position.

NOTE:
To get the neutral position of rack, turn gear-sub assembly and measure the distance of inner socket, and then measure the intermediate position of the distance.
- Align rear cover cap projection (A) with the marking position (B) of gear housing assembly.






- Install slit part of lower joint (C) aligning with the projection (A) of rear cover cap (1). Make sure that the slit part of lower joint (C) is aligned with both the projection (A) of rear cover cap (1) and the marking position (B) of gear housing assembly.
- After installation, bleed air from the steering hydraulic system. Refer to Air Bleeding Hydraulic System.
- Perform final tightening of nuts and bolts on each part under unladen conditions with tires on level ground when removing steering gear assembly. Check wheel alignment. Refer to Front Suspension Assembly Front Suspension,
Front Suspension.
- Adjust neutral position of steering angle sensor after checking wheel alignment. Refer to Testing and Inspection.

INSPECTION AFTER INSTALLATION
Make sure that steering wheel operates smoothly by turning several times from full left stop to full right stop.