does anyone know the bolt size for the bolts attaching the steering rack to the cross member, too small for any of my tools and i dont wanna go back and forth the store just guessing. thank you.

 

also its a 96 explorer 4 door 4wd

 

See my user gallery for photos and sizes...

Csaey

 

Paul...

Hey, first...I am not an auto repair pro, just a do-it-yourself person. I just reused my old bolts and nuts.

Referring to the three attached photos...the bolt is about 5 1/2 inches long, the bottom flange nut is 24mm the top nut holding on the finned steering fluid cooler is 18mm, the funny "L" shape bracket keeps the bolt from rotating when the bottom nut is tightened. Not sure the size of the head nut like that is about an inch down from the top...kinda hard to let you know since the rack is installed now.

On our 96 Explorer 5.0 v8 had to lift the engine off the front mounts about an inch or so, undo the fan shroud, undo the oil filter cooler and undo the forward bolt (but not the rearward bolt) from the passengerside lower control arm (after releasing 20 quarter turns on the torsion bar)...then lightly pried down maybe 1/2 inch. Then the rack rotated forward and slid enough to the passenger side for the driver side to clear to the front...then out. Remove the tie rod ends first and do not forget there is a lock nut for each tie rod end.

Do not rely on Chiltons....do not rely just on my way, I may not have taken the correct approach. Get the real service manual...wished I had. And, check out these forums:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...play.php?f=176
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m...le.jhtml?term=


There is another one that is not opening now for me...will get to you later.

Keep me posted.

Casey

 

...another site to check out:

http://www.allautoparts.info/auto_re...688204265a21e8

 

thank you very much for the info. i actually managed to get it out without having to remove the oil lines and fan shroud, just the lower radiator hose. slid right out after about 30 minutes and some really cut up, exhausted hands. getting the new one in was even more fun. got to cold outside and i had to call it quits after tightening the lines. is it normal for the lines to be able to rotate a little after they are tightened? just wanna make sure so i dont get everything back together and then have to tear it all apart. so hopefully tuesday ill be able to finish this project and i wont be going off roading again for quite some time. thank you very much once again for your help. theres alot of info there that will probably come in handy for the future.

cheers,
paul

 

Yes, the lines should be able to move around...so not tighten too much so as not to strip the treads. I think the lines are tightened at about 20 lbs...not sure exactly.

Casey

 

got the rack back on a couple of days ago, boy was it alotta fun. got all the lines hooked up, the pump made a nasty noise because i ran it for a while with no fluid while the rack was broken. so got a new pump yesterday and had alotta trouble getting the pulley off and on, but got that fixed, now it turns great. when i took it in to get aligned, they told me a hub was bad, so i replaced it and it also killed my abs light, woohoo! taking it in to get aligned tomorrow, it will have come out to $450 for all the stuff i broke, but i saved alotta money because i did the work myself, and i will never go off roading again, thank you very much for your help, you saved me.

thank you again,
paul