How to reclock a Mustang (79-04) Steering Rack

Introduction
The purpose of reclocking a steering rack is to set the alignment of the input shaft so that it works properly with the
rest of your steering system. The reason I had to do this is that I was installing a SN95 rack and a Maximum
Motorsports steering shaft (made for this purpose) in a Fox Mustang. Unfortunately, the MM shaft is made from off-
the-shelf Borgeson parts, and the result is that if it is installed with an unmodified SN95 rack the steering wheel will
be ~90 degrees off. This can be somewhat fixed with an aftermarket steering wheel, but then the phasing of the U-
joint will be off. The Mustang steering gear has an 8-tooth pinion, so it can be indexed in 45 degree increments. If
you do the math based on the rack speed (~54mm/rev), you come up with 6.75mm per tooth, which means that you
will always be able to get the rack within +/- 3.375mm of "perfect" for any setup. Considering that the car isn't put
together to tolerances that tight, it's plenty of adjustment.

Preperation
This job doesn't require any special tools-- just a basic collection of ratchets and sockets, snap ring pliers, a big c-
clamp, and a torque wrench. A seal remover and a pair of ViceGrip hex pliers is nice to have. You should get a
replacement dust seal (E69Z-3D527-B, under $5), but it isn't absolutely necessary. You'll also need some white
lithium grease.

A word about cleanliness. You want to be working somewhere clean. It doesn't need to be clean enough to do brain
surgery, but don't do it in your gravel driveway either. Find some space and clean it up before you dig in.

On to the task at hand!

Here's today's patient. It's a 2000 Cobra R rack.
First thing to do is center up the rack and mark the input shaft so you know where the starting point is. It doesn't
really matter if the rack is centered, but take a measurement (end of tie rod to some point on the rack for instance)
and write it down in case the rack moves by accident while the pinion is out. Keep in mind that each tooth is ~7mm,
so your measurement needs to be within a few mm. I put a white paint dot on the pin in the input shaft and a
matching one on a flat on the gear housing. Clean the housing with some brake cleaner to get off any goop so the
paint sticks.
Next thing is to mark the yoke plug so you can get it back in the same spot. You need to mark the grey plug and the
housing. The nut doesn't matter. Once again, you may need to clean the rack with brake cleaner before marking. I
made the first mark at 9 o'clock trying to line it up with the casting rib, but after I did it it was hard to line up, so I
did the mark at 6 o'clock on the plug and the rack.
Loosen the big-ass nut on the yoke plug. If you have a socket that big, good for you. I don't even have an adjustable
that big, so it was channel locks for me. Once the nut is loose, back off the plug with a 19mm socket. You really
don't need to remove it, but I know you want to know what's in there so we'll dig a bit deeper. The spring is the
"yoke spring", and the plastic doodad is the yoke. This contraption holds pressure on the back of the rack so it stays
tight against the pinion. Keeps it quiet (no gear teeth knocking) and reduces lash
Here's the view with the spring and yoke removed. You can see the rack in the hole. OK, put that plug back in
before a mouse crawls in there...
Now to the topside. Remove the boot from the top of the input shaft. It just pulls off.
Under the boot is a dust seal. This will get ruined when you remove it. The price of progess.
And out you go. My seal remover does the job nicely. Be careful to not nick the housing or input shaft.
Under the dust seal is a snap ring...
...and out goes the snap ring.

Now onto the other side. Remove the black plastic pinion plug. It's 1-1/8".
Underneath the plug is a nut that holds the valve assemby in the housing. Here comes the mess...
To get the nut off, you need to hold the top of the input shaft. For a SN95 rack, my ViseGrip hex pliers work great.
They don't need to be very tight. If you don't have these or you're working on a Fox, try installing the I-shaft and
putting an extension through the U-joint for leverage.
With a 17mm socket on the other side, loosen the nut. It's a metal-locking nut so it will be tight the whole way. Also,
don't worry about the deflection-- you are just torquing the T-bar until the valve hits the internal stops.

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Once the nut is off, you can look in and see the lower bearing.
The next trick is to get the valve assembly out. On the top of the valve is a bearing and then the seal that was under
the snap ring. The seal needs to be PRESSED out, not HAMMERED out to avoid damaging it. If you have a press,
use it to push on the pinion end. I have a small arbor press, but it didn't have a big enough opening. I used a C-clamp
instead. Try to get it as straight as you can and avoid damaging the plug threads, pinion threads, and bearing. If you
had a huge C-clamp you could put a socket over the input shaft and get a straight shot. It's not in very tight (the
bearing is loose, it's just the fit of the seal) and my method worked fine.
This is really as far as the pinion needs to come out to reclock it. Note that the pinion is a helix, so it rotates on it's
way out like a distributor.
I know, I know, we've come this far, you want to see what's inside. Here ya go.
And here's a view down into the rack. You can see the lower bearings (There are 3 total, the top one comes out with
the valve) and the teeth on the rack.
Alright, back to work. Put that valve back in. Here it is clocked 90 degrees. Note that the seal has been pushed in
until it's just inside the housing. A word of waring here. The bottom of the seal bore has a chamfer on it, and the seal
SHOULD NOT BE BOTTOMED or it could be damaged.
To make sure the seal is installed correctly (not bottomed out), I next install the snap ring, even though the seal is
above the snap ring groove at the moment.
Next I use a socket to slowly tap the snap ring down the bore until it snaps into place. By doing this I end up with
the seal tight against the snap ring and I can be sure it doesn't get driven in too far. Just make sure you keep the
socket square and tap it in slowly.
And there she is in place.
Next start the pinion nut...
...and use the same arrangement used to remove it to reinstall. Torque to 35ft-lb.
Next reinstall the pinion plug. Alhough it seals on the bottom, it had a bit of sealer on the therads when I removed it.
I added a little teflon paste to the threads. Be careful to keep the bottom of the plug clean... even though the bearng
is sealed, I still wouldn't want the teflon goo floating around in there. Torque to 35 ft-lb with a 1-1/8" socket. On
some cars the plug is metal and the torque is 50 ft-lb.
For our next trick we'll reinstall the yoke/spring/plug. The actual procedure is to tighten the plug to 45in-lb then
back it off 48-56 degrees. Since we're aiming for a given clearance, it's best to just put it back where it was. Even so,
I always do a sanity check. Here it is finger tight, which is about 45 degrees past the mark...
...and backed off so the marks match.
Then install the nut, which is torqued to 52 ft-lb. If you have a socket that big. And some way to hold the plug from
inside the socket to keep it from rotating. Yeah, right. Channel locks again for me, with a 19mm socket to hold the
plug
Now is where you have to use your imagination. Here is where I would pack the area above the snap ring with white
lithium grease and install the dust seal... but of course the dust seal is on national backorder. You can do this easy
enough in the car, so I'm going to add the grease now and pop the seal in later. You don't really need the seal, as the
"umbrella" boot will keep the water out, but for $5 the extra seal is good insurance.
Then grease up the lip of the boot with the same lithium grease and slide it on.

Your're done. Now slap it in the car and hit the road. Hope you found this helpful.