Urgent Help Needed - Steering Rack Bushing trouble

[AJ Mac]

Hey guys. I'm 90% done with replacing my steering rack bushings and for the life of me can't get the passenger side brace installed (1 nut, 1 bolt). It will line up correctly without the bushing in place, but the top bolt hole will not line up enough for me to catch the thread with the bushing (old and new) in place. The driver side and top bolts went in fine. I've been loosening / tightening those two bolts while trying to line up the passenger side brace. Installation has been a breeze following several how-to's I've found up until this point.

I've been fighting this for 5 hours now. I'm taking a break for the night and will resume trying to figure it out in the morning.

Thanks in advance!

 

[D Farms]

can you post a picture, perhaps you can use the bottle jack to force it into place.

 

[TheDurk]

All I remember is the how-to I used said to do the left and right first--loosely, THEN try to get the center bolt in, get it threaded, then torque everything to spec. That's the way I did it, and I didn't have any trouble.

 

[Yota8533]

When i did my steering rack bushings I had the same issue.
Try turning the bracket over the bolt is shorter than the stud if im remembering correctly.
Phillip

 

[Brilliant]

Sounds like my Sunday, but on the center bolt.

I did drivers, pass, then center. Had to use the bottle jack and large c clamps.

 

[awthorn]

@OP Have you compared the old and new bushing for the passenger side to make sure they are a match? Have you tried using a pry bar to pry up/down to get the bolt to line up? I would also do this without the other two torqued down to allow for more play. if you feel like it is binding, maybe disconnect your passenger Outer Tie Rod from the spindle to allow for more play.

Good luck!

 

[meRockboost]

Geez I did center first then the outers and it all went back by hand, except the pipe I used to pry a little. Lots of pb blaster too to grease up chit. I also removed the driver tie rod to give some wiggle room

 

[AJ Mac]

Thanks for the help everyone! Verdict is the brace was bent and not letting the top bolt align. I tried and tried to bent it back into shape but ended up ordering a new brace. I'm not sure what caused the brace to bend but it makes sense as the top bolt had quite a bit of resistance on removal throughout the whole thread length.

Thanks again for the fast responses and much love to everyone!