Rep Power: 0

Hi,

I am trying to replace rack&pinion assembly. I went ahead and got reman. part from NAPA.
I lined up old assembly and new assembly. They don't align. The reman. part has way longer
rod on the driver side, whereas passenger side is shorter.

Are passenger and driver side inner tie rods the same length? I am trying to find this info with little success.
(if passenger side should be longer, looks like that reman. part has them swapped.

Are NAPA rack&pinion assemblies crap? Would you recommend other vendor?

 
Rep Power: 222

Are you sure that the new rack just isn't centered?

 
Rep Power: 0

I have no idea. How do I check? My plan was this :
center the steering wheel. Take out rack, take new rack align them against each other (mark position of where outer tie rod ends) .
Now I am kind of lost as got what to do. How do I center the new rack? Are inner tie rods same length (cuz if they are, that answers your question - new one is not centered. How do I center it?)

My other problem - I have no idea how to wiggle the rack into subframe. The old one I took out together with subframe. And then I just disassembled the rack and pinion until I could slide it out.

Putting new in seems all but impossible without taking inner tie rods off. I used Eric The Car guy You tub video as a guide. But I cannot get it in (supposedly passenger side first, bend driver side tie rod and force it in - not working for me

Ah. I see I can press on a tie rod it will move with shaft rotating. reman. rack says it was factory centered. It is just my old "centered" and reman centered do not look alike at all...

 
Rep Power: 222

Factory could have made a mistake, take measurements before you move the new rack. Then see if you can make it match the old rack.
not too hard to pull the sub frame to put the rack in. Or pull off the inner tie rods and then put them back in once the rack is installed