what's your opinion of difficulty in replacing an 03 rack and pinion on my own instead of a shop doing it? in mind its pretty straight forward. just swap out old for new. but what are the technical things ill need to deal with? thanks for any and all help

 

Bleeding the air out of the system and aligning the front end when done.

 

I would say, make sure you get new tie rod ends for both sides, preferably with zerk fittings if you can find 'em, and like lx man said make sure you bleed the system well and try to get the tie rod ends as close to the position they were in on the old rack that should put you close to the alignment. Make sure you get a professional alignment afterwards.

 

yeah its been time for long time to replace ball joints. I've just dealt with the squeak.

which ones are the in-betweens? not the best. not the worse. but just right?

and how would you get the big *** bolts off the rack? bought 2 sockets today. 1 3/4 and 1 7/8. to small and to big. obviously a meter but couldn't find em that size. already got one broken lose using pipe.wrench. pretty sure not the right tool but she works.

 

when I'm wrenching on some big stuff, I pull out the sockets I use on an impact wrench. You can buy the metric set, and it's black, not chrome. It's hardened and a lot stronger than your standard socket. There's nothing wrong with using something for leverage, as far as a pipe or something like that. You can buy those sockets at Home depot or lowes, places like that.

 

ha! a home depot or lowers with tools that are actually practical!? not in so cal. this place blows for ppl who wanna do their own work. only thing I miss about being back east; when you go to a tool shop and actually walk out with what you were looking for. lol. guess I'll have to shop around. thanks though

 

what size are the bolts that hold on rack? anyone? I'm thinking 45mm.

 

Sears is your friend. Craftsman!!