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Rack and pinion question

4K views 12 replies 2 participants last post by  Pablo 
#1 ·
Pardon the interruption. For the record, I have a 2006 Canyon I5.
As an extremely untalented mechanic, I came across this wonderful community looking for information troubleshooting a R&P change, which in retrospect I probably shouldn't have done on my own.
Anyway, after a lot of sweat and gnashing of teeth, I've managed to install a new R&P. I also bought new pressure/return hoses but they don't match, and I can't seem to find the right ones, so I'm going to use the old ones.
My questions are on the hose seals and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
The old hoses had a couple of different colored O-rings on them (pic 1). The new hoses also came with O-rings. Researching this job, I saw that you were to install seals into the steering rack (pic 2). When I took out the old R&P I don't remember it having any of these. Sorry for the length of the description but point only, 2 questions as I'm quite frustrated at this point and want to get this done.
1. Are the seals on the steering rack (pic 2) essential? That is, do I need both seals - the ones that go into the steering rack and the O-rings on the hoses? And if so, do I need install seals in both the pressure and return ports on the steering rack?
2. The O-rings on the pressure hose come in different colors (green and black). As mentioned above, I'm going to use the old hoses but thought I should use the new O-rings that came with the new hoses. Pic 1 has the new O-rings on. So, I hope this makes sense but because of the size of the new O-rings, it seems the colors were reversed on the old vs new. That is for example, on the top of Pic 1 with the black/white O-rings, the old original was a green O-ring, not the black. And I used the green on the other end (not shown) that goes into the steering fluid reservoir - it was originally black of course. I have no idea if the colors of the O-rings are made out of a different material that will break down faster, or affect seal performance. There are many smart people on this forum, does anyone have any advice?
Thanks in advance.
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Pic 1
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Pic 2
 
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#2 ·
Welcome to the Nation.

If the first picture is your old original hoses, that is an old configuration. The only GM steering racks, that I'm familiar with, have the seals installed in the rack, not on the hoses. There would be no need of seals on both the rack and the hoses. The situation that you have is that the holes for the seals have to be the same, in the new rack, as the old rack. In other words, if you use the old hoses with the O rings, the hole has to be the same or you will not get a seal, or the hose won't go in the hole. You cannot use the old hoses with the new rack if the new seals are installed in the rack.

Remove the O rings from the original hose and check their fit in the holes in the rack. If the fit is snug, try just using the original hoses without the new rack seals. If that won't work you will have to use the rack seals and the correct hoses.

Hope some of that makes sense. If you are now more confused than before, post back and I'll try to explain better.

Don't damage or lose the new rack seals. They are hard to come by.
 
#3 ·
Thank you very much for the information (Mr.?) cart7881. Much appreciated. Your reply does makes sense and I give it a try without the O-rings. I don't want to burden you or anyone else but added a couple more photo's of the rack holes. They seem to been designed to take the new rack seals to me. Perhaps due to age, and the various models of the Canyon, it's unfortunate that I can't seem to find the correct hoses. The new ones (from RockAuto) have a very different configuration from the original but regardless, as per post, also came with O-rings. I've also looked online elsewhere and all of the hoses seem to be like the same as the new ones.
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#5 ·
Thanks again. It's a 4wd. I haven't gotten around to trying it yet sorry. I can see what you mean yes in that the hoses will either have the grooves with O rings - the old ones I have, as well as the new ones that won't work - or smooth hose ends without O rings, in which case I would use the seals that push into the rack. Just to clarify one thing I may have missed, the new rack & pinion I ordered - link below - didn't come with the seals for the rack, I bought them separately thinking they were needed. Thanks again. If the old hoses with O-rings fit, and you don't mind responding, do you have any comment on the use of the different colored O-rings? As above in original post, on the pressure hose I reversed the black and green O rings as it seemed the size matched better.
 
#6 ·
I don't think the color of the O-rings matters. All of the O.rings should be resistant to the fluid. Maybe the color designates the size. I would just match the O-ring sizes with the ones on the old hose.

Normally steering racks come with new hose seals. There are no seals installed in the rack? Maybe the rack is like your old rack and the old hoses, with O-rings, will fit.

Good luck.
 
#7 ·
Thanks again for the info. I wasn't able to install the old hoses. Nothing to do with O-rings vs seals in the rack. The hose attachment on the old rack is different from what is needed for the new rack. Old bolt is above the hose inlets, new is completely in-line. I'm assuming I ordered the wrong rack and pinion - 1st design vs 2nd design - I think my 2006 is a 2nd design but the rack I installed is 1st design.
Not sure if anyone would have any comments or warnings about going with the R&P I installed (1st design I think) and buying hoses that fit, or not a good idea.
I guess I should have left this to the pro's.
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This is the new one I installed with the bolt inline with the ports. I think this is the 1st design.
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The old one - 2nd design I guess.
 
#8 ·
Probably the easiest and least expensive way out ot this is to purchase the hoses that fit the rack you have installed.

Take a look at these on RockAuto:

FVP 92493, pressure and 92492 return.
Edelmann 92493, pressure and 92492 return
Gates 365906, pressure and 365905 return

RockAuto also has the OEM ACDelco hose set (both) pn15136891, but the price is quite a bit more.

Not sure how easy it will be to install the seals. The Service Manual says to drop the rack to replace the seals. They will have to be installed before the hoses.
 
#11 ·
cart7881 - apologies for the late reply, I had to go overseas abruptly and just returned. Anyway, just prior to leaving I installed the different hoses as per your sage advice and it appears to have solved the problem. Thanks again. Hopefully all good now. My steering wheel is off-kilter - pointed at more like 10 and 4 than 9 and 3 but hopefully an alignment will take care of that.
 
#12 ·
Thanks for the update. Hope things will continue to work well. Yes, an alignment is recommended, but if it has to wait, you could correct the steering wheel off set by adjusting the tie rods, Determine which way you want the wheel to move and adjust the tie rod in on one side and out the same amount on the other. I would suggest adjusting in small increments, a few threads at a time. Obviously that would be temporary and wouldn't cancel the need for an alignment.
 
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