I'm trying to disassemble a steering rack from a 996 (I believe it's also the same part on the 986). I have the plastic cover off and snap ring out from the steering shaft side of the pinion - photos below. I've removed the nut from the opposite end of the pinion and pulled out the ball bearing on the bottom end. I've also removed the tensioner. The pinion turns freely and moves the rack without any problems. However, the pinion does not want to pull out no matter what I do. It moves up to about 5mm back and forth in its housing with moderate pressure, but then stops and won't proceed any further. Is there a trick to removing this, or is there another snap ring somewhere I have to access somehow? Has anyone successfully had one of these apart? Any advice appreciated!
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YOUR RESEARCHRemoving pinion from steering rack 996 / 986
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I have one question...why? I always thought and heard that the rack and pinion mechanism was considered a non-serviceable item. From my understanding you cannot get individual parts for it, like bearings/seals/so on. Thus my question, what are you attempting to do?
This may or may not be of some help. You have to turn/twist the pinion as you pulling it out. Got some hints from here - https://rennlist.com/how-tos/a/porsc...ng-rack-383853
Quotes source post: 16683007
Thanks for the suggestion - I have tried turning while pulling, and even hammering, but it won't shift past the first 5mm or so. I didn't want to apply more force in case there's some disassembly step I'm missing. The instructions there are for a 928, and while there are lots of instructions for disassembling 928, 944 and 964 racks, they seem quite different from the 996/986. Those have three bolts at the top holding on the top plate which holds in the pinion. I'm wondering if the 996 rack has some other kind of retention beyond the first snap ring? I am attempting to de-power this rack, and I would like to get access to the hydraulic actuator portion of the pinion, to lock the flexing part (to remove slop on initial turn on the de-powered rack). Again, de-powering 944 racks seems to be very common and there are many instructions, but I don't see anything of the sort for the 996 or 986.
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