dogbiscuit

I had a seized tie rod to the end link so bye bye alignments.

Yesterday I took a cutoff wheel to the tie rod and replaced both inner and outer.

I had to break open the rubber boot on the steering rack. I couldn't find in the service manual if I was supposed to grease that or not so I didn't I just put a little silicone on the boot so it would reinstall easily and used zip ties to hold it back down.

Are you supposed to grease the rack under the boot with anything? If that needs to be done it won't be hard for me to apply some in the next day or so.

I should add that there wasn't grease already under the boot just minor grime. So I didn't add any based on that but it also seems like it's been off before by a previous owner as there was zip ties holding it down and not the metal bands.

shermanyang

iTrader: (1)

I had to do my driver side just a few weeks ago. I cleaned out the dirt/grime and added grease to it. Then used the bag that the tie rods came in and cut both ends off and slid that through and on top of the boot and zip tied both ends to seal it. Took it in for an alignment and the master mechanic there laughed at me, but said he would have done the same thing.

OneBadTurboCRV

Let us take the long way around this. The rack and pinion bellows (aka dust boots) are designed with holes for drainage. This is due to the fact that the power steering system is a hydraulic system that uses a double acting hydraulic cylinder. This cylinder has seals at each end of the rod to prevent fluid and pressure loss. While most seals are designed with a wiper to clean off the rod before it enters through the sealing portion of the seal, too much grim on the rod may cause the wiper to become overloaded and allow to enter the cylinder body. Due to the tight clearances between the rod and body cause a seal to blow at best and severely score / seize the rod at worst.

There is absolutely no reason to lubricate the rack and pinion "shaft" as it is lubricated as much as it needs to be inside the housing. What sticks out should be kept as clean as possible. The only time lubrication may be needed is when it is being assembled - and seeing as you can't readily purchase the parts for a rebuild, this isn't something that you need to be concerned with.

dogbiscuit

sounds good and all I was looking for. thanks Turbo.

I wiped it down clean and reinstalled the boot.

B744

When I changed my bellows, I cleaned the shaft, and I used a little bit of power steering fluid to wet the seals.
I would be careful with using any kind of grease on the shaft. Unless you have the proper steering rack grease from the manufacturer.
Silicone grease on the bellows works great to install them (I use DC111.)