Steering Rack Bushing Upgrade

Its been a while since there was nice weather, or I wasn't working, or we didn't have plans but today everything lined up.

I have been driving to Houston a lot lately and that 90min drive has given me lots of time to think about how bad the steering is. I bought this kit about a month ago and it was finally time to put it in.

You can see below how tired the old bushings were. From the factory, these were rubber for comfort and after all these years they were screaming for a replacement. In fact, on the passenger side you can see where the bushing has been rubbing on the metal steering rack from sliding back and forth. 

After removing the 4 bolts holding the steering rack in place and removing the drivers side tie rod I was able to pry the rack out enough to removing the bushings. Removing the bushing was fairly easy. The only one that gave me trouble was the horizontal one. Using a 1/8" drill bit I was able to and remove enough rubber to make it slide out. After cleaning everything up to I started installing the new components. With the help of my trusty C clamp, and a fair amount of lubricant, the new bushing install was equally as painless. With the new bushings in all that was left was to reinstall the tie rod and torque everything down.