Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

I would think so. I did the rack and pump in one day without taking off too much. I think I actually did it in about 4 hours, counting getting one off a 90ish mustang gt at the junk yard. You may want to get new ?bushings? for the rack. I wish I would have got some on min. Ball joints I didn't have any problem with at all. While your there, you might as well put new bearings in yours and maybe front brakes. When I did my brakes I never thought there was anything wrong. Till I pulled the disk off and all the bearings fell out. Got alot quiter and actually got better mpg.

First off inner ball joints? Do you mean inner tie rods? The ones located on the rack are tie rods the inner's ones are screwed onto the rack and then have a rivet type thing you smash down to hold them on. Those rubber boots cover those. Then the outters out at the wheel. Then the ball joints are in the lower control arm under the spindle. To swap the rack along with hoses and pump shouldn't be to bad. The hardest part is removing the PS pulley and that is easy it's the putting it back on that is the hard part. You do need a special tool to do that. Then might as well replace that rubber disc at the Rag joint where the rack meets the steering shaft. All in all shouldn't be too bad of a job. Make sure get things lined up really close and take it to the shop for an alignment. Depending on how hard you work and if you have air tools without a lift I'd say 3-6hrs depending. If you want an idea of the process of attack this is the order I would tackle it.
1. Remove both lines form the pump and either drain off the fluid or cap off the lower hose nipple.
2. Pull the PS pump pulley
3. Remove PS pump
4. Unhook Rag joint steering coupler.
5. Unthread the inner tie rods from the otters counting thread to keep alignment close
6. Undo the two large nuts that hold the rack onto the K member.
7. Install new parts
8. Head to alignment shop
 
Hope that helps
 
Stuckman

Outer ball joint is tight. Inner tie rod end, I should have called them, is what is worn. Some research leads me to believe they usually give up long before the outers. That's why I want to go ahead and put in a new rack. Apparently a worn inner end can do some damage, and I won't know if it's reuseable until I disassemble it. I can get a rebuilt rack for less than $100, and it ain't worth my time to rebuild one. Same goes for the leaky whining pump.
 
Alignment was certainly in the picture. It needs new sneakers too, and if I'm gonna drop a wad of cash on new rubber, I'm going to do everything I can to make them last.
 
I just need to get it fixed up to miinimize risk to the better cars by using it for a trainer for teen-agers. If they can manage a proper and legal 3-point turn in a Fox Bird, they can do it in ANYTHING. If it survives the teens getting their licenses, then I'll turn it into my project car. I've already trained two in it. Got two more teens to go.

 
New problem, though. It's been sitting a while, so I'm hoping it's just corrosion in the switch. Problem is, if I just release the key after it cranks, it dies again. When I noticed that the speedo was going dark, didn't take long to figure out what was happening there. So, crank, and slowly let off the key, it runs just fine. Well, as good as it ever did.  Gonna pop the column covers tomorrow and see what I can find out. IIRC, there isn't any adjustment on the switch.  No rods going down the column like my F-150.  I guess I could replace it and re-use the lock-set from the original.  Get that fixed, and I'll head for an alignment shop ASAP. Who knows where the toe is set now. Dunno how the heck they were aligning it before, but no one ever said diddly about the slop in the steering.
 
Next project will be putting a new ler on it. That oughta be fun with no aftermarket direct fit. One-piece pipe/ler from cat to tail-pipe. Gonna have to cut it and put something in. I HATE the sound of a noisy V6. It'll make a good trainer car anyway.