Anyone replaced rack in rack in pinion for liberty

[gabegt90]

HI guys I'm new here I mainly post on grandmarq.net I'm a full size ford lover. anyway I have a hudge question is it hard to take the rack and pinion out of a jeep liberty. My mom has a 2002 jeep liberty limited she was one of the first ones to get a liberty. anyway the liberty is stock pretty much 3.73 track lock rear 3.7l v6. She nees to have the rack replaced as long with the tie rod ends. she found this out when she got the ball joints done for the recall. What steps are involed to get the rack and pinion out. it looks like to main bolts on the cross bar. is it really hard? any info would be greatfully appriciated thanks guys.

 

[JeepJeepster]

I heard you had to drop the axle to get it out.. Whats wrong with it? What makes them think the rack is bad also? You may want to get that checked out first before replacing the entire thing. May just be a bad tie-rod end or something.. Dealers are known to rip people off. O

 

[gabegt90]

it makes a cracking sound if you stop hard or turning the wheel when parking
my mom says it happend right after we got the alignment done. I'm a student at montgomer college doing the automotive prpgram we brought it in one night to do the alignment. we mainly adjusted the caster for the front left moving the bottom control arm. do you think it might by the control arm? The jeep dealer said it was the rack but I just wanted to get a second opinion from all you experts my moms liberty has 121,600 this is the first major problem ever. the jeep dealer wants 1500 to do the rack. the noise seems to be getting worse latley

 

[JeepJeepster]

wow, 121k! I like hearing these high miles on libbys! Im hoping they will be as successful as the cherokee. I dont believe they will last till 200-300k though..

well, since you know about the suspension on the jeep.. Check the tie-rod ends and the balljoints(lower balljoints are under a recall you know..). Start with the simple stuff and go from there. Check for play in the rack since all it is, is gears basically(hence rack+pinion)...

I have heard of a few racks going bad, but its not a known thing. The libby isnt old enough for most people to see high miles yet. But there are so many people running 31-32in tires that offroad them ALOT. I would think they would see failures if the rack was going to be a problem in the libbys..

Im not to sure if changing the alignment would cause the popping. Were you sure to torque the lower arm to the correct specs?

 

[gabegt90]

thanks jeepjeepster for being helpful Yeah we did torqe down to spec I'll try to get a video of the jeep in action for the sound along with a few pics
jeeps are allright in my book althoug I'm a ford guy. My mom was like one of the first to get a liberty she got in aug 2001 it's been in florida vermont lots of trips to buffalo she drives is to virigina everyday when going to work the only other problem is it won't shift in to 4 lo

 

[JeepJeepster]

Hmm, it wont shift or wont stay in 4low? Has she tried shifting into low while the jeep is rolling forward 1-3mph with the ****** In N? I noticed mine wont go into low if Im stopped or rolling backwards. I also found out that if Im stopped and need to go into low, I can put the ****** into N and pull back on the 4x4 lever all the way down to the low position. keep pulling back on the 4x4 lever while putting the ****** back into D. Mine pops right in everytime.. I dont like doing this but sometimes I have to..