PRG Delrin steering rack bushings

Topics relating to Lift Kits, Suspension, Steering...

Moderator: volvite

User avatar
ShipFixer
Posts: 769
Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 9:52 am
Location: San Diego, CA

PRG Delrin steering rack bushings

Postby ShipFixer » Sat Sep 22, 2018 12:17 am

Replaced my stock rubber steering bushings with PRG Delrin bushings for the Frontier/XTerra/Pathfinder this week. There are polyurethane options that are the same softness as stock but will last longer. Delrin is stiffer so will sharpen your steering yet more. My truck was wandering quite a bit on the highway - even when I got it in 2009 - but no more.

The picture below shows the old bushings on the top, and the new ones on the bottom. Aside from material changes, the difference in shape tells a lot about how much play each is going to allow.

Image

If you Google around you'll find that some people find these easy, and some people have trouble getting theirs out. Mine were pretty tough but I figured out some tricks to pass on. Also, I am going to explain how I would do this if I did it a second time. Could probably do it in a couple hours by myself; hard to say how long it took me this time since it was coupled with replacing my radiator and oil cooler seal.

You will need a 22mm and 24mm socket, and since they're torqued to 140 ft lbs you will need either an impact wrench or a decent breaker bar and at least 28" of extension to clear the front bumper if you're on the ground. (Alternatively you could take out the fan shroud and engine driven fan, but it was easier to use the extension for me.)

To start, you have to remove your skid plate and front sway bar. If you have the truck up on a rack you could probably leave the end links connected, but if not it'll just be in your way later when you are trying to get the new bushings in.

When it's out of the way, these three bolts are what hold the steering rack to the frame:

Image

The four empty bolt holes on either side are for the sway bar brackets, so you can see it definitely has to come out.

And from the top since I had the radiator out:

Image

All three have to come out, the two on the right are where the bushings to be replaced are. When you take them all out, a metal backing plate from the nut side (aft end) and a couple plastic seals will drop off the rack. You won't need the plastic seals again, but the backing plate will go back and maybe help press the new bushings in.

My bushings did not pop out easily. What ended up working very quickly was pushing the steering rack away from the frame, then putting the bolt back in the frame with the castellated nut reverse threaded back on between the frame and the rack. Hitting the bushing a few times with a 3lb hammer knocked the bushings right out the back side (no pictures as this was mostly by feel at this point).

The new bushings are a tight fit. I squared them up and got them started as best I could, then used the bolt again to pull them in. I used the backing plate against the back to press in the forward bushings, and then the bolt by itself to pull in the rear bushings.

Important note here for 4x4's: if you put in the passenger side / right side rear bushing without the steel crush sleeve, there won't be enough clearance to get it in after the bushings are in place. So push the front bushing in, then insert the crush sleeve from the rear, then press in the rear side bushing. I didn't the first time and had to pry it out.

Now comes the fun part...torquing everything back into place. Reinstall all three bolts through the steering rack. The collar on the Delrin bushings takes up the function of the OEM plastic covers, but you do need to install the steel backing plate before the nuts go back on.

If your truck is up on a rack, you might have an easier time with this than I did since you could use both hands for torquing. I didn't and let a wrench brace up against the engine, but the 22mm I had was impossible to break free when the nut was torqued. So I had to alternate torquing, breaking loose, then walking the torque back up from 100 ft lbs to 140 ft lbs with my wrench until I had all three bolts at 140.

Once it's complete, reinstall the front sway bar, skid plate, and enjoy! It didn't transform my truck into a sedan, but it did remove the wandering and the road feel is *much* improved. Since polyurethane will be softer I would recommend these over that.
Last edited by ShipFixer on Wed Jul 22, 2020 10:15 am, edited 1 time in total.


kevinthefro
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 4:14 pm
Location: Torrance, CA

Postby kevinthefro » Sat Sep 29, 2018 3:30 am

Very nice. I've replaced all control arms but still haven't got the handling back to when the car was younger. The steering rack bushings are the only other part I can think of that might be the culprit. Now I'll give them a try.

User avatar
palmerwmd
Site Admin
Posts: 2343
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:45 am
Location: Mid Atlantic

Postby palmerwmd » Sat Sep 29, 2018 2:27 pm

Thanks for posting this!
Am a big fan of polyurethane bushings but have not put any in this rig yet.

User avatar
underworld1001
Posts: 328
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:05 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Postby underworld1001 » Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:38 pm

Just for clarification and uncertainity, removing the 3 bolts won't cause the steering rack to drop down? Not afraid of tackling this, just don't want to create a big issue out of something that was originally supposed to be a small fix.

User avatar
ShipFixer
Posts: 769
Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 9:52 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Postby ShipFixer » Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:58 am

underworld1001 wrote:Just for clarification and uncertainity, removing the 3 bolts won't cause the steering rack to drop down? Not afraid of tackling this, just don't want to create a big issue out of something that was originally supposed to be a small fix.
Nope, it won't drop. It's still connected at each end to your spindles at the tie rods. Matter of fact you kind of have to push it out of place to get the front side bushings in.

I left out all of my experimental intermediate steps, pretty sure I could do this in under two hours including removing the skid plate if I did it all over again. Since I left out the details, the last PITA was lifting the sway bar into place by myself and bolting in. Would have been easier overhead on a rack. On the ground what worked best was getting the end links on first, then lifting the sway bar up into place for the frame mounts and bolting in place. Trying to do the frame mounts first was tough,

User avatar
underworld1001
Posts: 328
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:05 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Postby underworld1001 » Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:14 pm

@ShipFixer, thanks for that. I realized about a day later that the steering rack is still connected at the sides. I'll probably tackle this sooner than later. Thanks again.

Skylar1692
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2017 8:24 pm

Postby Skylar1692 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:03 am

A LARGE breaker bar will be your friend if you decide to tackle this project. I just stumbled across this thread. I swapped mine out last week with the Super Pro bushing kit (Part # SPF3028K), that I've had for quite some time, just been waiting until I had time to do the Titan swap on the front end since I was replacing everything and it would all be apart anyway. I have about 150k miles on my Path and the old bushings came out surprisingly easily and they actually did not look all that bad. Like many others though, my steering was a bit "soft" and wandering. I replaced inner and outer tie rods at the same time which were definitely shot as well. Not sure if I’m able to link the service manual from another site on here or not… Oh, and the rack will not fall down, it actually takes some effort to pull it back out far enough to be able to get the new bushings in. https://nicoclub.com/FSM/Pathfinder/200 ... der/ps.pdf This will give you all the info you need.

User avatar
ShipFixer
Posts: 769
Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 9:52 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Postby ShipFixer » Wed Aug 28, 2019 3:54 pm

Skylar1692 wrote:A LARGE breaker bar will be your friend if you decide to tackle this project. I just stumbled across this thread. I swapped mine out last week with the Super Pro bushing kit (Part # SPF3028K), that I've had for quite some time, just been waiting until I had time to do the Titan swap on the front end since I was replacing everything and it would all be apart anyway. I have about 150k miles on my Path and the old bushings came out surprisingly easily and they actually did not look all that bad. Like many others though, my steering was a bit "soft" and wandering. I replaced inner and outer tie rods at the same time which were definitely shot as well. Not sure if I’m able to link the service manual from another site on here or not… Oh, and the rack will not fall down, it actually takes some effort to pull it back out far enough to be able to get the new bushings in. https://nicoclub.com/FSM/Pathfinder/200 ... der/ps.pdf This will give you all the info you need.
I have a giant 3/4", three or four foot long bar. With that and 2.5 feet or so of extensions you could break it from in front of the truck pretty easily. I happened to have the radiator out so I just went in from the top.

But this thing is the magic ticket:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-24-Volt ... 1000604927

Came out last year, I got the first one in my local store, and it'll break *anything* on my truck, including rusty suspension bolts. Just for fun I tried breaking the axle nut on one wheel while it was up in the air, no parking brake on. Took it off like nothing even with the wheel able to spin. Not aware of anything on the truck with a higher torque either, think they're ~200 ft/lbs.

Beats any corded impact wrench I've tried (with higher torque ratings), as well as any pneumatic one I can remember.

User avatar
underworld1001
Posts: 328
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:05 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Postby underworld1001 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:41 pm

Oh wow, didn't know Lowes had one of those. I remember I was at my friends shop one day and he had a Snap-On (or Milwaukee, it was red and black) cordless impact wrench. Though it was the greatest thing ever until he told me he spent almost $700 on it. Screw that. That's about 2.5 car payments. This Lowes one is on sale right now for $179. Seeing as how I get paid this coming Friday................. :D


Return to “R51 Suspension and Steering”