Just couldn't help it.

Well, I've managed to wriggle my old rack out of the chassis. Had to bend a few mounting tangs on the old one to get the darn thing past the exhaust pipe.

Now I can't get the new one back in. The whole thing slides all the way in except for about 1/4 inch of pinion input shaft that just will not go through that last bit of the frame at the wheel well. I swear, I just need about 1/8-1/4 inch and I just cannot get her to go! I turned and finagled that thing for over an hour; no dice!

Please tell me what I must remove to get her to slide in? It looks to me like I'm either going to have to drop the exhaust pipe or maybe disconnect a couple of lines on the rack. It is so tight right there at the exhaust that once the rack is almost in, that damn pinion input shaft hits the frame, and I can't move the opposite end of the rack up a bit because of the tight exhaust pipe clearance. My manual simply says, "slide the new rack into place."

Oh, the book did say to disconnect the hydraulic lines prior to removal. I assumed that meant just the large input and output lines on the pinion body. Is my assumption correct or should I remove ALL the lines first. Too late to help removal but maybe that is my problem with the reinstall.

Thanks All