Not a very painful procedure at all, but it took me about 6 hours as I had problems jacking, and hadn't a clue what to do about the job! I reckon it should take two or three hours next time.
So.
Jacking: I used a piece of 9 by 3 timber pushed under the van, as I was unsure of the underneath jacking areas - where are they? Anyway, I had a lot of bits of firewood, too - an old newel post 4x4 cut up into lengths about 1' long, and a few small scraps of board. Drive the van up onto something about 3" thick to help first jacking. Put the handbrake on and chock the rear wheels. Push the (2.1m) long 9x3 under the van, under the front sill side jacking points each side. Put a block each side on top of the 9x3, to keep the 9x3 clear of the bottom of the van and stop it fouling across the bottom of the van, and put a scrap of board on top of these to fit into the jacking point. Put blocks under the 9x3, under the jacking points, to lift it up towards the jacking points. Stack these blocks two one way, two the other, like a pile of bricks. Jack up one end of the 9x3 until the whole lot presses on the jacking point, and once that's secure, pile more blocks under the 9x3. Let the van down gently until the jacking point bears on the scrap of board (it will cut into this!), then jack up the other side of the 9x3 and place blocks under. You can add blocks by subsequent jacking of each end.
I used about 18" of blocks, but there was actually no need to go so high.
Next. Remove the wheels (oh! You did remember to loosen the wheels nuts before you jacked up the van?).
The rack comes out from the steering-wheel side. To get at it:
Take off the plastic wheelarch liner. It's held in place by plastic rivets and one bolt. The plastic rivets are hollow - there's a thing like a plastic drawing pin that pushes in to the top of them, when it's pulled out the rivet can be withdrawn. I put a screwdriver under the "drawing-pin" head, and prised it out, the re-usable rivet wiggled out easily after.
Now you can see the steering rack (use inspection lamps). You need to unbolt:
The steering rods where they go into the ball joints. I used a small adjustable on the ball joints and a big adjustable spanner on the nut.
There's a black pipe strut with flattened ends that helps secure the bottom of the thing that the wheel gubbins is bolted to onto the "inner wing". Remove the top bolt completely. Loosen the bottom one and turn the strut forward out of the way.
Two hydraulic lines - again, an adjustable does the job (note, the bottom pipe's sleeve nut is smaller), do the top one first.
The steering column - turn it if need be so that the nut on one end of the coupling is accessible - there's only a round head on the other end.
N.B. it may be a good idea to wrap the wheel hub/disc in some old material (or keep your mouth closed) - I nearly chipped my tooth on the disc when reaching in!).
When that lot's undone, undo the two large bolts under a cross-member that secure the rack itself. These are 21mm - a sparking-plug spanner fits. Undo one nearly all the way, then do the other all the way, then finish undoing the first, to stop the rack moving about.
Get the rack out. It needs a bit of rotating to and fro, and there's an aluminuim heat shield secured to it by an open-ended clip that goes around the rack body, and another that engages onto an aluminuim tang cast into the rack body. No need at all to use force.
N.B. There may be a wire somewhere that's something to do with the air-bag. I don't know.
Replacement:
Ensure that the rack is at the middle of its travel. Find the centre of the rack body, and mark it. The distance from the mark to each steering-rod end should be equal.
Carefully slide in the rack. Be careful not to tear the bellows on each end. An assistant would help, but you can visit each side and make sure the thing's going along properly. The heat shield thing is a bit of a nuisance, but not too bad, you can lift it and slide the rack under
Loosely fit the two big bolts from underneath.
Centre the steering wheel, and push on the clip that holds it onto the mechanism on the rack. Fit the bolt that secures it, this goes in one way only.
Do up the underneath bolts.
Re-fit the hydraulic pipes.
Do up the steering rod ends where they go into the ball joints. I had to guess how far to screw them in (there's an octagonal part of the rod that you can get a spanner on), but this wasn't too hard as there was dirt in the threads, as I was re-fitting an old component.
Do up the black strut.
Top up the resevoir with ATF, start the engine, move the wheel back and forth to get air out of the rack. Pay attention to the fluid level when you do this.
Check for leaks. Re-fit the plastic wheel arch liner (take the opportunity to clean out any accumulated filth trapped at the front of the sill when you do this).
Get the toe-in and alignment checked at Mr. fast-fit or elsewhere.
keywords: Fiat Scudo steering rack remove removal replace replacement fit refit
So.
Jacking: I used a piece of 9 by 3 timber pushed under the van, as I was unsure of the underneath jacking areas - where are they? Anyway, I had a lot of bits of firewood, too - an old newel post 4x4 cut up into lengths about 1' long, and a few small scraps of board. Drive the van up onto something about 3" thick to help first jacking. Put the handbrake on and chock the rear wheels. Push the (2.1m) long 9x3 under the van, under the front sill side jacking points each side. Put a block each side on top of the 9x3, to keep the 9x3 clear of the bottom of the van and stop it fouling across the bottom of the van, and put a scrap of board on top of these to fit into the jacking point. Put blocks under the 9x3, under the jacking points, to lift it up towards the jacking points. Stack these blocks two one way, two the other, like a pile of bricks. Jack up one end of the 9x3 until the whole lot presses on the jacking point, and once that's secure, pile more blocks under the 9x3. Let the van down gently until the jacking point bears on the scrap of board (it will cut into this!), then jack up the other side of the 9x3 and place blocks under. You can add blocks by subsequent jacking of each end.
I used about 18" of blocks, but there was actually no need to go so high.
Next. Remove the wheels (oh! You did remember to loosen the wheels nuts before you jacked up the van?).
The rack comes out from the steering-wheel side. To get at it:
Take off the plastic wheelarch liner. It's held in place by plastic rivets and one bolt. The plastic rivets are hollow - there's a thing like a plastic drawing pin that pushes in to the top of them, when it's pulled out the rivet can be withdrawn. I put a screwdriver under the "drawing-pin" head, and prised it out, the re-usable rivet wiggled out easily after.
Now you can see the steering rack (use inspection lamps). You need to unbolt:
The steering rods where they go into the ball joints. I used a small adjustable on the ball joints and a big adjustable spanner on the nut.
There's a black pipe strut with flattened ends that helps secure the bottom of the thing that the wheel gubbins is bolted to onto the "inner wing". Remove the top bolt completely. Loosen the bottom one and turn the strut forward out of the way.
Two hydraulic lines - again, an adjustable does the job (note, the bottom pipe's sleeve nut is smaller), do the top one first.
The steering column - turn it if need be so that the nut on one end of the coupling is accessible - there's only a round head on the other end.
N.B. it may be a good idea to wrap the wheel hub/disc in some old material (or keep your mouth closed) - I nearly chipped my tooth on the disc when reaching in!).
When that lot's undone, undo the two large bolts under a cross-member that secure the rack itself. These are 21mm - a sparking-plug spanner fits. Undo one nearly all the way, then do the other all the way, then finish undoing the first, to stop the rack moving about.
Get the rack out. It needs a bit of rotating to and fro, and there's an aluminuim heat shield secured to it by an open-ended clip that goes around the rack body, and another that engages onto an aluminuim tang cast into the rack body. No need at all to use force.
N.B. There may be a wire somewhere that's something to do with the air-bag. I don't know.
Replacement:
Ensure that the rack is at the middle of its travel. Find the centre of the rack body, and mark it. The distance from the mark to each steering-rod end should be equal.
Carefully slide in the rack. Be careful not to tear the bellows on each end. An assistant would help, but you can visit each side and make sure the thing's going along properly. The heat shield thing is a bit of a nuisance, but not too bad, you can lift it and slide the rack under
Loosely fit the two big bolts from underneath.
Centre the steering wheel, and push on the clip that holds it onto the mechanism on the rack. Fit the bolt that secures it, this goes in one way only.
Do up the underneath bolts.
Re-fit the hydraulic pipes.
Do up the steering rod ends where they go into the ball joints. I had to guess how far to screw them in (there's an octagonal part of the rod that you can get a spanner on), but this wasn't too hard as there was dirt in the threads, as I was re-fitting an old component.
Do up the black strut.
Top up the resevoir with ATF, start the engine, move the wheel back and forth to get air out of the rack. Pay attention to the fluid level when you do this.
Check for leaks. Re-fit the plastic wheel arch liner (take the opportunity to clean out any accumulated filth trapped at the front of the sill when you do this).
Get the toe-in and alignment checked at Mr. fast-fit or elsewhere.
keywords: Fiat Scudo steering rack remove removal replace replacement fit refit
