Phil
As Bob mentioned the bolt on the lower U-joint goes
through the splined shaft of the rack. You have to
remove the bolt. Remove the bolt on the upper
joint as well. Now you'll probably find you don't
have room to pull the extension off.
Use chalk of white paint to mark the alignment
of the extension to the spined shaft. Make sure
the wheels are pointed straight ahead.
The way I do it is to move the steering column back
a few inches (Remove the bolts under the column
inside the car and loosen the bolt from the brace
holding the column inside the engine compartment).
Grab the column inside the engine compartment and
work the column backwards until the steering extension
can be easily tapped off the spline shaft from the rack.
There should be a felt gasket inside the brace around
the column. Check condition of the felt and replace
or make as necessary (Source anyone???).
Replace the U-joint. If your new ones have zerks, make
sure you can fit a grease gun on them. After putting in
the new U-joint, grease slight to insure grease in there.
Don't over grease and blow the joint's gasket.
Reassemble If your steering wheel was not level when
you pointed the wheels straight ahead, you can rotate
the extension to level the wheel. This assumes the
car is aligned. If your car in out of alignment, when it
is aligned the wheel will no longer be level and you'll
have to pull it back off the splined shaft and reposition.
Have fun.
Dave Johnson
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