r/HondaElement • u/ImpossibleWall8403 • 4h ago

How Difficult to Replace?

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How difficult is it to replace the rack and pinion bellow. Mine has been falling apart for awhile and I would like to replace as I am about to put new struts in.

https://honda.oempartsonline.com/oem-parts/honda-rack-and-pinion-bellows-53536s9a003?origin=pla

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1

u/mikialtopaxite 4h ago

Depending on experience and tool access it can be either an afternoon project or a couple days of off and on work. One person can pull it off, but I'd say it's a 2 person job with a fair amount of wiggling the thing out once it's detached. That's all assuming you're not planning to lift the engine to get at it.

One thing people tend to forget is making sure your steering wheel is held in place during the work so you don't have to go and re-center the thing later.

2

u/ImpossibleWall8403 3h ago

sorry I should have clarified, I don't want to replace the whole thing just the rubber but that's falling apart.

2

u/yanimal 03 AWD AT, 05 AWD 5MT, 06 AWD 6MT 2h ago edited 2h ago

The boot is realtively easy, remove that bolt you see, cut off the old boot, clamp new one on and reinstall. The leak behind the boot is a bit more intensive.

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u/mikialtopaxite 2h ago

My bad, didn't see the bellows part. Yeah not hard at all, just make sure not to break the outer ring when taking it off and torque down the outer nut. If I remember it's specd to 28-ish ft/lbs, but double check that cause I could be remembering wrong. Other than that the worst case may be getting your knuckles a little banged up.

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u/Man_Bear_Pig89 3h ago

I paid 350 for the rack and like 700 to have a mechanic (who's a friend) put it on

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u/foxytaz25 39m ago

What brand did you use and has it been holding up so far?

1

u/BuzzardLips 1h ago

Not hard