steering rack alignment issues

[johnpinetree]

I'm thinking it's time to bust out the drill and my favorite unibit, but wanted to get a second opinion.

Without anything in there I can barely get the bolt through the second hole, no idea how it would get through there with the power steering rack in there.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=150715&d=1626046999

Drill the second hole bigger and don't worry about it? Go with some other clamping mechanism because this is janky anyhow? Any and all opinions welcome.

[egchewy79]

Mine was pretty tight too. Try removing a bit of material off both holes and you won't need to remove as much on each individual one

[johnpinetree]

Ah, yeah good call. Thanks!

[RBachman]

Mine re the same way. A little drilling and hammer tweaking pretty much fixed it. And like eschewy79 mentioned, take a little from both instead of everything from one.

[CraigS]

5 seconds w/ a bit in the same position as your bolt and a bit of sideways push on the drill will fix that.

[jts359]

A good rat tail file will do it and will only remove the offending material , Ed

[rich grsc]

Remove the PC and it'll go in. It'll go as is just by threading the bolt with a ratchet.

[Rdone585]

Rich makes a good point. I've found that many of the connections are engineered based on the raw steel, and not steel with powder coat. So removing the powder coat from both holes will bring the alignment of the holes much closer. You may still have to tweak the hole on the rack a little for it to fit smoothly. I've learned to try and leave the chassis as is, as much as possible.