Peugeot Boxer 2001 steering rack. (1 Viewer)

[John Mee]

Well my bargain Autocruise Vista (Peugeot Boxer) and my trust in a rogue Scottish dealer is costing me time, lots of effort and money and my faith in honest people. I have replaced the metalwork that supports the cab GRP door steps, which included one sill and custom formed steel sections. I have replaced the corner stabilizer jacks which were corroded solid. I have bought an Eberspacher heater recon from Poland as the one on the van was seized solid (I hope it works - not fitted yet).

Today I decided to start on the steering rack which has decided to deposit its life blood on the drive and surrounding roads. I drove it from Scotland, probably leaking all the way and now it is empty and has to come off!

The dealer, bless him, denied all knowledge of any faults and has offered me £500 as his final offer. I would take it back, but it is a 600 mile journey and an air ticket back to Cornwall..........and believe it or not I like and want the van. It is perfect, or will be, for our needs.


There are 4 big bolts underneath holding it in place, two of which were seized solid and would not move even with a rattle gun or a breaker bar, so I was forced to attack them with an angle grinder. The other two rattled off easily, so I am now minus two 14mm bolts.
I have undone the track rod ball joints and now need to disconnect the steering column and pipes.

Has anyone removed the steering rack from a Peugeot Boxer?



And can tell me how you get at the connections?

How does the steering disconnect? Is it a sliding splined joint under the gaiter?

It looks like the steel pipe/s on top of the rack are rusted and leaking, are they replaceable?

Has anyone any of these 14mm bolts? They are about 80mm long, have a fine thread, 2 retained washers, and flanged hex heads, with a chamfered end to aid location, or an idea of a supplier? A steering rack would be useful too, probably.

I'm too old for this!!!

 

[gus-lopez]

I'd have a look on ebay for a new/reconditioned rack. the pipes if attached to the rack could well come as part of it-

 

[ambulancekidd]

Can I ask you who the stealer...oops dealer was? Sounds like someone to be avoided.

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[DanielFord]

I recently had a similar issue on my car, steering parts all frozen solid, and angle grinder used to remove various bits. I found eurocarparts excellent, I purchased 2 tie rods and track rod ends, all came with all the parts necessary for fitting.
Sorry can help with exactly what's under the gaiter though. I looked for an exploded diagram briefly, but failed.

 

[ambulancekidd]

I believe it looks like this

 

[John Mee]

When I manage to get it off, I'll look for a replacement. This is a pig of a job. All nuts and bolts are rusted and seized. The oil line nuts don't swivel on their pipes due to corrosion. The steering column won't come off the rack, probably due to having to cut the bolt heads off, which leaves stumps in the holes which in turn prevent the rack from moving sideways.

I think I'll just torch the van and claim on the insurance!!!!! (joke!)

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[ambulancekidd]

I too have recently have been exposed to the vagaries of the Peugeot Boxer. We bought a year 2000 Autosleeper executive as a project & its been a roller coaster. I was used the excellent build quality of Mercedes Sprinters & the built quality of the Pug has certainly caused a few headaches.
On this forum people leap to the defence of these Fiat Peugeot hybrids, but trust me on this, the build quality is shockingly bad.

I'll ask the original post @John Mee again to please tell us who sold the vehicle to him. The town or city that they operate in might be suffice, I certainly wouldn't want to be giving them business.

 

[MitchandJenny]

It SHOULD be a splined joint under that gaiter John Mee.
Mark the shaft AND the joint with a centre punch before you slide them apart..
I wish you good luck. Its a shitty job working on rusty old gear, I remember it well, but it WILL be
worth it. Carefull use of a gas blowtorch may help (and WD40 of course.)
Cant you find a "tame" vehicle Tech to assist/ advise ??
Mitch.

 

[Bobby22]

I too have recently have been exposed to the vagaries of the Peugeot Boxer. We bought a year 2000 Autosleeper executive as a project & its been a roller coaster. I was used the excellent build quality of Mercedes Sprinters & the built quality of the Pug has certainly caused a few headaches.
On this forum people leap to the defence of these Fiat Peugeot hybrids, but trust me on this, the build quality is shockingly bad.

I'll ask the original post @John Mee again to please tell us who sold the vehicle to him. The town or city that they operate in might be suffice, I certainly wouldn't want to be giving them business.

The motorhome trade centre at Aberuthven had a 51 plate one for sale.........now sold????

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[John Mee]

I have the steering disconnected now, but the hose ends whilst loose in the rack will not spin on the metal tubes so I can't remove them. I have tried on the other end of the one hose too with the same result.
One hose is the return to the top up tank, which is only held in place by a crimped clip, I presume this is low pressure, so I reckon I can remove this clip and twizzle the hose to remove it, then use a jubilee clip to replace it when I reassemble.
The other hose goes to the pump and will not undo either end due to the seized ends. The hose has seen better days, so I think I will have to sacrifice it and buy another.

I am buying another rack probably second hand (finger's crossed) and will buy a pipe too.

So tomorrow it is replacing the Eberspacher. I'd say a prayer if I believed there was someone there who could make a difference! So it's plug it, plumb it, fill it and light the blue touch paper and hope for the best. Somehow I don't feel confident!

 

[John Mee]

Well, after spending a day trying to find a high pressure hose from any and every possible source on the internet I gave up and went to Peugeot. I have ordered one for £130.
£130 for a 500mm rubber pipe!
I then cut through the one seized on my steering rack, allowing me to unscrew it.
I undid the clip on the other pipe, from the reservoir, allowing the whole hose to rotate so that I could remove that too.
The rack should then have been easy to remove, but it wasn't! The two bolts I had angle ground the heads off were now sticking out too far to allow the rack out through the wheel arch, so I had to maneuver it about so I could cut more off the bolts from under the van.
Hurrah, it was out. Now surely I could clamp the bolt ends in my vice and unscrew them using the rack as a lever?
Not a chance, heat, penetrating oil, more heat - nothing, stuck fast.
So, I'll remove the two metal fluid lines where the leak is coming from, while I ponder, they'll be easy, right?
No way! two ends unscrewed with effort and mole grips, but the other ends again would not budge and were were very close together. Mole grips wouldn't move them, but they were hindered by the closeness of the fittings to each other.
Failure number 2.

I know, I'll weld a metal bar to the bolts to give a good solid lever, ditto to the metal line fittings.
Forgot my welder was knackered at the tip. :-(
Off to ebay, ordered bits for my welder.

I am getting seriously fed up and more and more angry that I bought a van that is not as the dealer described. I will have to scrap the rack if I can't remove these fittings.

He has finally paid some compensation - £500, that has taken threats to extract. If you read my other threads you will see the other problems (Eberspacher un-servicable, corner steadies crumbling rust, cab step supports rusted to tissue one side, replaced by 2 pieces of glued scrap wood, the other)



He swears blind that he knew nothing of the problems. A joke.

Is there a name and shame section.

 

[Patrick and Lesley]

What a nightmare. Sorry I can’t be of any help but found your account of work done so far interesting. Being in the market for a Motorhome around the 20k mark worries me. I would t have your skills to deal with problems you’ve encountered. All the best.

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[John Mee]

Thankfully I have always been able to fix stuff, I'll have a go at anything.

 

[John Mee]

New parts fitted to my welder this morning and it's working ok but pulses. It doesn't do a steady bead. Don't know why.
Anyway I cut some steel bar and welded it to the steel fluid line ends (one at a time) that were rusted into the rack body. They both unscrewed, but I was amazed at how much pressure was needed to remove them. It took a couple of goes welding the bar on as it broke away twice.
Then it was time for the remains of the 14mm bolts that I had to angle grind off. For these I used some seriously beefy bar and they came out surprisingly easy, mind you there was some serious heat involved.
Tomorrow my £130 pipe should be ready for collection from the local Peugeot dealer then I can spend more quality time in the wet grovelling under the van.
While I have been waiting I connected up my bargain replacement Eberspacher and with my breath well and truly held I pressed the button. To my amazement and delight it started and ran for a minute or three then stopped, don't know why. Any ideas? I didn't bleed the unit or fit the exhaust and had it propped up on a piece of wood. It did the same on a second attempt, so I left it thinking at least it started.

Meanwhile I had sent an email to the garage that was supposed to have done the cam belt on the van and asked them if they could confirm that it had been replaced. Apparently they immediately contacted the "dealer" who emailed me saying he was hurt and dismayed that I didn't trust him.
If you have read my posts you will perhaps understand my deep sorrow that I had upset him. Not!
This guy is unbelievable! He actually couldn't understand why I might not trust him.

 

[Treeeev]

Hi John

I can't help with your welder or your steering rack, but when I was fitting an Eberspacher D2 into a VW T4, I came across which had loads of useful info about Eber's. Hopefully this will help you diagnose and fix your problems

Cheers

Trevor

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[John Mee]

Ha, a simple job turned into war and peace. The final battle was enacted today, that is after biting the bullet and buying a hose and fittings direct from Peugeot. The hydraulic banjo bolt sold to me by Peugeot turned out to be far too small in diameter to fit the banjo on the hose. Computer parts lists, pah! Instead of waiting a week for a new one to arrive I decided, in my infinite wisdom to buy one off ebay and to pay extra for next day delivery. 4 days later it arrived! I just can't win with this van.
Anyway, fitted it today and do you know what? I have power steering back! It's only taken 2 weeks!
Next the Eberspacer which still won't stay running, my job for tomorrow and probably the next 2 weeks.
Oh, and fitting the cab side step fibre glass tops to the new steel supports, which are newly painted and discovered that the Fiat 249 paint seems to be identical to Ford white van paint.

 

[busby]

I bought a 1998 Peugeot panel van conversion 5 years ago that had spent its first 10 years in Scotland,,Like yours i found lots of rust and all bolts underneath were buggers to remove,,Is it something to do with the amount of salt they have to use on the roads up there. I have a 2002 one now that has spent its life in the midlands,,clean as a whistle everywhere. Not a spot of rust anywhere..Good luck with your repairs,,BUSBY.

 

[John Mee]

Mine is Scottish too and has spent most, if not all, of its life dissolving up there!

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