Vehicle: 2004 Ford Ranger XLT, SuperCab, 4x2, 4.0L, Automatic trans. 193,484 miles.
Issue: replaced the original rack and pinion with a new unit. It fits fine except for one minor detail:
The input shaft of the new steering gear had to be rotated 180 degrees in order to reinstall the pinch bolt. Now I have 2-1/4 turns from center-to-left lock and 1-3/4 turns center-to-right lock.
Am I going to have to remove this unit and remove its pinion shaft and rotate it 180 degrees and reassemble it? Can I do this in my garage with hand tools and without special tools?
I have contacted the manufacturer via their "CONTACT US" section of their website. No reply as of the time of this post.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Did you center the steering wheel before removing the old rack?

 

Step 1 - turn wheel to center rack
Step 2 - Remove steering shaft pinch bolt - remove driver tire and wheel arch cover to gain easier access to rack-shaft coupler
Step 3 - Remove steering shaft from rack
Step 4 - Re-center steering wheel - Carefully turn wheel "lock to lock" slowly, being sure to stop at any sign of resistance. Find the center, or close enough to it, via turn counts, then set wheel straight
Step 5 - Slide steering shaft over rack input shaft
Step 6 - Reinstall Pinch bolt - go through wheel wheel as you did to remove the bolt prior
Step 7 - Check steering wheel center to "wheel center" by driving down the road - note any issues with steering wheel position when having truck aligned.

It is extremely important to be careful with your turning force and speed as you try to find the steering wheel "center". You're essentially trying to find the end of travel of your clockspring, and you do not want that to get damaged. This is where a gentle feel and noting resistance comes into play. When met, you're either turning the internal wiring "fully tight" or "fully loose". The inside of a automotive clockspring looks like a flat ribbon wire, wound around the center, and as the name suggests, looks like an old time clock spring. So if you turn it "too tight" you could stretch the wiring out and break it. If you try and turn it "too loose" you could force the wire ribbon to fold over itself, which could break or bend the wiring in a way that would cause failure, or worse, your airbag to pop in our face randomly

 

Yes

 

I have the 2004 Ford Ranger Workshop Manual and followed the Ford procedure to the letter, including torque for mounting bolts, pinch bolt, line retainer nut and all the stabilizer bar's bolts. I replaced the old PS fluid with Pentosin 11S.
The steering was centered and locked before jacking up the vehicle and it was not moved until the replacement was complete. As noted in the OP, It was necessary to rotate the input shaft of the steering gear ***'y in order for the relief cut in the shaft to align with the steering knuckle pinch bolt.
I hope this is helpful.

 

Now it dawns on me....
Tomorrow is Turkey Day and any reply from the mfr will be unlikely to happen before end of the day Monday!
DOH!!!

 

Re-read your reply.
If I run through this procedure and the gear's input shaft still does not align with the steering shaft coupler as needed to install the pinch bolt, then what will we need to do?
Thank you again.
BP

 

Unfortunately, if you install the rack with the tie rod ends "even" and the input shaft is no where near where it needs to be in order to line up with the steering shaft, it sounds like the rack was assembled incorrectly.

There may be ways to fix that, which could get down to the point of complete disassembly, but if that was the case, I'd contact the MFG and ask where the indent should be located when the tie rods are "even". I'd be pretty annoyed at the situation myself, since I'd not want to remove the part I just installed, but sometimes things aren't quite put together correctly. I don't have enough experience tearing out the steering shaft to suggest whether this can be "re-clocked" or not, as I've never needed to do that specific repair.

 

Here was my fix: https://www.ranger-forums.com/suspen...solved-170712/

As I stated in the OP, I have contacted the mfr via their website (11/25/22). No response as of yet.