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The top, suprisingly, has quite a bit of free travel so it will move around easily once you break the bond at the split joint and the joint clears the shaft. Once you sense that you have broken that bond and you can sense some movement of the joint on the shaft, I would then free the rack, which will give you more flexibility.
Some suggestions if you are taking out the rack.
The instructions I was following did not mention taking out the sway bar first. I did and it did free up a bit more room to move things around.
I supported my car using jack stands under the front jacking points on the rocker panels under each front door. That kept the jackstands far enough back to give me lots of free movement.
I placed a 2x4 across the back edge of the oil pan (chipped out a relief where the drain plug was) and lifted the engine to remove the rear engine mount and the whole engine mount bracket, to free up some more room. I had first disconnected the upper stabilizer bar/mount to give the engine some unrestrained movement in the upward direction.
So that you can move them around, make sure you remove the mounting hardware that traps the two power steering lines at the back and the front of the subframe.
STRONG SUGGESTON: when you put your new rack in-place, one of the first connections you should make should be the two power steering lines. DO NOT bolt the rack down first and then try and connect the two lines to the rack. First connect the lines. I did it the other way and those lines are inflexible and the danger of cross-threading is too great.
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