Going to be completing a power steering to manual steering conversion in the next few weeks, and I want to freshen up my manual rack.

How do you remove the "rack" part of the steering assembly to clean and regrease the entire thing? Will it just slide out if you remove one of the tie rods?

Another thing is who sells GOOD manual steering tie rod boots? I would prefer not going with scantech if I can.

My best suggestion is to get a copy of Haynes and read the procedure for your manual rack. I have not done this but it looks like in order to get the rack itself out you pretty much need to take the whole steering gear apart. That in itself doesn't seem too difficult. But then it needs to be reassembled properly and new parts used as required. As Jorrell mentions, tolerances are tight. You may need to replace some parts which you can only get from Volvo and it requires a couple of tools you might not have. A dial gauge, a torque gauge and a small inside puller for the lower pinion bearing are needed. It's not just a matter of cleaning it up, lubricating it (Cam racks use motor oil BTW, if that's what you have) and then putting it all back together the way it came apart.
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'80 DL 2 dr

My old manuals agree with you, Don. TP 11001/1 and TP 10952/1 both say oil for CAM manual and grease for ZF.
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Seems that we have a case of conflicting information. Kevin says the green book says Cam rack uses grease. Who am I to disagree with the green book? Which manuals are you refering to?
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'80 DL 2 dr

They are both old, from 1976 when the manual racks were more prevalent.

Both say Service Manual - Part 6, Front End and Steering, 240, 264

TP 11001/1 is pretty thin (11 pages) and called, "Construction and function"

TP 10952/1 is 100 pages of "Repair instructions"

Seems like what was used then would be good now.
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

I removed the rack from my car about a year and a half ago and I'm pretty sure there was oil in the gearbox.
But that leads me to wonder about something. If the rebuilder used oil, it seems like it would surely find it's way to one or the other end of the rack during shipping and settle down in the low spots of the bellows. There isn't that much to begin with. Less than half a pint if I recall. But I guess during turning, between compressing the bellows and centrifugal force most of it should return to the box. Is that how it works?

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'80 DL 2 door

I don't have any experience with the Manual, but have added oil to the bellows on CAM PS units, per old Haynes manual I think. Here's what the books say:

Manual CAM (thin book)
It is . . . oil lubricated. When assembled, it is filled with oil. Oil check or topping up cannot be made after it has been installed. Should leakage arise, the oil must be drained completely and then new oil filled to the correct quantity . . . after the leakage has been corrected.

In the assembly (thicker book), at the beginning of assembly, it just says "Oil all parts prior to assembly". No mention of oil again till the next-to-last step, which shows oil being poured into the small end of the Left rack bellows, with bellows (rack) pointed up to receive the oil. Says to use SAE 20W-50 or 20W-40, quantity is 0.3 dm cubed??? (I can't do exponents).

The final step is to put a clamp on the small end, where the oil was inserted.

After that, your guess is as good as mine. Probably better.
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

I have the volvo green manual, and no.. CAM racks do NOT use oil. That is the ZF manual rack that uses oil, the newer manual rack is all greased.

Looking around at the green manual the only real specific thing was making sure the pinion doesn't have any movement, which mine does not.

Okay. I re-read your original question and it's evident you are looking for a short cut. Nothing wrong with that.
I wouldn't think you can remove just the rack even after removing the right hand inner TR end because you would run out of teeth on the rack. The pinion would prevent you from moving the rack any further to the left. But maybe if you removed the front cover and took out the pre-load piston you could withdraw the rack. Probably pull the rack bushing off of the other end too just for wiggle room. I'm not going to say you should or shouldn't. Just that it sounds possible. You would then also have a straight shot at the pinion gear for cleaning. But I would not just put it back together without observing the procedures in the manual with regard to piston clearance and pinion torque.
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'80 DL 2 door

So if you have the green book you already have instructions on how to remove the rack. Were you looking for a shortcut? Not being snide here. Just wondering.
I'm also wondering which type of rack you have.

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'80 DL 2 dr

Based on experience with a 76 280Z manual rack, I would recommend paying for a remanufactured unit. The powerless units are easier to deal with than the ps units, but the tolerances are tight and it's easy to create leaks and binds without even knowing it.

jorrell