Removing an EPS From an Equinox/Vue

[mike223]

Take a hacksaw too - this way you can get the piece of tubing going toward the driver while just paying the pullapart price for the EPS.

Without a hacksaw you'll either have to leave that piece behind or pay (additional) for steering column + EPS.

[JJ in Cbus]

OK, I had a couple of vacation days to burn before the end of the year so while the weather was still decent I made a trip to U Part It today to pull a 2005 Equinox EPS unit. All in all a pretty painless operation. All I needed were 3 sockets a 7mm, 10mm, and a 13mm, a flat blade screw driver only used as a pry bar, and a ball peen hammer.

The column was still in tact but someone had already removed the top column cover.
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There is a panel above the drivers footwell that needs to be removed. There are 4 - 7mm bolts that hold it in. One on the front left side, one in the back of the little cubby hole on the lower left side of the dash, one on the right front side, and the last just behind the bolt on the right side but coming up from underneath.
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Once you pull the 4 - 7mm bolts the lower dash fascia and the bottom panel can removed.
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I found a little bonus when I removed the dash panels. This fell out from behind the dash. We'll see if there is anything left on it?
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[JJ in Cbus]

Remove the top 2 plugs into the EPS unit, the bottom plug is from the motor on the EPS so it does not need to be removed.
There is a long 13mm bolt that hold the EPS unit to the frame that is located on the left side of the unit at the top. I could not get a good shot of it but it was not too difficult to get my meat hooks up in there to remove it. Once the long bolt has been removed the whole steering column center section will be loose.
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Remove the 2 - 13mm bolts that mount the steering column to the dash support.
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Then remove the 3 - 10mm bolts that hold the steering column tube
to the EPS unit. Once those 3 bolts are removed the steering column can be pulled from the EPS unit.
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There is a 13mm bolt that holds the intermediary steering shaft to the output side of the EPS. I removed the bolt and pried the fitting open a little and pulled the EPS out of the vehicle. I also unhooked the wire harnes clips from under the dash and was able to get about 24" of the power lead from the Equinox's harness. I clipped the wires and reconnected the plugs into the EPS.
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The intermediary steering shaft put up a little more fight. The vehicle was up on a rack and the front suspension had already been removed, so access through the driverside wheel well was easy. There is another 13mm bolt on the double D connector of the intermediary steering shaft and the steering rack. I removed the bolt and took the best swings I could to get the fitting to back off the DD shaft. 100 to 200 taps later(there is no room to swing the hammer) the fitting finally came free.
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So all in all it took me about an hour to remove the EPS and Intermediary Shaft. If I had the correct prybar and a bigger hammer I could probably cut that in half next time.

Now on to blowing the car a part for the off season mods that I have planned.

[mike223]

Then remove the 3 - 10mm bolts that hold the steering column tube
to the EPS unit. Once those 3 bolts are removed the steering column can be pulled from the EPS unit.
20181108_122644.jpg20181108_123149.jpg

There is a 13mm bolt that holds the intermediary steering shaft to the output side of the EPS. I removed the bolt and pried the fitting open a little and pulled the EPS out of the vehicle. I also unhooked the wire harnes clips from under the dash and was able to get about 24" of the power lead from the Equinox's harness. I clipped the wires and reconnected the plugs into the EPS.
20181108_130640.jpg

The intermediary steering shaft put up a little more fight. The vehicle was up on a rack and the front suspension had already been removed, so access through the driverside wheel well was easy. There is another 13mm bolt on the double D connector of the intermediary steering shaft and the steering rack. I removed the bolt and took the best swings I could to get the fitting to back off the DD shaft. 100 to 200 taps later(there is no room to swing the hammer) the fitting finally came free.
20181108_130727.jpg

So all in all it took me about an hour to remove the EPS and Intermediary Shaft. If I had the correct prybar and a bigger hammer I could probably cut that in half next time.

A couple of notes:

Picture 1 + 2: I take along a hacksaw so I can harvest part of the tube (3-10mm bolts) at the bottom of the steering column without taking the rest of the steering column - then you can use that as a column to come through the dash (if you put it where I put mine).

I did not find any of the intermediary steering shaft parts to be useful in my installation - I used a C114 (17mm-36) coupling from woodwardsteering.com and built from there - no room for the stock intermediary steering shaft parts behind dash (especially the u-joint in the neighborhood of the 2" x 2" tubing - front edge)


Mk-4-Pull-A-Part-EPAS