I'm hoping someone here can help.

At the weekend I replaced the steering rack on my 1999 Focus tddi as it was showing signs of wear (sloppy, morning sickness, black fluid). The steering is now much improved except that there is now about 1-2 inches of play in the steering wheel plus a little bit of wandering that wasn't there before. Although I was fairly confident in doing the job, I assumed that I had done something wrong, and took it to a garage and asked them to check it. The said that they thought the rack was faulty and I should return it to where I bought it. So, I started to remove the rack and got that sinking feeling of a subframe bolt turning, but not actually coming out of the hole. I know I will have to get this sorted, but speaking to the mechanic who looked at the rack, he told me that it is possible to remove the rack without dropping the subframe.

My question is, is this possible? How would I go about it? I can't see how I would remove the mounting bolts (unless maybe from under the bonnet with a long extension??) and the heatshield which is fixed to the rack.

Thank you!