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I bought the rack and pinion steering for my 1998 26x; now I need to increase the height of the pedestal to accommodate it. I would appreciate suggestions from anyone who has done this mod.

Assuming that the '98 pedestal is the same as the '01(mine) and other model years, then I suspect that your new rack is too long. The original rack does fit rather tight in the space.

If you truly need to raise the pedestal, it is bolted to the cockpit floor an would just need an appropriate spacer to raise, but that wouldn't make your rack fit better. I think you're referring to the location of the steering hole relative to the top of the pedestal. Before doing any major pedestal mods, confirm that you have the appropriate length rack. I just replaced my rack system with a rotary system.

My original rack box is 18.75" long, but the critical measurement - top end of box to center of rack / gear contact point is 8.5".

Wouldn't it be vastly easier to buy the correct steering cables?

Cable length wouldn't matter as a longer cable would have a larger bend radius under the cockpit. I replaced my original 8' cable with a 10' cable without affecting the pedestal.

BWY has the longer pedestal that came standard on the later Xs

I forgot to mention that I've wanted to get more room for one's feet between the pedestal and the front of the seats, without going thru a major mod that I see some other have done. It would seek that a simple way would be to add aluminum u-channel between the floor and the front and back of the pedestal. I was just seeing if anyone had done something like this already so I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel so to speak. BTW, I appreciate the helpful suggestion to return the unit that I bought etc.

Doesn't the X have the main sheet attached to the Ped?

Whatever you do, it must be strong.