It took some time to get all the tools we needed for the rack install. We finished unloading the old rack some more, all the disk units have been removed...no jukebox. :( After figuring out a jack system for lifting the front of the rack enough to install the front stabalizer pad and then installing the foot rests, we realized we could have installed the foot rests first and avoided the jack problem. Anyway the old rack now has it's official front stabalizer pad in place and is resting on it's feet instead of its wheels. The feet help take the strain off the front stabalizer, too, where it doesn't really belong.
The tools that werehelpful (and would have been even more helpful if we hadn't had to borrow them) were:
* a 13mm socket wrench for the front stabilizer bolts on the old rack
* a 1/2" or adjustalbe wrench to screw down the feet into the foot rests on the old rack
* a tape measure (or better ruler) to get a straight-line install for the racks
* 6mm allen wrench cor the new rack stablizer pads (supplied by dell)
The new wrack came with allen bolts for the stabilizer pads and an appropriate allen wrench (6mm). The toolset we borrowed also had a tape measure so we were able to make a rough estimate of "straight" for the centering of the racks in the room.
So far we've eyeballed the levelness of the rack, but I just saw the level in toolbox so we can straighten things out nicely. This will be tricky since we also need to line up the racks with each other for their attaching bolts.
Note: ''need to got to Sears or similar and buy a "real" toolset''.
Some problems with leveling and joining
We ran into some difficult level the racks and joining them. It proved too difficult to level the racks inidividually and then have them at equal height in order to join them. We went ahead and loosely joined the racks and will tighten the joints after the second rack is carrying more load.
The joining was a challenge because the each rack was at a slightly different height. We didn't want to lower the second rack completely because we anticipated it would sink some into the carpet when it got more load. So we had to push the racks "in shhape" a little to line up the holes. The joinging design is also a little poor but manageble. Six hands were helpful.
The leveling and joining problems seem to come from the carpeting. It's not thick but it does give, causing differences in alignment with load and without.
We'll tighten the joining blots as the second rack sinks into place. We'll also rest the stabalizer pads on the floor once it's loaded (right now they "float" above the floor).