rack boot (only) source?

[Ken Keith]

Hello all,

I pulled the rack from my donor car.  Very easy w/o the motor/tranny/hood!  It should be helpful that I was able to do it with a bird's eye view, as well as not having anything in the way.  Installation should be easier than usual, w/o the tranny in the recipient.  Then, if I ever have to do it again, I ought to be pretty good at it! :-P

It has a sticker on it that says it's a rebuilt ZF unit.  The car it came out of was an '87 5kt fwd auto.  Everything seems to be well with it, including the boot.

However, since it is out anyway, I'm tempted to maybe replace the boot with a brand spanking new one before I put it into my '88 5kcstq.

Does anyone know where I can get the boot alone?  I'm not sure if it is available by itself.

Boy, looking inside the boot at the mechanism, it does seem to be pretty exposed without the boot to protect it.  I saw the sides of o-rings, that look like they are supposed to slide into a bore.  It was like I was looking at the piston through a hole in the side of the bore.

It's kinda scary looking.  There is grease or whatever in there, and it's got that gray discoloration that I hope is normal.  If there is anything preventative I can do to it before I install it, I'd like to hear about it.

Thanks,

Ken