[Vwdiesel] suspension rebuilds

[S. Shourds]

Apparently, I forgot to knock on wood or something.  The TDI is down 
with electrical flu.  Again.  Same as last time.  Only 5V getting to any 
circuit served by the ignition switch.  I have a new switch coming, but 
it'll be a few days. 

In the interim, I'm driving the old '85 TD.  At least until I was 
heading in to work this morning, came up to a stoplight and skidded it 
into a curb on the wet street.  Knocked the car out of alignment bad 
enough that I didn't want to drive it as is.  I ran it over to a cheap 
alignment shop where they told me that the suspension is so worn out 
(312,000 miles) that they can't align it.  I'd been told that at chain 
places because they won't align anything that they would have to 
warranty later on but never at a sketchy independent shop where I can 
tell them that, "I'm not worried about the warranty, just get it as 
close as you can." 

It is honestly pretty bad at this point with all the tie rod ends loose, 
I'm losing a  lot of power steering fluid from somewhere around the 
rack, the strut mounts wobble, and the a-frame mounts are all original.  
I bought new inner ends a while back, but then I found out I can get a 
rebuilt rack for $160 that comes with new inner ends.  I figured this 
after I saw that Bentley says you have to pull the rack to replace the 
ends and I don't see how that rack comes out except through where the 
engine and transmission are.  I probably need to pull them anyways 
because the clutch is somehow messed up and I think I have a bad engine 
mount somewhere with all the clunking.  On the other hand, I drive this 
car maybe 2000 miles a year.  It's just backup to the temperamental TDI 
and I keep my kayak on top of it so I can run down to the lake real 
quick and paddle around a bit. 

Anyone gone in deep enough to pull the rack or done anything like 
replace all of the consumable suspension components?  I'm wondering what 
I'm in for. 

-Shalyn