RE: Steering Rack Rebuild

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

... I believe that ZF ends up doing a lot of the rebuilds ... certainly the
Audi rebuilts are done by ZF.  When I needed one for the Avant I called PAP
and they told me that they had used ZF but had a higher than desired return
rate so they worked out a deal with a local (to them) shop.  He told me that
their racks were tested at pressure for some amount of time after the
rebuild was complete.  This was before I knew about that place that Graydon
turned us on to that installs a stainless stell sleeve when they do the
rebuild.  My racks all seem to be holding up for now (knock on Zebrano) but
should I ever need another ... or should I say when ... that is going to be
the route I choose.  

While I defintiely agree that getting a 5k rack out for the first time is a
real pain, once you know how it's done they really arent that bad.  The
biggest warning I have for anyone DIY'ing this is to make sure that you
install the pressure and return fittings to the proper ports when you
reinstall the rack!  They are back against the firewall and both are the
same size.  The drawings in the Bentley are ambiguous, so draw your own
diagram before disassembly.  Perhaps now you might have figured out how I
know that the second time is much easier than the first ...

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

> ----------
> I haven't been watching this thread close enough so have a couple
> questions.
> Where do you get the ZF rebuilt racks and for what cost?  The rebuilt I
> have
> on my 5kcst is going after about 70k miles the original went 150k.  Where
> do
> I find Scott Mockry's page?  The mechanic that replaced my rack, not an
> Audi
> mechanic, said it was the most difficult rack he had ever replaced.
>