>  The rack was moderately priced with about $240 plus cc give or take, but
guy I was
> talking to did not know who the remanufacturer was. Maybe I am
> somewhat overly cautious, but when I do want to decide between a
new/OEM-reman or a
> third-party-job on safety-related parts, I would like to know details. A
failing
> steering is no fun. Well, I guess it's not rocket science to figure out
where one
> gets this reman rack from, but I could not get BusDepot to make the extra
> effort. I am a pretty loyal guy and tend to spend some bucks more
> if I know where my money goes to and I do treasure the advice Ron offers
here on the list,
> but in this case I could not get all information I wanted. I finally
settled
> for AutoZone.

If you called Customer Service (rather than the toll-free order-desk
number), the person you spoke to should have been able to find this out for
you if he didn't already know it. My apologies if he didn't make the effort.
(On the other hand, if you called the toll-free order desk, you could well
have reached a clerk who didn't even know what a steering rack was. :-)  If
you call Customer Service and can't get the answer you need, you can either
ask for Dan, the store manager, or email Jerry at sales@busdepot.com, both
of whom are quite knowledgeable about most of the parts.  Not everyone in
Customer Service is as knowledgable as everyone else, but the least
experienced employees are put on the order-desk, not Customer Service.  The
ones in Customer Service should know how to obtain basic product details
like that if they do not know the answer offhand.

Our racks are rebuilt in the US by AAR.  We can get rebuilt German ZF (OEM)
racks, but for more than twice the price, nobody buys them (and personally I
wouldn't either).  In the five years that I've sold the AAR racks, the only
defect I ever had was one with a torn boot, which they replaced, so I've
been more than satisfied with the quality of their work.  My general rule of
thumb is, if I wouldn't feel confident putting it on my own van, I won't
sell it.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  (215) 234-VWVW
  www.busdepot.com

_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders Only: 1-866-BUS-DEPOT