Hi all.

Long story short, I suspect that my #1 steering rack was making a
*minor* clunk sound. No play seen or felt, and no play at inner/outer
ends of tie rod. I have a spare rack. Both are OEM (West Germany)

I inspected each on the bench.

#1 - where pinion rides, steering wheel centered, there's a *tiny*
visible difference (wear?) on 2 or 3 rack teeth. Gears turn smoother
and more easily than #2. Rack was always lubed by me and boots always
ok.

#2 -  feels "tighter" to turn, but is slightly easier to turn just L/R
of center mark, wheel centered. Rack had a funny brown substance on
it. (rust?)

On both, what little I can see of pinion gear shows no visual wear
marks and can't feel play between rack and body or pinion and rack.
Each show almost identical wear marks on round part of rack at each
end but feel smooth.

Aside from play in the steering gear parts, what signs does a Vanagon
manual steering rack give before it fails?

Do they actually fail internally? Like are there cases where the rack
suddenly fails?

A  local offering of a new complete rack did not seem like a quality
part. A Lemeford is pricey as heck. I know one can't put a price on
these types of parts, but for now, just need to gain confidence in my
steering rack so i can re install and use my Westy!    :)

Neil.

--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines