Hi Everyone.  Happy New Year to all, and your families.  Hope 
everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday.

Well, on January 2, I took in the Polar Bear ('90 Syncro) to get its 
left front PS rack boot changed.  I wrote about this a couple weeks 
ago when I noticed that this boot had a hole in it about the size of 
a quarter.

I checked out the boot as soon as the van was on the hoist to see if 
a  wheel alignment that the van had last spring could have caused
the boot to twist and tear.  

As it turns out, this boot can twist with little effort on the tie 
rod.  The boot sits in a groove on the tie rod, and is allowed to 
rotate when the tie rod is turned.  The boot WAS properly aligned.
With the hole in the boot, it made the boot appear to be twisted as 
it didn't "fold" properly.  The rubber wasn't brittle or 
cracked anywhere else.  In fact, the rubber was quite supple and 
flexible.  So, I guess that the tear was caused by a sharp object, 
stone or something that got flung up by the wheel or something.  Not 
quite sure if that is possible as the tie rods are quite high up.  I 
guess I'll never know how it got torn, but it's fixed now.

The mechanic worked on the van for 1.5 hours.  He popped out the tie 
rod end at the wheel to do the job.  I was charged for 1.2 hours 
labour, plus materials.  Total bill... $155.21 CDN parts and labour.

Harry.
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Harry Yates, Langley, BC, Canada
'90 Syncro Westfalia www:   http://www.bcit.bc.ca/~hyates
'87 Golf Diesel      email: hyates@bcit.bc.ca
'91 Miata (Millie)