> and after some hard looking, he found a "short" rack.
> Does this ring a bell for any of you?

> It looks like the steering rack on my son's Syncro has taken a bullet to
> the head. Anybody have some info you could e-mail me, what to look
> out for, what all needs to be replaced that is not included in the
> replacement rack, how long should this take, any special tools needed.

Wow, it's steering rack day today!  The difference between a short rack and
a long rack is that the long rack comes with tie rods and everything, while
on the short rack you have to re-use your tierods and ends.  My rebuilder
sells them for within about $20 of eachother, believe it or not, so I
generally ship the long rack. The $15-20 extra cost is made up in reduced
labor, not to mention getting new tierods in the process.  They run $249,
with a lifetime manufacturer's warranty, plus a $150 refundable core
deposit.  So far I have had not a single warranty claim, and I've sold many.
Regarding the possibility of converting to manual steering, you could do it
but I don't know how much you'd save, considering that a rebuilt power
steering rack isn't all that expensive.  There are differences between
vanagons with power and manual steering that you may not have thought of,
such as the manual steering version coming with a larger steering wheel to
make it easier to turn.

- Ron Salmon
 The Bus Depot
 http://www.busdepot.com