I'm going to be digging grease out of ears till Labor day.
When all is said and done the job could be relatively easy. But I chose the path less taken. Ya know it's less taken for a reason.
I pulled the parts from a really good looking donor, and even lucked out on the Tire rod ends(which I replaced any way but kept the used ones). I ended up paying like $100 dollars for it,then ordered boots,($12 a pair) and new tie rod ends for(7.50 each).
I ended up in a wrestling match, with the universal / coupling. Fortunately I am a big fan of brute force, having many hammers, vices, anvils and other instruments of mechanical persuasion. But I could have ordered a new one from IPD ready to go w/o the hour or so it took me to figure out what was wrong and how big a hammer it was going to take to make it work.
There is a place mentioned in the FAQ that has Rebuilt ZF racks for $200 plus $30 shipping, and a core charge(with a life time guarantee). I could have done this in a day instead of like three. There are many more gory details but I will spare you unless someone really wants to know, I'll call this one done.
No weeble no wobble,tracks good, no leaks and I have something a lot more like power steering.
Does anybody have a really good way to seat outer tie rod ends?
Paul