Date:         Thu, 6 Sep 2001 17:10:16 +0200
Reply-To:     Jutta & Christian Knust <knust-net@GMX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jutta & Christian Knust <knust-net@GMX.NET>
Subject:      Re: Power Steering Questions - News
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Well, I am looking right now at a very shiny remanufactured power steering
"rack and pinion". I decided to go for a rebuild rather than a DIY sealing
job, since I did not want to dissassemble the thingy, find out that there's more
broken than just a seal and than have to reassemble it before using it as a
core. (I don't think there's more broken than a seal but you never know).

Well, the pricequotes I got were interesting. VW does not have
remanufactured racks but only new parts, costing about $480 - no core return. Parts Place
in Auburn Hills MI asked $460 for a OEM-remanufactured short rack plus core
charge. Murray's had two suppliers listed , one asking $260 and the other
asking more than $ 600 plus cc. =:-))).
Vanagain was closed and BusDepot was a not-so-perfect experience. 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, which had been mentioned in the archive a couple of times. I
ordered yesterday and received today a long (!) rack incl. boots for $205 plus
$110 core charge. On AutoZone's website (guess which URL :-) I found the whole
thing in the parts list, including the remanufacturer's name, ATSCO. Cool. So
I checked out ATSCO, (www.atscoproducts.com) and got the hopefully correct
idea that these guys know what they do.

Now I will just wait for the next rainy day to rip out the old rack, get
some new joints and seals and go for it. Due to lots of advice from the list I
will do the whole job including the other joints on the front axle, to pay
only once for the alignment. Again due to the list I feel pretty confident that
I'll do fine (other than the usual bloody knuckles, yells, insults to various
tools and parts and the like. I will for once not tell my family "it's going
to take only a couple of hours" on Saturday morning and than be happy that
the parts store is still open on late Sunday....)

Well, thanks again for all your help, folks, and froehliches Busfahren
allerseits!
Cheers
Chris
Troy, MI

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