The power steering rack on my 1992 has developed a pretty good leak recently. Not a bad run if it lasted 30 years! I was looking into options though, and quickly my head spun. Hoping to get some advice.
I know many people replace these with newer SN95 racks or other "upgrade" options. I want to keep mine as 1992 as possible, so I'm not interested in those options. I'm not a "every part has to be from 1992" type person, but I don't want anything that would quickly tip off someone that it's been replaced/upgraded.
In the keeping it stock category, I've found the following possibilities:
- Buy a reman rack. It appears both Cardone and BBB sell remanufactured racks. The prices are cheap, ~$140 for the rack and a ~$120 core. It's probably the cheapest/fastest option, I suspect this is what most shops would recommend. Drawbacks? While I'll get an old rack remade it may not be the exact same as the one I have on there now. Also, the Cardone ones seem to have a bad rep online, lots of forum posts from people who put one in only to have it leak a month later.
- Buy a new rack. There are some highly rated units for around $300 and a range of options from $225 - $550, but they seem to all be "silver" where as my stock rack is painted black. I suspect these are the most likely to just work out of the box and last, but the drawback is the cheap options look real different so it costs more money to keep the looks the same. I'd probably consider this option more if I could get one in black that looked real close to to the existing. They seem to come from SKP, BBB Industries, Lares, Cardone, Ultra-Power and AAE. I don't know the reputation of any of those names.
- Rebuild the rack. I can get a seal kit to rebuild the existing rack for $30. It would also need new inner tie rods (there is a bit of play in the existing) so I'd have to source those. Apparently this is slightly difficult as different racks used different size threads over the years. Still, should be less than $75 in parts, but it's the labor. It still has to be removed from the car, then completely disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and reinstalled. Part of me wants to do it myself, but I really don't have the right work space nor have I ever done one before so I'm thinking I would pay a shop. I figure it's at least 2 hours of labor total so maybe $400 more in labor. Main advantage here is the rack is the same, disadvantage is car is down more (need to pull the current rack and measure the threads on the inners before ordering, then wait for it to come in) and that the person doing the rebuild does a good job on something they likely haven't ever done before.
I'd welcome any thoughts or other suggestions.
I know many people replace these with newer SN95 racks or other "upgrade" options. I want to keep mine as 1992 as possible, so I'm not interested in those options. I'm not a "every part has to be from 1992" type person, but I don't want anything that would quickly tip off someone that it's been replaced/upgraded.
In the keeping it stock category, I've found the following possibilities:
- Buy a reman rack. It appears both Cardone and BBB sell remanufactured racks. The prices are cheap, ~$140 for the rack and a ~$120 core. It's probably the cheapest/fastest option, I suspect this is what most shops would recommend. Drawbacks? While I'll get an old rack remade it may not be the exact same as the one I have on there now. Also, the Cardone ones seem to have a bad rep online, lots of forum posts from people who put one in only to have it leak a month later.
- Buy a new rack. There are some highly rated units for around $300 and a range of options from $225 - $550, but they seem to all be "silver" where as my stock rack is painted black. I suspect these are the most likely to just work out of the box and last, but the drawback is the cheap options look real different so it costs more money to keep the looks the same. I'd probably consider this option more if I could get one in black that looked real close to to the existing. They seem to come from SKP, BBB Industries, Lares, Cardone, Ultra-Power and AAE. I don't know the reputation of any of those names.
- Rebuild the rack. I can get a seal kit to rebuild the existing rack for $30. It would also need new inner tie rods (there is a bit of play in the existing) so I'd have to source those. Apparently this is slightly difficult as different racks used different size threads over the years. Still, should be less than $75 in parts, but it's the labor. It still has to be removed from the car, then completely disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and reinstalled. Part of me wants to do it myself, but I really don't have the right work space nor have I ever done one before so I'm thinking I would pay a shop. I figure it's at least 2 hours of labor total so maybe $400 more in labor. Main advantage here is the rack is the same, disadvantage is car is down more (need to pull the current rack and measure the threads on the inners before ordering, then wait for it to come in) and that the person doing the rebuild does a good job on something they likely haven't ever done before.
I'd welcome any thoughts or other suggestions.
