ZF or Camgear?
I found replacing the seals on a ZF fairly straighforward.

Replacing the rack is easy, but you'll have to have the wheels realigned

When you get the used rack, be sure to get the cups or brackets or standoffs
or whatever they are called the locate the rack and keep it off the cross
member.  An aluminium block with a half circle the rack nests into with bolt
holes through.

Each rack manufacturer has a unique set of  cups ... that fit under the rack
at the bolt down point.

Duane

On Feb 1, 4:09 am, stevecusac...@hotmail.com wrote:

If he is replacing the rack with a rebuilt one then that is a
reasonable price, at least in my area after converting AUD to my
currency.

If you buy a used rack for $150.00 it will likely be as old as yours,
have the same wear as yours and will probably be a candidate for
replacement because of leaking seals in the near future.  So, yes you
could save a lot of money in the near term, if you were willing to
devote at least a weekend to replacing one used rack with another one
and doing a home realignment.

It is a job that most home mechanics could accomplish with the right
tools and a reasonably advanced level of knowlege.

My question would be why would you replace one worn out part with
another.  If you want to do it at home at least buy a rebuilt rack
that will last you for a while.  If it were me I would pay the
mechanic to do the job correctly in the first place and do something
else with a weekend.

You should be able to get a rack cheaper than that, a brand new one is
only about US$250. Yard near me has them for US$30.

Changing it is about a 2 hour job if you take your time. You'll need a
couple of wrenches and some sort of container to catch the fluid that
drains out of the lines. With some careful measurements you can preserve
the alignment.

Two years ago my 91 740wagon spewed a large amount of fluid that has
accumulated in the end boot of the rack.  I was backing out of my driveway
and had the wheel turned all the way when the boot popped off.  I do not know
how long it has been accumulating there but for what it is worth, on the
advice of my mechanic I poured in 12oz of Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak to
get my by till we find a used rack or till things get worse.  Well it has not
gotten any worse yet. I realize that this makes for lousy statistics but it
might be worth a try.  

   As an alternative to doing it yourself, get a few more
quotes. We found an independent mechanic who replaced our rack
with a rebuilt one for literally half the highest quoted price:
it was a bit under $600 USD. (Then he ripped us off on the next
job. Life is like that.)