I'm repairing or replacing my steering gear & rack due to leaks on my '95 Cabriolet. Seal Kit is $70 from Audi, Steering Gear is $339 on sale at Blauparts - rebuilt. I'm a little queasy about giving up my original for a 'who know's what' rebuilt one, even though I've had good luck with Blauparts. Core charge is $350, (yeah, more than the rebuild!) so I can't just keep the original. The seal on the piston is dumping fluid into the rubber accordian boot, and on a hard left turn it all comes blowing out as the boot compresses. The assembly is a real pain to remove and replace, so I don't want to do a seal job only to have to R & R the thing a second time. If anybody has been down this road, I'd like to hear your opinion. Thanks.

 

Those outer seals are really the only thing ive seen go bad on a rack and pinion steering system. Ive never seen one rebuilt before thou. You are correct about it being a pain in the *** to replace. Ive never heard of anyone replaceing just the seals. You may want to look into the replacement procedure for them, because if they can be replaced without removing the rack thats definatly the easiest way to go.

 

Thanks dankhound. I'm getting my courage up to do the seal job. If I screw it up I'm only out $70 and have created a core. The outer seal is held in by a circlip that requires the rack shaft to be removed, according to Bentley's. Once you've gone that far you are pretty much into it. I'm thinking through the issues of steering wheel and wheel position, as well as how the steering pinion meshes with the rack so I can get it back together without it being all cockeyed. I'm thinking that as long as you block the wheels from moving and don't move the steering wheel after removing the unit, it all should go back OK. Comments on this procedure appreciated.