Is the dealer the only place to get a replacement boot for the steering rack? I havent seen any vendors selling them. Plus if my seal is shot is that replaceable? What is the easiest way to test this with the rack out of the car? I'm assuming some fluid and shop pressure should show any problems, right?

 

I got my boot from Ray at Malloy Mazda. Just be sure to mark the threads on the tie rod end before taking it off. Don't know about the seal.

 

thats what a tape measure is for lol (but yes i did mark them). Im going to ghetto rig my alignment before i get it to a rack anyway. The whole damn car is in a million peices right now. In fact I work at a sandrail shop where entire alignmets are done with a measuring tape and a digital angle finder. It is really easy to do when caster is set up as a married angle with everything else on a sandrail, as long as both sides match camber and toe, the caster will be the same. A little bit off topic I know

edit: how much was it?

 

I think I had to shell out thirty or forty bucks. Many FDs have already had these boots replaced. They're infamous for cracking.

 

yeah they dont seem to be very pliable. I'm going to test the rack by spinning my pump with an air drill at work. should be fairly interesting.