With the front end all open for my AC rebuild, I am taking a close look at everything else.

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My inspection revealed a leaky rack and pinion...

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It is leaking at the passenger side boot. I also get pretty aggressive steering whine when getting close to max travel while driving. I searched the cite but did not see anyone who had rebuilt a steering rack. With the combination of the whine and the leak, I am leaning toward replacement of the pump and the rack. All parts come to about $600 for reman stuff on Rock Auto. Steering pump and rack are discontinued from Toyota. This is not a critical fix at all, it is just so damn easy to get at everything right now it seems like a big time and energy savings to just do it while I have the front end all disassembled.

Any opinions or wisdom from the group for steering stuff?