Anyone replace their steering rack...
 

...at all, or recently?

The slight clunking on rough roads and when seesawing the wheel left to right at a stop is in the rack.

Just noisy, no leaks at all.

Online it seems people with this problem replace the whole rack assembly.

There are ZF remans at $800 to $1,500 or so.

I saw someone here mention putting in an ATSCO which is around $500.

Saw that A1 Cardone has them too for about the same as ATSCO.

Then I saw an Eastern European company that sells rebuild kits, havent been able to price it yet and not confident about tearing into it, especially if it turns out the housing or shaft is too worn to be reusable.

Looking for opinions on how to go about this.

Mine was working but leaking. Failed inspection. Got a rebuilt replacement from the "the rack Doctor" and it's been good for 3 years or so. Not very expensive.

http://shop.rackdoctor.net/X-5-SERIES_c86.htm

Previously, mine had a bit of noise but no leaks.

Searched and found tightening and greasing the double joint.

Double joint linky

David, yeah, heard about them from the E46 forums. I emailed them twice asking if they replaced the bushings in the rack and never got a response. Good to hear you are happy with yours.

Jopecasa, I replaced my u-joint maybe 20k miles ago with a brand new one. But I will look into re-tightening it. Hadnt thought of that, thanks!

David, yeah, heard about them from the E46 forums. I emailed them twice asking if they replaced the bushings in the rack and never got a response. Good to hear you are happy with yours.

Jopecasa, I replaced my u-joint maybe 20k miles ago with a brand new one. But I will look into re-tightening it. Hadnt thought of that, thanks!

What did it cost to install it? Or did you DIY?

I did it myself. Not a terrible job. I measured the lengths of each side to a 1/16" of an inch and set the new one to the same (rack Doctor includes new inner joints from what I recall, and I bought new outers so it would all be equally new). Getting the spline off the steering column was the only pita. I forgot to lock the steering centered so I had to do that step twice to have the wheel properly centered.

I had mine replaced at Mspec here in NYC , they where working around that spot and more $$$.