2008 Lexus Rx 350 150k miles
https://ibb.co/Z8RW7bZ

The mechanics who did my oil change found that the rack and pinion boot of
my car was torn and recommended to replace it.

They said it'll cost $1,500 to replace the steering.
I don't feel any problem with steerings.

Can you advice me on my option?

On 7/20/20 10:00 PM, delvon daily wrote:
2008 Lexus Rx 350 150k miles
https://ibb.co/Z8RW7bZ

The mechanics who did my oil change found that the rack and pinion boot of
my car was torn and recommended to replace it.

They said it'll cost $1,500 to replace the steering.
I don't feel any problem with steerings.

Can you advice me on my option?


If it is just a torn boot/bellows, find a new mechanic that will replace
this $9.00 part for a reasonable charge. Maybe a 1-1.5 hour job

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...n+bellow,11362

Sounds like they want to replace the entire rack, which is an ~$500 part.

Kind of like buying a new pair pf shoes because one lace broke ;-)

delvon daily wrote:
2008 Lexus Rx 350 150k miles
https://ibb.co/Z8RW7bZ

The mechanics who did my oil change found that the rack and pinion boot of
my car was torn and recommended to replace it.

Never did it on a Lexus, but on a BMW it's a ten dollar part, plus maybe
another ten dollars for the clamps. Takes about a half hour to do, you don't
even need to put it up on the lift.

Some shops will tell you that you need a full alignment afterward, and if
you do that then the alignment is the most expensive part of the whole process.
On my cars I have just marked the tie rod end and then reassembled so the
length is the same, and it's not been off enough to notice.

They said it'll cost $1,500 to replace the steering.
I don't feel any problem with steerings.

Probably more than that to replace the rack if the rack fails. The boots
are there to keep junk out of the rack. When the boots fail, dust and
dirt get in and then you need to rebuild the whole thing and it is expensive
and a pain.

So fix it now before it gets to that point.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 20 Jul 2020 21:00:26 -0500, delvon daily
wrote:

2008 Lexus Rx 350 150k miles
https://ibb.co/Z8RW7bZ

The mechanics who did my oil change found that the rack and pinion boot of
my car was torn and recommended to replace it.

They said it'll cost $1,500 to replace the steering.

That is a lot of money. What's the blue book on the car? (not that I
object to spending more than the blue book when necessary and if one
likes the car, but it's still a measure of something.

I don't feel any problem with steerings.

Did you get a look at how torn it is?

Did he suggest the possibllity of the kind of boot that doesn't require
removing parts?

Here's an examplle:
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/PCQ1...BEgJQ vvD_BwE
Under $10 plus labor: 30 or 60 minutes.

https://www.google.com/search?client...ck+pinion+boot
Here's more on the topic. If you're lucky, there's some discussion too.
'
They make boots for CV joings that go on without removing anything,
also. I did that once, myself. I didn't do a great job but they are
fillled with grease. I dont' think a steering boot is filled with
grease, is it? If not, it should be much easier. It's just to keep
stones from hitting the polished rod? So it doesn't have to hold in
the grease, right????


What is he going to do for 1500. Even taking out the parts, putting in
a non-split boot and putting it all back in seems like it should cost
less, but mmaybe not. If all he will do is replace t he boot, put in a
split boot and check it every time you change the oil to see if it's
still good. Should last 10 years,

Was he referring to this too. I'm sure there is a split version
https://www.1aauto.com/steering-rack...SABEgKXEvD_BwE

Can you advice me on my option?

How many miles do you dirve a year

I have 130K on my 2005 solara but I don't drive much

With a previous car, when a pipe in the exhaust system separated from
the resonator or the other half of the pipe, and the guys in my
suburbran n'hood wanted to replace the entire system (because they are
all rusted together.) I drove part way into the city to a nice looking
shop and he was happy to weld the two pipes together. He put on two
beads, all the way around, an excellent job, and it lasted years until I
got another car for other reasons.

If you want him to put on a split boot like the link above, someone who
doesn't deal with rich folks all the time will be glad to do ti.

micky wrote:

Did you get a look at how torn it is?

I posted a picture of it in the first post.
https://ibb.co/Z8RW7bZ

On Monday, July 20, 2020 at 10:27:47 PM UTC-4, Scott Dorsey wrote:
delvon daily wrote:
2008 Lexus Rx 350 150k miles
https://ibb.co/Z8RW7bZ

The mechanics who did my oil change found that the rack and pinion boot of
my car was torn and recommended to replace it.

Never did it on a Lexus, but on a BMW it's a ten dollar part, plus maybe
another ten dollars for the clamps. Takes about a half hour to do, you don't
even need to put it up on the lift.

That's true, with a big "if". If the tie rod isn't seized up from years
of driving in cold climates with salt on the road and it comes apart easily.
If you run into a seized one, you may need a torch, it adds to the time, you
need a new inner and outer tie rod, etc. It still should be a small
fraction of the quoted $1500 though.




Some shops will tell you that you need a full alignment afterward,

I would expect just about all will.



and if
you do that then the alignment is the most expensive part of the whole process.
On my cars I have just marked the tie rod end and then reassembled so the
length is the same, and it's not been off enough to notice.

You can try to do it that way, but when you're dealing with ~1/16" differences
at the edges of the wheels, seems near impossible to me, which is why the
shops are going the alignment route. Also, they don't want you coming back
a couple thousand miles later, complaining that you owe them a new set of tires.




They said it'll cost $1,500 to replace the steering.
I don't feel any problem with steerings.

Probably more than that to replace the rack if the rack fails. The boots
are there to keep junk out of the rack. When the boots fail, dust and
dirt get in and then you need to rebuild the whole thing and it is expensive
and a pain.

So fix it now before it gets to that point.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 12:19:31 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 20 Jul 2020 21:00:26 -0500, delvon daily
wrote:

2008 Lexus Rx 350 150k miles
https://ibb.co/Z8RW7bZ

The mechanics who did my oil change found that the rack and pinion boot of
my car was torn and recommended to replace it.

They said it'll cost $1,500 to replace the steering.

That is a lot of money. What's the blue book on the car? (not that I
object to spending more than the blue book when necessary and if one
likes the car, but it's still a measure of something.

I don't feel any problem with steerings.

Did you get a look at how torn it is?

Did he suggest the possibllity of the kind of boot that doesn't require
removing parts?

Here's an examplle:
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/PCQ1...BEgJQ vvD_BwE
Under $10 plus labor: 30 or 60 minutes.

That's just a regular boot that requires removing the tie rod end. I've
never seen a rack boot that doesn't.






https://www.google.com/search?client...ck+pinion+boot
Here's more on the topic. If you're lucky, there's some discussion too.
'
They make boots for CV joings that go on without removing anything,
also. I did that once, myself. I didn't do a great job but they are
fillled with grease.

I've never attempted to use one, for that reason. I wouldn't trust a split
boot that glues together and doubt it will last very long. Especially for
a rack boot, where doing it the right way is much less involved than doing
a CV boot.







I dont' think a steering boot is filled with
grease, is it? If not, it should be much easier. It's just to keep
stones from hitting the polished rod? So it doesn't have to hold in
the grease, right????

That's right, it's just to keep dirt out.

In alt.home.repair, on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 06:18:38 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:



https://www.google.com/search?client...ck+pinion+boot
Here's more on the topic. If you're lucky, there's some discussion too.
'
They make boots for CV joings that go on without removing anything,
also. I did that once, myself. I didn't do a great job but they are
fillled with grease.

I've never attempted to use one, for that reason. I wouldn't trust a split
boot that glues together and doubt it will last very long. Especially for
a rack boot, where doing it the right way is much less involved than doing
a CV boot.

It lasted long enough but it was messy, and I was worried that too much
grease got out and not enough remained. But I don't think that
happened. Now I might just replace a half-axle, which I did once
after a collision with a curb.


I dont' think a steering boot is filled with
grease, is it? If not, it should be much easier. It's just to keep
stones from hitting the polished rod? So it doesn't have to hold in
the grease, right????

That's right, it's just to keep dirt out.

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 9:51:41 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 06:18:38 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:



https://www.google.com/search?client...ck+pinion+boot
Here's more on the topic. If you're lucky, there's some discussion too.
'
They make boots for CV joings that go on without removing anything,
also. I did that once, myself. I didn't do a great job but they are
fillled with grease.

I've never attempted to use one, for that reason. I wouldn't trust a split
boot that glues together and doubt it will last very long. Especially for
a rack boot, where doing it the right way is much less involved than doing
a CV boot.

It lasted long enough but it was messy, and I was worried that too much
grease got out and not enough remained. But I don't think that
happened. Now I might just replace a half-axle, which I did once
after a collision with a curb.

There are two theories on that. One is catch it early and replace just the
boot. The other is that by the time you figure out the boot is torn,
dirt has likely gotten in and started to compromise it, so just drive it
until it makes noise and then replace the axle. The work involved is
typically less to replace the axle instead of putting a boot on.
The mistake some people make is they think axles are axles, they look at
some crap rebuild one or Chinese junk. If you have an OEM axle and it's
fine other than the boot, I would replace the boot if possible over the
cheap alternatives.