ok, so I got nervous and just dove in... The splines were just shot to hell on the u-joint and the rack...

My guess is that once when I had an alignment done, the mechanic supposedly pulled the steering wheel off and recentered it. I'm guessing he just loosened the u-joint, spun the wheel and called it good. Thus screwing up the splines and then time taking care of the rest...

My solution, buy a new rack, spend a week trying to get the old one out, and then another week trying to get the new one in <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> nope....

I went the cheapest route I could think of and I think it's a really good one! I went and bought me a roll pin, drilled a hole, beat the pin in, seized it with wire, no more sloppy steering <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

You can scold me if you want, but if you haven't changed a 2nd gen rack, you definitely won't do it a second time! (funny considering I'm on my third rack <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> )

So thanks for your input, I am still just curious who's 2nd gens have gotten sloppy...