Went out to visit John today and get the old girl up on the lift and take a look at that spooky steering. We had a pretty tough time getting the rack out, but after we got the tie rods off, the steering knuckle disconnected and had disassembled everything down below, we pulled off the plastic dust cover and found this:
Yep, one of the bolts connecting the input shaft to the rubber puck was completely backed out. The free play was the steering shaft moving between the heads of the other bolts. That also explains the very pronounced "clunk" feeling I was getting.
I dodged a hell of a bullet there. I can't even imagine how bad it could have been as the other bolt backed out.
Anyway, we pulled the whole assembly out, gave it a through inspection and cleaning, and were amazed by how good the whole thing looked and felt. Somebody was in there and replaced the rack before I got the car. The rubber on the shaft coupler was soft and pliable with no dry rot; the rack still had fresh grease in it; and probably most indicative of it's age, the plastic "puck" used for adjusting tension on the rack showed no wear at all.
There originally were some soft metal pieces that went under both bolt heads on each side of the rubber coupler and gave you tabs to turn up to prevent the bolts backing out. The bottom metal piece with the tabs had rusted away completely leaving a pair of tabs attached to nothing on each of the bottom bolts. The top was rusty but intact. We replaced them with cad plated spring washers and blue locktight. I feel very confident in the fix. Somewhat strangely, there wasn't any rust anywhere else around the rack, only the retaining tab thingies. Even the bolts were pristine... go figure.
We buttoned it up, John sold me some great aerospace grade heater tube that fits over the SSI ducts, and I was on my merry way. It's a totally transformed experience. Wow. I wonder how long that had been bad or failing?
Thanks again John! That's the second time you've saved my butt with your very well stocked (but slightly cold) garage!
I hope I can repay, or at least pay forward, the kindness and help someday.
Tomorrow I may set out for Oregon... kinda depends on a couple of loose ends I need to tie up here.
-Dan