Chrysler Repair: 97 LHS Rack and pinion, inner tie rod, postal mail

Question
QUESTION: Hi Roland! You have been most helpfull in the past, so I come to you yet again! The rack and pinion on my 97 lhs,is losing all fluid at the metal line fitting that goes from one end of the steering gear to the other(there are 2)can this be fixed or do I have to replace the whole unit? I have not seen these lines for sale, so Im assuming they are not something that is replaced. This is all on the heels of my wife, while turning out of a driveway,shearing off the 2 inner tie rod end bolts (very scary. I replaced the inner ends, as well as the steering stabilizer arm, which was completely shot. I was test driving it, all was well, I parked it and was turning the wheel back and forth, all of a sudden the steering froze and fluid shot all over the engine compartment,from above said fitting. HELP!!!!  Thanks alot in advance, Ken

ANSWER: Hi Ken,
You could check at a dealer parts counter to see if it is sold as a replacement part. They have 'exploded view' diagrams for identifying what you are looking for. I would hope so and also hope that you can replace the line in situ as the alternative is to r & r the entire gear which is a believe-it-or-not 30-step process in each direction! I have the '94 and '98 manuals and could xerox the pages and postal mail them to you, but they are slightly different so would need to send both to be sure. I also have the '04 on CD and could email you those pages, which appear to be similar to the '98.
Roland

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QUESTION: Hello again, ok turns out I have to replace the rack and pinion, it is obviously broke, as there is a piece of jagged metal sticking out of a tear in the boot! Had my wife order new one, she ordered one without speed proportional steering, which my car has. Can I still use it, and bypass the sps steering aspect? Is it safe? Will it work?

ANSWER: Hi Ken,
The best way to answer that would be to check at a front end shop and/or check the parts manual at a dealer's parts counter to see what parts other than the steering gear itself is different between the two approches. They may be totally interchangeable.
As far as I can see the sps has a solenoid pressure switch with an assoicated electrical circuit that is moderated the body computer that takes its info from the output speed sensor and which modifies the internal pressure of the steering fluid in the return line of the system. It may well be that all you will lose is the 'feeling' of that system, but otherwise the gears will substitute for one another. There will be an electical connector that is not connected and that may set a body computer fault code but that may be about 'it'.
I would be interested to know how this works out for you.
Roland

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QUESTION: Hello again!  Ok I have a strange question for you. I got a new rack and pinion, have already put it in, my question is this, when putting the inner tie rod ends onto the rack, should the boot on the rack and pin be between the washers on the tie rod ends and the inside of the rack and pinion, or should the boot be stretched over the tie rod ends so that the washers are against the metal inside the rack and pinion? Hope you can help, thanks Ken

Answer
The figures show the washers to be outside the boot, not inside the boot. Also it mentions that the spacer block inside the steering gear bellows is correctly aligned with the bolt holes in the rack of the steering gear and the steering gear bellows.