I know what you mean. I just got finished rebuilding a steering rack ( manual ) on my '81 VW Rabbit Convertible ( Cabriolet). It appears the PO had replaced the inner and outer tie rods fairly early on with , I think MOOG, greaseable tie rods. They must be 20 years old and still good, and the boots are thick ( and being greaseable, the old grease just slops out the bottom). I wish they were all still like these.

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)