Stiff steering rack?

[TopNotch]

Yesterday Richard Chen came over with his Formula for me to check it out. He said his steering has become harder, and seems to "grab" at times. The problem seems to be the steering rack assembly. It seems to make a slight scraping noise as you turn the steering wheel from lock to lock. I saw no evidence of a previous mechanic making any adjustments on the rack, such as the pre-load. I loosened the rack boots and slathered grease on each end of the rack, and moved it from lock to lock in an attempt to distribute the grease. That seemed to help a little.
Have any of you heard of a steering rack getting "stiff"? What can be done, short of replacing the rack?

[The Art Doctor]

I've heard of the bearing at the end of the steering input shaft inside the rack having issues on 88's.  I picked up a NOS bearing for just in case off Ebay as they are obsolete.   GM part number 1-7819358

[NoMad]

Not sure the year on his, but rebuilding MWeldon's old 88 rack I got from him wasn't terribly difficult or expensive. Might be extreme to pull it and rebuild it without being sure, but the piece of mind can't hurt.

[Fierofool]

He was having a friend mechanic pull the rack and rebuild it.  I haven't heard anything about the result.  I believe he purchased Rodney's bushing.  It's a Formula.  They were also looking at the input shaft, too. 

[Roger]

Mine got terrible. Turned out the Pinion nose bearing was dust. Rodney's kit did the trick.