Rack & Pinion determination

["TalksToGod" <5n-@xxxx>]

Hello again all...Those of you who have taken apart your rack & pinion
know there are 2 open bearings-one on top, one on the bottom-of the
shaft with the worm gear. It seems to me that the STEEL worm gear and
shaft will not wear out so very easily, so-it's the bearings that will
wear before anything else even comes close. I confirmed this on mine
by checking the wear on the bearings-sure enough only ONE (one closest
to the top) was worn and is causing my rack and pinion to function
very poorly with much play. The gears are absolutly fine with no wear
what so ever. Now, why am I going to spend almost 400 dollars plus a
core charge and shipping troubles for JUST ONE lousy bearing? It also
comes to my attention that there are a large amount of people willing
to sell me (regular people, not venders) used rack & pinions BUT ALSO
want my old core-this I thought was very odd. This only tells me that
there has got to be a cross reference for these bearings-there must
be. Why are we paying so much money just for a bearing replacement? I
refuse to pay this amount of money for 1 worn bearing-does anyone know
anything about these bearings? I am determined to find one that will
work-out of all the bearings being made in the world there will be one
similar!