How to tell if rack is bad?

[89325iturbo]

My steering doesn't have a smooth motion. With the front wheels off the ground, turning the steering wheel lock to lock. Its smooth to, to firm, smooth to firm. This is with the engine off.
Not a nice motion lock to lock.

[benz-tech]

I'd check to see if the hard part is in the same steering wheel position on every revolution- this might tell you if you have a bad steering u-joint. Based on your easy-hard-easy description, I'd start here first. Otherwise, you could pop the tie rods off to isolate the rack from the ball joints and upper strut bearings

[aintnothang]

Thats how mine felt and I had no power steering. Ended up swapping for an e36 standard rack.

[turbo55]

I had that too and tried giving my steering u-joints a good spray with white lithium grease, no more binding!

[89325iturbo]

Forgot to check back on this. I'll give your ideas a shot, by looking at the u joints first.