I just replaced the steering rack boots on my 1997 Civic. I followed the advice from other forums and painted a line across the tie-rod, tie-rod locknut, and steering rack end. Then I counted the rotations of the tie-rod and tie-rod lock nut when removing them to be sure they would be put back on in the same place.

I almost gave up when I tried to put the new boot on, however. It's in a difficult to reach place and the end of the boot has to be stretched quite a bit to go over the steering rack. I ended up cutting a strip of plastic from a Kroger orange juice bottle about 4 1/2 " long by about 2" wide. There's no engineering to this size; it was just the size I could cut from the flat side of the square bottle. A liter Coke bottle would probably work better because you could cut around it. After sliding the boot onto the shaft, I placed one side of the plastic strip into the boot and the other over the steering rack, forming a funnel shape so I could slide the boot over the end of the rack. Then I took needlenose pliers and pulled the plastic out of the boot. Easy? No, I still had to pry and push with a screwdriver and pick at the plastic to get it out, but it did make it possible.

 

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I paid a garage $35 labor ($15 part) to replace the inner tie rod boot and was glad I chose not to do it myself.