if you end up replacing the rack, be careful to follow the procedure for estimating how many turns the tie rod ends screw on and also not to move the steering wheel once the rack is disconnected. i didn't do this and it caused some pain in the form of needing to manually align the car close enough to be able to drive it to an alignment shop and also removing the steering wheel to recenter the ABS contact coil. all things i would have preferred not doing.

my memory of the u joint is that it wouldn't be that difficult to remove although access is tough. i also agree that the rack isn't bad...once you have done it once. it should be pretty easy to tell if the u joint is going.