I need to replace/repair a lot of worn suspension parts on my 85 500 SEL. During my inspection, I noticed a lot of fluid leaking around the steering gear box. I priced a new gear box around $350. Rebuild kits are much cheaper but the experience seems pretty exacting, i.e., if you don't get everything lined up just right, you may end up paying soem one to fix it anyway. MY question is - how long of ajob is rebuiilding and just how difficult is it to put it back together correctly?

 

look, rebuilding a gear box is not as hard as people make it seem. If you order a rebuilt one, more than likely they charge core charge which means they going to take the old one and rebuild it anyways.
The kicker is finding out what exactly is wrong with the gear box and thus many people just buy a new one. Now, if the gear box is still tight but leaking then replacing the seals isnt too hard of a job. But if the the gear box is sloppy, then getting it correct can cost as muc has getting a rebuilt one.
The gear box have a couple set of gasket sets. The "easy" ones to replace is the outer ones. The ones that seal the gearbox casing itself and around the hoses. The harder ones are the smaller ones around the actual internals where you have to take the actual gears out and stuff.