The first thing that I thought of when I read this post was what is he going to do with steering?? I guess I wasn't the only one. To answer some of your questions, nobody makes a rack & pinion "kit" for our trucks. There is only a couple guys here that have one (except the cool dropmember kids!) Your best bet is to contact or read the following post by dwcsr.
Look at post #18. There is a word file there with details.
Good luck with it.