Steering rack replacement

Ok, firstly, I'm not an idiot and I tried to use the search function of this forum looking for these exact words. A thread comes up, but for some reason the OPs first post is missing. It appears by the comments that follow the there was a step by step explanation of this procedure. My story is as follows: 180K DIY service. All is well except the boots on the steering rack that cover the inner tie rods are cracked and leaking. I don't think the inner tie rods are bad at this point, but it looks like the seals on the steering rack are failing due to the seepage of PS fluid out of the boots. Is there a way to replace the seals, or do I have to replace the entire rack? It looks like it's going to be a total PITA, but I think I'm tooled up for it. Has anyone done this that can give me some helpful advice? I found a YouTube video of a guy doing it on a Tacoma. It looks like it would be pretty similar. It would be nice to have a 5th gen 4R specific video. Thanks for any help and suggestions in advance.

 

https://forum.expeditionportal.com/...n-5th-gen-toyota-4runner.242027/#post-3142556

 

Thank you! Any other words of wisdom on this project?

 

Hope it goes well my friend. That's a beast of a job. Doable and worth it if it works!

 

After researching steering racks, I believe there is no question that I'm going to order OEM. If I can get 180K out of the original one, they must be onto something. And, I only want to do this once.

 

BAMS wholesale is the best or the discount Toyota parts. I waffle between whoever has lower shipping prices.

 

Try Toyotapartsdeal.com Generally cheaper shipping I have found.

 

Right. BAMS used to be king but the shipping charges jumped this year. Don't know what's going on. I mean like tripled sometimes.

 

Yeah. for seat foam I just ordered it's $20 from toyotapartsdeal and $50 from Bams.

 

If you end up doing yourself, consider posting how you went about it and any tips or tricks you find along the way. It’s a pain in the ass to take pics while you’re working and do an instructional post, but any experiences are really helpful for anyone doing this in the future. Good luck with getting this fixed!

 

I'll definitely see what I can do.

 

I helped a friend replace the steering rack on his 100 series LC so things might be a little different, but here's what we did. I noticed the Expedition Portal poster opted to not lift the engine and instead removed the oil filter housing. We had read that had its own headaches so we went with lifting the engine. We unbolted the driver-side engine mount and jacked the engine high enough to shove a 2x4 in there. Even with the engine jacked up, it was a pain to maneuver the steering rack out because we still kept running into the oil filter housing. We went hard passenger and after many repeated attempts to wiggle it out at different places it magically dropped out. The install took multiple attempts as well. I think how it finally went in is that we started with the steering shaft oriented towards the ground and then we sorta rotated it back up once we cleared something. I wouldn't have thought we'd have the room to rotate it, but at that point it felt like we had tried everything else. I think we needed a crows foot on one of the lines. It probably goes without saying, but take care to not cross thread anything. The lines thread into an aluminum block on steering rack. I left once the new rack dropped into place. My buddy later said things were leaking so he kept tightening past the specified torque and ended up stripping out the bolt hole on the brand new rack. I think he might've cross-threaded the line. I always start threading bolts with my hand before moving to a wrench. We tried a helicoil, but all we had was a hand drill and it was difficult to get everything squared up. So, we (he) ended up with a $1000 paper weight and we got to do the install twice. We installed a new power steering pump too. We had to reuse the old pulley though. I thought we'd have a hard time taking it off since it would spin with the bolt, but it came right off with an impact wrench. The most frustrating part is getting the rack out/in, but I'd do it again myself if I had to. It took us all day the first time and maybe 3/4 the time the second time. Go slow and take deep breaths.

 

How large are the tires you plan to run? https://toyo-steering.com/products/5th-gen-4runner-tundra-kit

 

Good call!

 

Nah. Not notching the frame. I'm a very capable fabricator and welder, but I'm not modifying. I'm only running slightly over stock size tires. Too much wear and tear on everything with oversize tires. I've got 180K on this 4R and it's never let me down. I've been in some situations where the truck didn't flinch, but I did. If I want to beat a vehicle up, I'll Just Empty Every Pocket.

 

Expedition Portal thread was relocated to https://www.4runners.com/threads/steering-rack-replacement-on-5th-gen-4runner.33012/.

 

Thanks.

 

Not familiar with the install on the 4R, but make sure you replace any and all bushings with new.