Steering Rack Install

A couple of points, regarding the install of a new steering rack on my 2002...this might help someone who wants to undertake this job.

The rack I got was straight from McGeorge TOYOTA. I opted for the rack because by the time you price the rebuild kit, the inner tie rods, new boots, clamps from TOYOTA, you are within like $150 of an entire rack. Do NOT buy a remanned rack. They are junk.

Timmy's Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoRP5ogrK0) on a rack replacement is invaluable but does have issues.

You can tell in Tim's video they are replacing a cheap unit. About every failed 4Runner/Tacoma rack replacement\fix on Youtube is a remanned unit.

Do count the threads on the old outer tie rods. This will help you get it close. You will need an alignment. I have lifetime alignments from Firestone...so no big deal. You should too.

You don't need to loosen the bracket like they did for the power steering lines. There is enough room to get the lines loose from the wheel well. Reassembly might be another issue.

The center bolt is a bit of a PITA as you need a thinnish breaker bar, socket and a pipe extension. The torque on that is like 123ft-lbs. In Timmy's video, the old rack was a cheap remanned unit and obviously not torqued into place by a lazy mechanic so it was easy for them. Good news, is that this bolt is usually saturated with 20 years of oil changes so you should not be fighting corrosion too.

The driver's side bolt may be stuck. It was for me, and I thought it was a stud and it was in the way. Once I watched the video again, saw it was a bolt, I tapped it through the sub frame. Then put grease or no-seize on it. Getting this out of the way is required for adjusting the lower rag joint on the spline to match the upper rag joint.

The prior installer of the rack in the vid was off by half a turn of the rag joint which caused one side of the rack to bottom out on the outer tie rod threads. They did a whole bunch of pointless measurements to try to compensate for that. Ignore all that.

Just find the center point of the rack. Put the bottom half of the rag join on it, turn it lock to lock, count the revolutions and dial the rack to the center. You can mark the rack and the spline if you want, but it's not needed as long as the spline doesn't move. On a new rack this shouldn't be an issue.
Next, get your steering wheel straight and get the upper rag joint on the shaft. For my 2002, it literally goes on one spot. It is weird because the steering shaft is splined for like 8 inches, so you would think the entire rag joint assembly could go up the shaft, but it won't which made the re-install harder.

The concept is simple: you want the rack centered and the steering wheel centered, and then mate the two via the rag joint.

So with the steering wheel straight and the upper rag joint on, put the lower half of the rag joint on the steering rack about where you think the two will mate and get the rack in place. If you are off a spline, pull the rack out a bit and drop the left side down and adjust the lower half of the rag joint. But DO NOT TURN THE SPLINE ON THE STEERING RACK or you will be off center.

Maybe older models can move the whole rag joint all the way up the steering shaft....then what I wrote above to mate the rag joint halves is pointless...just lift the whole rag joint assembly up and install the rack and drop the rag joint down.

I bought new outer tie rods and they had less threads than the old ones, but I eyeballed about where they were and I was 1 thread off on one side and 2 threads off on the other after an alignment.

Reconnecting the power steering lines had me confused. I could not get the line closest to the wheel well to thread in. If you tighten the line farthest away, it has a bend that will get in the way of the other line. You have to hold that bend away from you while you tighten the right hand side line. This is hard to see in that tight space. If you still have issues, pull the battery, and unbolt the alternator and move it toward the radiator. Now you have decent amount of room to work from the engine bay and get at that power steering line bracket and the lines themselves.

Steering wheel is now dead center perfect. Steering is TIGHT. I am very pleased. It is amazing how you get used to the slow degradation of steering over 20 years and 265k miles.

As for filling the power steering fluid, fill the reservoir TO THE TOP. Run the car around the block. Fill it until the level stops dropping and stops foaming and the pump stops groaning.

Sorry for the novel. Just felt like typing one out.