Let me start with a rant... Questions at the bottom if you want to skip over my anger.

F%$# Toyota and F%$# the *******s that designed the 4runner. F%$# the guys that decided to use hard line everywhere they possibly could, which means replacements cost $150+. F%$# the guy that decided to put the welded nut on the center rack mount on the bottom, forcing us to loosen a rusted-ass bolt that faces the engine, and with barely any room for a tool. And F%$# the guy that designed a return line that doesn't come with the F%$#ing metal flare tube and nut.

Now that that's off my chest, I have had a bear of a time getting the old rack of due to ridiculous rust. I had to wail on a pickle fork to get the steering shaft separated.

I have a problem now, that in the process of getting the rack off, I ended up bending the short length of rigid tubing that connects directly to the rack return port. This is just about 4 in of hard line with a flare and nut on one side, and a hose flare on the other. The nut is metric though, so no shops around here carry it. I may have to buy this from a dealer, but it's going to be like $20-30 if they even have it in stock. I need to drive to work monday morning, so I am looking for a fix I can do tomorrow.

I could potentially bend it back and use it, but I still can't get it out of the old rack.

Does anyone know the size of the return line port?
Any ideas where to get it? Napa is my only thought.

Hi Nelson. Unfortunately I can't help answer your question but I just had a power steering rack fail today and was reading the removal procedure per the FSM and already determined I would not tackle it. I don't have rust issues but I know you know your stuff and your frustration level is confirming that I don't want to try this. Good luck!

Nelson, sorry to hear man. But to piss in your Cheerios, I doubt you will find the fitting. I'm betting they'll tell you that you need to buy the whole line.

My advice. Heat it up, get the fitting out the rack and then bend it back to shape carefully and use it in the new rack.

IIRC, the PS line is the same size as the brake line.

You MIGHT be able to swap them out.

If not, go to NAPA, see if you can get 4-6" of non flared brake line, a bender, and a flare tool.

Get that nut out, then cut it off the hard like. Slide it into the new hard line, flare then ends, and you should be good to go.

Yeah getting the rack off and back on was one of the biggest PIA jobs I've done on my runner. I did manage to get my lines off but had to buy a 17mm flare wrench to get enough force on it without stripping it. I even had to throw a second box wrench on the flare wrench to get enough leverage.

Good luck with it. I feel your pain.

I don't know which fitting is a 10mm. The 2 steering lines are 16 or 17 mm. I thought it was 17 but that stripped right away.

Sorry, my bad. Typo above as it should have said 17mm. I fixed it.

I've read of others taking it loose at the PS pump or the junction with the rubber hose when they stripped the flare nut. May be an option to get it on the ground and then try getting it off.

Well, I got the rack off Saturday night, and got the new one in yesterday. I couldn't get it aligned in my driveway for some reason though. The drivers side looked straight to the body, but the passenger side looked way turned in even with the TRE screwed all the in. Not sure what was going on, but I dropped it off at a mechanic this morning for a proper alignment.

I ended up cutting the high pressure hose to get the rack out, so I had to drop $150 on a new one, which sucked. Once the rack was out, I was able to heat up the fittings and back them both out. I couldn't heat them up well with the rack installed because the rubber steering flange was right above it, so leaving the flame on the rack resulted in the heat going right up into the rubber, and I didn't want to burn it.

Getting the rack in was also a PITA. The steering flange assembly has pretty fubar'd splines due to the sever rust, so they were tough to force on there. Then that center rack bolt was PITA going in as well. Getting the hydraulic fittings on with the rack installed is also a major PITA.

For Reference:
1. Both hydraulic fittings appear to be 16mm (or they could be 5/8, but I think 16mm). I was able to use a 5/8 wrench on the pressure line because it was new, but the old return fitting was a little bit mangled and rusted. I cleaned it up, but ended up having to use a crescent wrench.

2. The new PS high pressure line (bought from O'reilly's) appears to be made of aluminum rather than steel. Some of the hard line is steel, but the pump end banjo fitting appears to be aluminum or some other lighter than steel metal. Not super impressed. The brand was Master-pro or something like that. BTW, Napa has these cheaper than $150. I should have gone there (though I didn't have a car; O'reilly's is half a block away, so I was kind of stuck with them)

3. When you remove your old rack, be careful not to bend or damage the return port and tube. If this really is a 16mm fitting and not a 5/8, then it is not very common and you will probably have to reuse the old one. Or just buy it from a dealer ahead of time, I think it's only about $20, still a rip off, but not going to break the bank.

4. My rack came with a couple o-rings for the hydraulic fittings, but they didn't fit. I checked the old rack, and there were o-rings down inside the fitting (melted of course since I heated it up to get the fittings off). The new o-rings were way too big to fit inside the port. I went to O'reilly's and picked up an assorted o-rings pack that had a couple that actually fit.

Here you can see the o-ring I bought down in the fitting, and the ring that came with the rack around the outside of the fitting.


5. Here's a pic of the Napa PS rack. The Napa guys confirmed that A1 Cardone makes their racks. This is the updated version, so if you look it up at Napa, look it up for an 01 or 02. Anything pre-01 may come up with the PN that uses the old style rack guide.


6. There was a discussion on another thread about aftermarket ITRE's not being able to travel to full droop. I can confirm that at least duralast ITRE's do NOT have enough clearance to reach full droop. See below.


I could easily see this being a contributory factor in the rack bushings failing if the ITRE was bottoming out and transferring bending stress to the rack. I hope the Napa/Cardone ITRE is better, though I kind of doubt it. I'm curious if anyone else has seen this issue, since not many of us fork out the $120 per ide for the OEM ITRE's.

Sorry to hear about all the trouble. I feel ya on this one... I bought all new crows foot wrenches (line) and torch to get these things busted loose on mine. Took a lot of patience and some busted knuckles.

Glad to hear that you made it through.

Well I was thinking about doing this my self because I do need to replace my rack. After reading this I might just pay the 4 hours in labor and let my shop do it and let him hassle with it. He has the lift, air tools etc etc to bust this out in a few hours. Decisions decisions...

Blue

Well this thread is awfully encouraging for me to replace my ps rack.....

If you guys don't have rust, then it shouldn't be that big a deal. The rust is what made this miserable.

So I just got my truck back from the shop next door, and he found that I did not get the steering shaft back into the correct splines, which is why it was so off. I must have been tired last night, because I knew that was likely but had reasoned that that wouldn't cause what I was seeing.

Anyway, the guy fixed it and got it aligned, all for $100. I never thought I'd say this, but I might have found a mechanic that I like and possibly even trust. MY roommate has used him a number of times and I have always been quite surprised how low his prices are.

So if you are in the Western Boston, here's the guy's info for some free advertising.

North Beacon St Service Center
311 North Beacon st. Watertown, MA

Glad you got it fixed up. I did decide on mine if I have any issues I'll probably just get a factory replacement but that is a hard pill to swallow given the cost.

My rack didn't come with the rubber O rings but I also didn't have any in my stock rack and read something about not using them when I did mine. Wonder if it differs by model year or if I should have used them.

Also could swear I used a 17mm wrench on my flare nuts but maybe it was a 16. Can't remember for certain but thought it was 17.

I had a lot of issues getting the lines off also. But I finally did. Just to let you know I spent all Sunday morning doing my Koyo radiator replacement and decided to try and bleed my power steering again.

I was able to get some air out, I bled it maybe 8 times, waiting 20-30 minutes in between to let all the air settle in the lines and by the 8th time I finally had no more bubbles. Took hours but the steering is so much more stiff now. Seems a little looser than the OEM rack but its at least driveable now.