To be fair, this can happen with OEM... Trust me I've seen it at the dealership

He's blessed to live in sunny California so he's got that against us.

Yea, mine was the original 16yo OTR. I was referencing the time part of the conversation.

I've only been buying OEM or better for my "restoration". Back when I was referencing other peoples builds to learn about what I should do, I noticed that crappy aftermarket parts were rusting within a year. Napa, Autozone, 555, Sankie (sp?). Most are all Chinese crap. Calipers, OTR, BJ's, Endlinks etc. And I've seen aftermarket OTR, BJ's & endlinks snap so I'm against them.

I do have NAPA CV's because they have a proven track record here.

If you dont offroad or live in the salt belt maybe you'll be ok.

I dont love wrenching, I'm ok with it though, I'm not a mechanic, I do have fun on mods, I love my truck but when I do a repair I want it to last another 15-18 years so I go OEM.

That's probably true. A disclaimer is also that my 4runner is not my only vehicle and I live 3 miles or so from work, so I am not lutting a ton of miles on anything. I'd be more likely to opt for OEM stuff if I needed it to last 200k miles.

I used the '555' brand for outers when I was doing the front end work a few months ago. The quality seemed very good. My OE inners were ok, so I didn't see the need to spend money if I didn't have to.

going to get the Moog or Napa for sure but looking at power steering bushings it looks like the Dorman is split to slide in without taking rack out and Energy Suspension brand is not. Can anyone confirm or make recommendation?

Amazon.com: 4WD RACK & PINION BUSHING SET: Automotive

Amazon.com: Dorman 905-401 Front Rack and Pinion Mount Bushing for Select Toyota Models, Black (OE FIX): Automotive

Could anyone give me there opinion on if this looks damaged or in need of urgent replacement? I'm mostly concerned about the angle where it connects to the LBJ.

I'll be doing the from suspension, so figured I could do lower ball joints and outer tie rods while i'm in there (I think they're both stock).

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The angle not a problem, you can straighten it with a pair of pliers on the shaft.

Tie rod end is just rotated. You can turn it back to flat with your hands or pliers.

Thanks guys. Sorry for the late reply, but this was helpful.

Not to beat a dead horse but I recall reading at some point that you can use the larger OTRE from a Tacoma on our rigs. Anybody do this? Is there any benefit?

I vaguely remember reading that you have to use a tacoma lbj and you end up losing some steering degrees. https://www.toyota-4runner.org/2617406-post5.html

Thank you, I figured there was a catch otherwise you'd hear much more of it

Worthless mod that addressed zero known issues while creating entirely new ones.

Buy once cry once. There aren't any better alternatives to OEM. Lifetime warranties are for guys who enjoy spending a lifetime under a vehicle on jack stands. A new OEM steering rack comes with ITREs. At this point most 4Runners could use a new steering rack and I highly recommend going that direction.

I definitely plan to when I get around to the inners, even though it isn't leaking or causing problems the steering rack would be one of the very few things that hasn't been replaced at some point on my vehicle (however both inner and outer tie rods were serviced by the PO a couple times.) If I recall, they can be had for like $250 which really isn't all that bad, and could always keep the old one around since there's nothing really wrong with it. Currently though I'm not trying to spend that time and money - I just went wheeling this weekend and now my driver side OTRE is popping, and since I'm installing new UCAs this weekend figured might as well knock them out together