Bad day at the alignment shop

hungryeddy

hungryeddy

New member
So i take my truck in to get an alignment and they say it can't be aligned... :dammit: they take me to the truck and show me that my rack & pinion is leaking power steering fluid everywhere. say i gotta get it replaced... quote me $545 for the R&P in addition to $135x2 for the tie rod ends... :ybrick:

i come back home (without getting the work done) and look up the parts... around $350 for the rack and about $30ea for the tie rod ends...

would i be safe to hit the junk yard and get the rack used?

also, i found this: NAPA AUTO PARTS) .... would it be hard to replace all the seals myself?
 
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yeah they said that needed to be replaced before the alignment too... i'm definitely gonna head over to toytec and pick that up.

how hard is the rebuild? do you know of a good write up?
 
hungryeddy said:
yeah they said that needed to be replaced before the alignment too... i'm definitely gonna head over to toytec and pick that up.

how hard is the rebuild? do you know of a good write up?
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I would buy the rebuilt rack. I would not rebuild myself.
 
A brand new, OEM rack is about $570 from good online retailers. Do y'all think it's worth the $200+ bump over the "new" toyotasteering.com unit?
 
Qyota said:
A brand new, OEM rack is about $570 from good online retailers. Do y'all think it's worth the $200+ bump over the "new" toyotasteering.com unit?
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The toyotasteering.com rack is new. I'd go with it over paying $200 more at the dealer. If it were a reman I'd say it would be worth it to spend more for a new OEM but since they're both new and it's warranties I'd try it and save $200.
 
Dibs on the gratuitous "check you power steering fluid level first because most oil leaks from your engine run over and drip off the steering rack and gets prematurely diagnosed by a mechanic as a shot rack but really isn't" post. A dirty rack isn't necessarily a bad rack. There seems to be a fair amount of members that get the same news and discover differently when they look a little further. Or, your SR really is bad. Good luck either way.
 
From someone who has replaced his rack twice now, please take my advice and get a new rack. It WILL be worth it in the long run. I got a rebuilt rack and it was absolute garbage. I then got a second from the same company and it is OK. But will need to be replaced soon. Had I any idea about the above link I would have gotten a new one there. I paid the same price for my rebuilt rack. And if you do some research, it seems that these racks are not meant to be rebuilt. When the internals wear out its probably the metal rather than the seals. I changed my rack with my brothers help the second time around, along with my inner and outter tie rods. You can do it yourself in a day and save a good $200 on labor. But go with new, or a good used one with low miles.
 
PitbullRescuer said:
The toyotasteering.com rack is new. I'd go with it over paying $200 more at the dealer. If it were a reman I'd say it would be worth it to spend more for a new OEM but since they're both new and it's warranties I'd try it and save $200.
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I see that it is new, but is it OEM? And, is there enough of a difference to warrant the OEM version?
 
Diagram14 said:
Dibs on the gratuitous "check you power steering fluid level first because most oil leaks from your engine run over and drip off the steering rack and gets prematurely diagnosed by a mechanic as a shot rack but really isn't" post. A dirty rack isn't necessarily a bad rack. There seems to be a fair amount of members that get the same news and discover differently when they look a little further. Or, your SR really is bad. Good luck either way.
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i'm definitely going to do this since my valve cover is starting to leak too... i'm hoping its just the valve cover. i'm going to replace the bushings with the toytec ones, the shocks (since they also said my shock bushings were no bueno), and the outer tie rod ends... HOPEFULLY i can get away without changing the steering rack. if all this fails, i'm obviously in the market for a new one or (if its still up for grabs) i'll get with singtoe on his since i'm getting new tie rod ends anyways.
 
hungryeddy said:
i'm definitely going to do this since my valve cover is starting to leak too... i'm hoping its just the valve cover. i'm going to replace the bushings with the toytec ones, the shocks (since they also said my shock bushings were no bueno), and the outer tie rod ends... HOPEFULLY i can get away without changing the steering rack. if all this fails, i'm obviously in the market for a new one or (if its still up for grabs) i'll get with singtoe on his since i'm getting new tie rod ends anyways.
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Trying tightening the valve covers first. I'd be willing to be you the valve cover bolts are hardly even finger tight right now. Both of my 4 Runners had leaky valve covers when I bought them. Tightened them, no more leaks.
 
I did read about this... I need to get some torque wrenches before I play around in there... Probably next week. it's not leaking too bad.
 
okay so i officially suck at getting the tie rod in with the same thread count as the old ones... it was hard to count with the jam nut in the way. so now my tires are way off... does anyone know of any tricks to get it "kinda" close to how its supposed to be? its way off to the point where its undrivable and i just need to get to the alignment shop
 
Which ones did you replace? Inner, outer or both? If it's that far off, I would say look to see if the wheels, when looking at the from the front, are pointing inward, outward or one of each. If they're pointing in, tie rods are too long. If pointing out, they're too short.
 
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