How To Access Steering Rack?

[MaddoxPics]

Anyone have a clear diagram and things of what needs to be done to get to the rack bolts/bushings.

I'm having some crazy wheel shake off-road, and you can even hear it rattling. I have no idea what it is. I have torqued down the UCA, LCA, Heim, ball joint. Basically everything I could think of that could be loose and causing this, but it's still there.

On pavement I can't feel a thing, but I have noticed even after a fresh alignment the vehicle will still pull towards the right. It's not extreme, but it's definitely apparent something is wrong, which is why I'm beginning to think tie rod or steering rack.

From everything I've done, the tie rods appear to be okay. I don't notice any leaks, or movement when under it. So I'm thinking they are okay.

I went to work on the rack, just to tighten down the bolts to spec, and the hell if I can get in there. Way too tight with the hoses and everything else. Is this one of those all day affairs where I need to literally remove a ton of things?

I've been able to find stuff on every generation minus the 5th for whatever reason. Anyone have a diagram or step by step?

Thinking I may just buy some crows feet for the torque wrench, as I was able to get close with a short impact socket, just not close enough.

 

[honda250xtitan]

money is on heim/uniballs. the wheel shake you feel could be bump steer too.

 

[MaddoxPics]

money is on heim/uniballs. the wheel shake you feel could be bump steer too.

I just replaced the spherical bearing in the eyelet, so I would think that area would be okay. Unless something is bent, but it doesn't appear to be.

Uniball looks good too on the UCA. I haven't noticed any sort of wear on it, the lining coming out, etc. They're aftermarket Total Chaos.

Not saying it couldn't be, but I don't think it is.

 

[boyguan]

pull could be from the tires. switch left to right and see if it persists.

 

[ScarfaceT4R]

Have you checked the front sway bar? After my sway bar relocation kit went in, the nut welded to the frame busted off & caused my sway bar mount relocation spacer part to smack the frame every time i hit a little (or big) bump... took a good few days to track down that issue.

After I fixed that the wobbles weren't so gnarly.

 

[Xtremluck]

Anyone have a clear diagram and things of what needs to be done to get to the rack bolts/bushings.



I'm having some crazy wheel shake off-road, and you can even hear it rattling. I have no idea what it is. I have torqued down the UCA, LCA, Heim, ball joint. Basically everything I could think of that could be loose and causing this, but it's still there.



On pavement I can't feel a thing, but I have noticed even after a fresh alignment the vehicle will still pull towards the right. It's not extreme, but it's definitely apparent something is wrong, which is why I'm beginning to think tie rod or steering rack.



From everything I've done, the tie rods appear to be okay. I don't notice any leaks, or movement when under it. So I'm thinking they are okay.



I went to work on the rack, just to tighten down the bolts to spec, and the hell if I can get in there. Way too tight with the hoses and everything else. Is this one of those all day affairs where I need to literally remove a ton of things?



I've been able to find stuff on every generation minus the 5th for whatever reason. Anyone have a diagram or step by step?



Thinking I may just buy some crows feet for the torque wrench, as I was able to get close with a short impact socket, just not close enough.

If you need to replace the steering rack technically you need to lift the engine to get to it. There is a method though where you cut out the existing bolts and put new ones in oriented a different way. Here is a good video showing that procedure. The Tacoma rack should be pretty similar to ours: YouTube

I’m facing the same issue but waiting until it gets real bad before doing this procedure. It’s a pretty common problem for the Prado 120 chassis if the truck sees a lot of off-road use.


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[MaddoxPics]

pull could be from the tires. switch left to right and see if it persists.

I'll give that a try.

Have you checked the front sway bar? After my sway bar relocation kit went in, the nut welded to the frame busted off & caused my sway bar mount relocation spacer part to smack the frame every time i hit a little (or big) bump... took a good few days to track down that issue.

After I fixed that the wobbles weren't so gnarly.

I don't run a sway bar up front so I shouldn't have an issue with that. Though I thought I read that the tierods tend to have issues over time without a sway bar?

If you need to replace the steering rack technically you need to lift the engine to get to it. There is a method though where you cut out the existing bolts and put new ones in oriented a different way. Here is a good video showing that procedure. The Tacoma rack should be pretty similar to ours: YouTube

I’m facing the same issue but waiting until it gets real bad before doing this procedure. It’s a pretty common problem for the Prado 120 chassis if the truck sees a lot of off-road use.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

WELL DAMN!