Intermediate Steering Shaft Replacement - fixed steering clunk!

[Lamer]

Hey all, I just finished this project and thought I would document it...

This morning I made my way to one of the local pick-n-pulls and found 5 3rd gen 4runners. my lucky day.

I went ahead and pulled the first intermediate shaft I could find. And it was in great shape. the donor car had 90,000 miles on it.

Parts purchased:
$20 - Intermediate Steering Joint

1. Remove steering column (there are aplenty of threads on how to do that.
2. loosen intermediate shaft from rag joint
   
   
   
   
3. remove the plastic cone cover from behind the brake pedal(3x10mm bolts)
   - you do not need to remove the backing plate (held in place by the last 2x10mm bolts)
   
   
   
   
4. the intermediate joint will simply pull up and out through the firewall.

Reverse these steps to install it.

Things to note:

• the shaft will only go into the rag-joint one way. there is a spline missing on the intermediate shaft -> that flat groove needs to be lined up with the rag-joint pinch spline opening, it will not go in any other way. see pics below. The flat groove is directly above the white paint mark. in the second picture, it is turned towards the opening and you cant see it...
  
  
  
  
  
• The diameter of the pinch spline that connects to the steering column appears to be different between the early and late model 4runners. Notice the inner diameter between the two. After a nearly complete installation, I had to pull my new joint to swap the ends...late model on the left, early model on the right
  
  
  
  
• There are two springs inside the joint. one pictured below, and a second smaller spring inside the yellow bushing plate (covered in grease). This spring pushes the two shafts away from each other, giving the presence of tension (i guess) take a look at the video below to see how it works.
  
  
  
  
  <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KuLTONexFE0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
• I doubled up the large springs on my new joint (stole the one from my old joint), hoping it would make it even more snug. IT WORKED. My steering has never felt so tight before.

 

[eddielasvegas]

Good job and thanks for your write up.


Eddie

 

[Kanoe]

Nice post. Glad to see the differences between the old and new, I had wondered about that also. Mine is the old style. I have swapped mine also but then last summer I rebuilt the original and put it back in.

Here is a post I made about replacing the consumable parts in the intermediate shaft if anyone is interested.

Steering Shaft Play - Beyond the Tack Weld

 

[phattyduck]

They must have added the collapsible column in '97 or '98, and that changed the spline diameter there.

-Charlie

 

[Lamer]

They must have added the collapsible column in '97 or '98, and that changed the spline diameter there.

-Charlie

Definitely

 

[Kanoe]

They must have added the collapsible column in '97 or '98, and that changed the spline diameter there.

-Charlie

Mid point 97 from what I have found when I went looking for a spare.

 

[justnnnneeeedhellp]

this may not make sense but I am trying to remove rack and pinion but the rag bolts are all stripped. is there a way to remove from in engine bay or inside cab? The rap is litterally hanging off of just the steering shaft. I could lower the bolt attached on bottom where nuckle goes but cannot get the top one or the two where the seal is

 

[4runner3rdgen]

Awesome job!

Thank you so much!