Replacement power steering rack bushings

[TheDurk]

I have another question about this..Is an alignment necessary after this install? I feel like I have read somewhere that it needs to be done, but I can't seem to find anything about it now.

You can certainly do a BETTER alignment with tight bushings. Mine needed it for other reasons (I did struts about the same time). Odds are you are overdue anyway. But if an alignment was recently done, there is no significant change in geometry due to better bushings.

 

[cordrayj1]

You can certainly do a BETTER alignment with tight bushings. Mine needed it for other reasons (I did struts about the same time). Odds are you are overdue anyway. But if an alignment was recently done, there is no significant change in geometry due to better bushings.

Yep, what Durk said . . . PLUS your alignment will be knocked off pretty bad if you needed the the bushings badly. thats what happened to me. just had mine realigned monday after installing new rack bushings, OTRE's, ITRE's, and bumping my bilstein5100/tundra coilover setup UP one notch (to the next to the top notch). My vehicle has never driven this straight or rode as nice (vibration free - Toyota dealer recently balanced for 19$).

 

[hungryeddy]

Yep, what Durk said . . . PLUS your alignment will be knocked off pretty bad if you needed the the bushings badly. thats what happened to me. just had mine realigned monday after installing new rack bushings, OTRE's, ITRE's, and bumping my bilstein5100/tundra coilover setup UP one notch (to the next to the top notch). My vehicle has never driven this straight or rode as nice (vibration free - Toyota dealer recently balanced for 19$).

how does it ride with the shocks almost all the way up??

 

[Wizzle]

You can certainly do a BETTER alignment with tight bushings. Mine needed it for other reasons (I did struts about the same time). Odds are you are overdue anyway. But if an alignment was recently done, there is no significant change in geometry due to better bushings.

Yep, what Durk said . . . PLUS your alignment will be knocked off pretty bad if you needed the the bushings badly. thats what happened to me. just had mine realigned monday after installing new rack bushings, OTRE's, ITRE's, and bumping my bilstein5100/tundra coilover setup UP one notch (to the next to the top notch). My vehicle has never driven this straight or rode as nice (vibration free - Toyota dealer recently balanced for 19$).

Excellent answers. I will probably get one anyway because I have no idea when it was aligned last. Thanks guys.

 

[cordrayj1]

how does it ride with the shocks almost all the way up??

rides great. i have the arb and a winch. it evened out the front with the LC coils in the rear, not as much rake, and i think it helped out a good bit with the "BIG DIP" when i hit the brakes. as far as CV angles . . . nothing to write home about. i do have a diff drop though. if you have the weight, i don't see a reason why you cant use a little common sense to see how high you can realistically go...

 

[Wizzle]

My bushings finally came in and 3 hours later they are installed. The 4runner handles a million times better and the vibrations I was getting in the steering wheel at 60+ mph are pretty much gone. I am fairly sure the vibrations that I am still getting, which are fairly subtle, are from my tires. An alignment should help also.

On a note about the install, I couldn't get my sway bar unbolted so I decided to go ahead and see if I could keep going without unbolting it and had no issues with clearance. The only thing I think it would have helped was to get it out of the way of my hands but that wasn't even a big issue.

 

[ryankmasuda]

Have you guys done this yourself? How difficult is it?

Here's a link on how to do it


Steering rack bushing replacement

 

[WrexHAmm]

I picked up a steering rack busing kit from Toytec. Did the install the other day when it was about 65 out here in Denver. Thanks for all of you who posted the tutorials, super helpful! Those instructions they provided in the kit are worthless.

I don't know about you but I thought it was a P.I.T.A! Harder than doing suspension in my mind. Broke a 3/8 socket wrench and a socket. I would have an extra person on hand or a set of clamps. Might make getting all the parts back in the correct spot a little easier. Also, if you haven't installed your diff drop yet this would be a good time to do it, I had to remove mine to install the bushings.

All in all mine didn't make that much of a difference, granted I only have 110K miles Glad I did it, worth the $20 bucks in parts.

 

[TheDurk]

I picked up a steering rack busing kit from Toytec. Did the install the other day when it was about 65 out here in Denver. Thanks for all of you who posted the tutorials, super helpful! Those instructions they provided in the kit are worthless.

I don't know about you but I thought it was a P.I.T.A! Harder than doing suspension in my mind. Broke a 3/8 socket wrench and a socket. I would have an extra person on hand or a set of clamps. Might make getting all the parts back in the correct spot a little easier. Also, if you haven't installed your diff drop yet this would be a good time to do it, I had to remove mine to install the bushings.

All in all mine didn't make that much of a difference, granted I only have 110K miles Glad I did it, worth the $20 bucks in parts.

3/8ths drive is not the gear for this job. 1/2" is definitely called for. I didn't think the job is possible without clamps, so kudos if you got it done at all. Clamps made all the difference. I did it solo and it took some persuasion coming out and going in. I found a little silicone-safe sex lube that I happened to find by accident was a big help. But I'd say it is straightforward with the right tools.

They should send the guy who wrote that instruction sheet back to the Chinese toy factory where they found him.

 

[SCRunner12]

Do you guys think I could get it done at night starting around 8? I'd be working by myself, but could get an extra pair of hands if I needed it. I've replaced my suspension and some other minor things to my 4runner, but worried I'd run into some unforeseen troubles and it would take all night.

I might be taking the 4runner on a snowboarding trip this weekend and would like to have this done before as my steering is a bit sloppy and I'd feel more comfortable driving in the snow with them replaced?

 

[tbst]

I haven't done it, but looking at that write up, it doesn't look that bad if you don't have rust.

If you are rusty like me... Nothing takes as long as planned.

Do it! "You can doooooo it!"

 

[tbst]

I haven't done it, but looking at that write up, it doesn't look that bad if you don't have rust.

If you are rusty like me... Nothing takes as long as planned.

Do it! "You can doooooo it!"

 

[hungryeddy]

Do you guys think I could get it done at night starting around 8? I'd be working by myself, but could get an extra pair of hands if I needed it. I've replaced my suspension and some other minor things to my 4runner, but worried I'd run into some unforeseen troubles and it would take all night.

I might be taking the 4runner on a snowboarding trip this weekend and would like to have this done before as my steering is a bit sloppy and I'd feel more comfortable driving in the snow with them replaced?

you'll probably be working till around midnight.... but there's nothing wrong with that :thumb3:

 

[SCRunner12]

Hmm, midnight would not be fun. I'll have to think about it. I've seen people taking 1.5 hours and others taking 4 hours. Not sure where I fall into the category. My 4runner has no rust so I'm good on the aspect.

 

[blcktpgsr]

Hmm, midnight would not be fun. I'll have to think about it. I've seen people taking 1.5 hours and others taking 4 hours. Not sure where I fall into the category. My 4runner has no rust so I'm good on the aspect.

The only setback I see slowing you down is removing that bolt on the top middle of the rack(18 or 19mm) since it's a tight spot....aside from that everything should fall easy.

 

[Socco]

I replaced my rack bushings with the Wheelers kit last weekend. Here are some notes for those who want to do this job...

Do yourself a favor, as with all jobs like this, pre-soak the nuts / bolts with penetrating oil a day or two before if possible.

These bolts are torqued up to 190 ft-lbs. You really want to have a 1/2 torque wrench handy.

The center bolt is a b*tch. I used a 1/2" breaker bar with a cheater pipe, mainly so I could have something to hold onto. Once free, a ratcheting wrench would be your best friend.

A big C-clamp will be required to drive out the bushings.

You do not need to remove the drivers side tie rod. Undo the rack from the body and wiggle it back, then punch the drivers side bolt forward. Repeat. The bolt will not come all the way out as it is obstructed, but you can get enough play to drop the rack.

This was a far more difficult job than the Tundra Brake upgrade I did the night before. It only took about 2 hours but I was feeling the strain for a day afterwards.

It was worth the effort however! My bushings didn't look that bad when I got them out. So I thought that this was a waste of time. I was amazed by how different it felt though. It still doesn't handle like a race car, but it took a crapload of vibration out of the wheel and tightened up the feel.

 

[Drcoffee]

Funny you should mention it. I was under the truck on Saturday connecting my trans temp gauge, new skid row skid plate(freakin heavy) and sway bar end link bushings and thought I'd start the rack bushings. Using a 1/2" breaker bar not one of the bolts would budge. After a moment of reflection I decided not to start this little project just yet. It'll get done sometime this Fall.

 

[SCRunner12]

This project is a major PITA. It took me about 3 hours to finish and a lot of foul words. Air tools are your friends and you have to remove the sway bar no matter what. Definitely worth it though.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Here is another link:
steering rack bushing replacement - YotaTech Forums

I have mine ready to go, but just don't want to tackle it quite yet. I did watch a mechanic replace some on a Tacoma back in June, and with an air hammer and impact wrench he had it done within an hour. His trick to pressing them in was using the C clamp tool that one uses to press out most ball joints with an impact wrench.

 

[TheDurk]

Funny you should mention it. I was under the truck on Saturday connecting my trans temp gauge, new skid row skid plate(freakin heavy) and sway bar end link bushings and thought I'd start the rack bushings. Using a 1/2" breaker bar not one of the bolts would budge. After a moment of reflection I decided not to start this little project just yet. It'll get done sometime this Fall.

I did it with the truck on ramps and used both feet on my 24" long 1/2" breaker bar. That did the trick.