Show me your tie rod knowledge

[Steernit]

Over the weekend I noticed the front tires wearing funny (outer wear indicative of being Toe+) on my 3rd gen so it went onto the Hunter this morning. The tech said the inner tie rods have to be done first. 97k. ('01).

My questions are:

• Looking through posts, it looks like this is not uncommon. But since previous owner was pavement-only, this seems early for a TOY. Has it happened to anyone else at less than 100k?
• I've seen the outer/knuckle part go bad on a Tacoma, but is the inner TR the more common problem on these 3rdGen4runs?
• I jacked it up and tried to find the looseness but nothing was apparent to me (unlike when I've had worn bearings or bad ball joints on TOYs). Guess I want some reassurance from you guys on what the tech diagnosed.
• The steering rack bushings seem to also cause the tire wear. How would I know it was the inner tie rods and not the rack?
• Likewise, how did the tech ascertain it was the inners and not the outers?
• I assume you replace them in pairs but has anyone had to replace just one?

Already went to NAPA and picked up the inners for $134.
CarQuest wanted $143.

 

[techno]

I replaced my inner and out tie rods 2 weeks ago. I failed the annual inspection for excessive play in the inner tie rods. (I'm at 114K miles.) To see this play jack up the wheel and rock it back and forth with your hands. You can feel it clunking and if you pull back the rubber boots it's easy to visually see the movement. If you claim you can not feel anything then I would definitely remove the steel boot clamp on the steering gear housing and pull the boot back to do a visual check.

The change process is straight forward and relatively simple. Challenges that I encountered were seized lock nuts. In my effort to loosen them I completely destroyed what were otherwise perfectly good outer tie rods. Then in replacing them the tapered pins were seized into the knuckles requiring heat and a bfh to remove them.
Of course, after doing all this I needed a professional wheel alignment done.

Let me know if you need any advice with the work. It's all very fresh in my memory. If I remember tonight I will photograph my worn out ones and post them up.

 

[Steernit]

follow up on tie rods

Got the inner tie rods done (TOY calls them "rack ends"?).
The excessive play seemed very slight to me but it WAS enough, apparently, to wear out the tires. Afterwards, it aligned fine.

I COULD NOT get the outer tie rods off at the steering knuckle (the tapered stud) no matter how hard I whacked the sides. They are tough to get off. I started using a pickle-fork tool but after it squeezed too much grease out I realized that I was about to destroy my outers, too. Finally, an air hammer got it off but not before nicking the grease boot so now I'll have to keep an eye on that.

Apparently it takes very little play in these inner rods and it looks like they do go out at less than 100k on the 3rd gens, even when treated well. On my older Tacoma they were very worn without effecting tire wear.

It seemed to me that there was worse play in the steering rack. The bushings flex. I have no other 4runner to compare to but it seems to me there should be zero play here.

Is this flex acceptable? How hard is it to do a steering rack bushing kit?

I didn't do the struts yet on this either. Has anyone gone 90k before doing their struts and what's the consensus on this?

Thanks for reply, techno

 

[Stick Figure]

Steering rack bushings on mine were shot at 130k, probably before that as well, but thats about when i got it. I did them in about an hour in the home garage, not too hard to do. You will most likely be back for another alignment though. I would just get everything you are going to replace together and do it all at once.

 

[toytech76]

On these it si common for the bushings INSIDE the steering rack to fail while making it look like the tie rods have failed. Be careful you dont replace a part you dont need just yet. A rack assy will have inner tie rod ends with it

 

[Elton H]

hmm the steering rack bushings might be the cause of my poor handling on the highway