Steering rack replacement - New rack orientation

[denvermaxd]

I ordered a Toyota rack from a dealer, so it’s a brand new part.

Before I jacked up the front end and removed the old rack I had the steering wheel dead center and tied off, both wheels pointing straight down the road.

Now that I have the old rack off and can compare to the new rack, it appears the new rack is set to a hard left turn—the driver side boot is almost fully compressed, the passenger side boot fully extended.

On the old rack, both boots are about the same level of compression.

I’m afraid when I mount the new rack and attach the end links my wheels will be turned hard left but the steering wheel will be dead straight.

Is it standard for shipping the part that they set it to be not dead straight ahead?

Any tips on what I should do? I doubt I’ll be able to manually turn the intermediate shaft to bring it to a position matching the old rack.

 

[rkntoy]

If you are not changing your outer tie rods you should be good. If you are, measure the length of your existing outer tie rods to the locking nut and start with that measurement on your new tie rods. Then jack up the front so the tires are a bit off the ground and hook things up.

 

[HiLife]

That new rack came like that in a brand new box with seals unripped?
That IS strange. New racks, and rebuilt ones, are shipped dead center from my experience.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

The OEM rack I installed earlier this year was shipped centered, but also had 2 different colored paint marks that lined up to show when it was centered. If your has those, get the tie rods where they appear more or less even and line up the paint marks.

 

[bootown]

Any tips on what I should do? I doubt I’ll be able to manually turn the intermediate shaft to bring it to a position matching the old rack.

I've done this a couple of times. I don't remember if they came centered or not from Toyota and I did it myself anyways. Kind of think one rack was centered and one was not. I probably used an adjustable wrench or vice grips to spin it left and right. Count the number of turns and you can use a tape measure too on the tie rod distance. I think it's ~7 full turns from lock to lock, so ~3.5 turns from lock to center.

 

[TravThePro]

I've done this a couple of times. I don't remember if they came centered or not from Toyota and I did it myself anyways. Kind of think one rack was centered and one was not. I probably used an adjustable wrench or vice grips to spin it left and right. Count the number of turns and you can use a tape measure too on the tie rod distance. I think it's ~7 full turns from lock to lock, so ~3.5 turns from lock to center.

This is correct. ~7 turns total with ~3.5 being centered. All of the racks I have seen come directly from Toyota have come centered with a double paint line on them.