Steering rack

[BFEATHER2008]

I have an issue and wondering if it was caused by my lift. My steering rack is shot it steers itself pretty much every time I cross the yellow lines in the road it wants to steer to the right and it has been doing this for months now. My question is I have the tundra billy adjustable set on the 3rd perch out of 5 perches. Is that too much and caused this issue maybe? If anyone knows anything please reply. I am replacing the steering the rack first to start. Hopefully nothing else is bad on the front end. Please chime in if you know anything or have ideas as to what could have caused this issue?

 

[afg10000]

Did you get an alignment after lift installation? Pretty sure if the rack was bad, you would have noticed it before the lift. Perhaps rack bushings?

 

[airmax233]

Are you running stock springs?

 

[afg10000]

Cherry red? I thought they only came in Desert Dune?

 

[Millerad1651]

I don't think the cause of tire wear and crazy movement is the lift. Plenty of people have done the same lift and been fine...the most common result of that much lift is torn CV boots. If your rack is bad, your steering is going to be sloppy and loose, but that won't cause bad wear on the tires as much as bad alignment specs. Have you checked the tie rod ends and ball joints?

 

[JBurt]

As has already been said I'd check the rack bushings. Get under the car and have someone turn the wheel and look for movement in the rack. That fixed my wandering steering.

You can also check the rack guide. The older pre 99 style get some slop in them.

 

[shootmymime]

Yes I replaced my rack post lift. It fixed my thud and wondering while coming to a stop where there Are slight "wagon track" marks made into the pavement. But 4 months later it's back. The extreme angle on the tie rods put pressure on the rack guide. Vertical pressure instead of the horizontal pressure it's designed for.

So my question in addition to those on this thread and the OP. Can we replace the rack guides from pre 99 to the better rack guide post 99?
I've done some research but no one has reported on it exactly.

 

[JBurt]

I'm pretty sure you can put the new rack guides on the old racks. I'll look for the thread I saw when I'm not on my phone

 

[JBurt]

here you go. I had nothing better to do on my phone white putting a baby to sleep.

http://m.yotatech.com/showthread.php?t=215931&styleid=51

 

[BFEATHER2008]

Yes I did an alignment after the lift. My cv boots are torn but they are Original axles with 206k on them I am replacing those as well. I've checked ball joints and bushings and everything. The inner tie rods was what my dad thought it was because there was slop there. But it was not that I've replaced all that both sides and was still there. We finally found the slop was from the main piston in the rack where the guide is. We tried for now to tighten the guide to get the slop out of it. It worked no more slop there but it came right back after about 10 miles. The LCA are brand new also with factory. I'm just trying to figure this out because it is very dangerous to drive now because it feels as the whole front end shifts side to side when coming to stop or hitting a bump.

 

[xcmtb83]

New poly bushings from Wheeler's and the newer style rack guide are no brainer mandatory upgrades IMO especially for anyone lifting their Tacoma or 4Runner. So often it seems people throw new inner tie rods in to try and combat the play they see especially on the driver side when the inner tie rods aren't the issue at all but instead the rack guide. The new style rack guide is a lot better. Even if you tighten the heck out of the old style it will still yield about 0.030-0.050" of vertical play at the guide. That amount of play with the old style will translate to a lot more play at the end of the shaft. Over tightening will also make your steering harder and your steering wheel will not return to center if you let go of it after cornering.

shootmymime is absolutely right. Lifting the vehicle puts forces on the rack that it wasn't originally designed for. I put the newer style rack guide in both my vehicles, a 96 Tacoma (lifted) and a 96 4Runner (not lifted). The new rack guide and poly bushings was one of the first things I did to my 4Runner even though I knew I wasn't going to lift it.

 

[Gerdo]

Similar thread http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/159737-steering-rack-checking-bushings.html

My method for checking all front suspension and steering parts.

*With he vehicle parked, brake on, wheels chocked, and the ignition key on just till the steering wheel is free to turn but the engine is not running.
* have someone inside the vehicle quickly rock the steering wheel back and forth. They only need to turn the wheel about 1/4 turn or so.
*You get under the nose of the vehicle and look for movement at all the parts.

The steering bushings will show movement in all directions if bad. They will move up, down, side to side also forward and backward.

I have also cut off the straps that hold the steering rack rubber bellows so I can see the inner tie rod ends and steering rack play. The drivers side of the rack can be adjusted or the guide bushing can be replaced. http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/70884-how-replace-steering-rack-guide-pictures.html

 

[BFEATHER2008]

So you guys are saying to get the new guide and new bushing from wheelers. And try that route first. Correct? It's just weird that out of no where it started doing this because it was fine for almost a year after I lifted the truck and then bam outta nowhere it started doing all this.

 

[BFEATHER2008]

Ok so I checked my steering rack bushings and they are for sure loose but the LCA bushings are also loose. I just replaced Lcas last year before July 4th. They were not OEM so the company I bought them from is warranting them but I think I'm gonna try to fight for them to just pay for oem bushings for my old oem control arms I still have and just replace the bushings. What do you guys think I should do?

 

[kernel.panik]

Did you get it aligned after replacing the tie-rod ends? You can end up with the wrong toe-in if not. Loose lower control arm bushings are probably the problem, but you should at least have the alignment re-checked after you replace all that.

 

[BFEATHER2008]

I got it aligned people keep asking that what am I stupid I used to work cars. Sorry not aimed at you or anything but I've aligned it 4 times and the new lower control arms are less than a year old. But I'm prolly gonna replace everything up front.

 

[BTO]

Doubt it's your rack causing a pull. Scan and post your alignment sheet.