Kanoe
New member
*****Edit: I have since removed both of these parts from my truck and put the original parts back in. These are good in the sense that you can't buy them from Toyota, but the quality is not as good as the OEM.****
I've put a bit of time into tightening up my steering shaft. It was never much movement, but I couldn't leave it alone. Most annoying was the way it would knock when driving over uneven cobble that caused the wheels to wobble left to right quickly. I thought I would share what I have learned. Maybe it can help others.
So if you have a 96 to 97.5 4runner, you likely have discovered that you do not have a slip joint to tack weld. Yay! But why do you still have play in the steering? There are a couple of wearable parts that can cause play too. I expect this info would apply to the 97.5 and up 3rd gens as well, I just have never dug into one to see. Forgive me if any errors in dates here, it was not critical for me to determine exact info.
As there is tons of info on ripping out the steering shaft for welding, I will not touch on that aspect. See Tims excellent video if you haven't already. Straight to the good part.
Part 1- Others have touched on the tilt ball mechanism being loose (Tim). A plastic shim can be used to tighten up the tilt balls. Alternatively, you can just buy a new Tilt Ball. They are exactly like your old ones, but the spring that comes with the new set is a little longer and stiffer. It's amazing how much this tightens up the tilt ball.
Part 2- This is the intermediate shaft out of my 96 4runner. I have been running a 97 shaft for a couple of years as it was tighter than mine. I believe this part number was used up to 97.5. Not sure how the newer ones differ. This is the part that was causing most of my steering slop. It is essentially a double cardan joint. 2 U-Joints back to back with a centering disk. This mechanism is IN your firewall and I bet lots don't even know it exists. The 2 U-joints seem to be unavailable but mine were tight still. The plastic disk is the replaceable part and the cause of the slop, well, the spring in it was. My 96 had no spring at all from factory , just a dried out rubber spacer. The 97 had a spring in it. The new disk comes with a slightly longer and stiffer spring. This really took care of the knock and play for me. It's not clear from the photos at all, I am not talking about the wavy round spring. The spring in question is IN the black steel rimmed hole in the disk. Should have popped that out for the photo.
Part 3- Also a little loose was this bushing. It sits in the end of the steering tube and holds that nice shiny greased bearing with the red arrow pointing to it in the last photo. Mine was just suffering from dried out grease and age. I ordered a new one from Toyota and greased her up. Look how that new tilt ball will hold the shaft on it's own! The old one would not do that.
The AST-LC90 and AST-LC100 are both available on ebay from a Florida seller. Both parts list as being for land cruisers but some digging for cross references and hoping for the best paid off. They fit the 4runner too.
This bit of work has tightened things up to like new for me. Noises are all gone and it drives like new. Slop reduced to zero or close enough. Hope this helps someone and sorry the pics are all stuck at the bottom.
I've put a bit of time into tightening up my steering shaft. It was never much movement, but I couldn't leave it alone. Most annoying was the way it would knock when driving over uneven cobble that caused the wheels to wobble left to right quickly. I thought I would share what I have learned. Maybe it can help others.
So if you have a 96 to 97.5 4runner, you likely have discovered that you do not have a slip joint to tack weld. Yay! But why do you still have play in the steering? There are a couple of wearable parts that can cause play too. I expect this info would apply to the 97.5 and up 3rd gens as well, I just have never dug into one to see. Forgive me if any errors in dates here, it was not critical for me to determine exact info.
As there is tons of info on ripping out the steering shaft for welding, I will not touch on that aspect. See Tims excellent video if you haven't already. Straight to the good part.
Part 1- Others have touched on the tilt ball mechanism being loose (Tim). A plastic shim can be used to tighten up the tilt balls. Alternatively, you can just buy a new Tilt Ball. They are exactly like your old ones, but the spring that comes with the new set is a little longer and stiffer. It's amazing how much this tightens up the tilt ball.
Part 2- This is the intermediate shaft out of my 96 4runner. I have been running a 97 shaft for a couple of years as it was tighter than mine. I believe this part number was used up to 97.5. Not sure how the newer ones differ. This is the part that was causing most of my steering slop. It is essentially a double cardan joint. 2 U-Joints back to back with a centering disk. This mechanism is IN your firewall and I bet lots don't even know it exists. The 2 U-joints seem to be unavailable but mine were tight still. The plastic disk is the replaceable part and the cause of the slop, well, the spring in it was. My 96 had no spring at all from factory , just a dried out rubber spacer. The 97 had a spring in it. The new disk comes with a slightly longer and stiffer spring. This really took care of the knock and play for me. It's not clear from the photos at all, I am not talking about the wavy round spring. The spring in question is IN the black steel rimmed hole in the disk. Should have popped that out for the photo.
Part 3- Also a little loose was this bushing. It sits in the end of the steering tube and holds that nice shiny greased bearing with the red arrow pointing to it in the last photo. Mine was just suffering from dried out grease and age. I ordered a new one from Toyota and greased her up. Look how that new tilt ball will hold the shaft on it's own! The old one would not do that.
The AST-LC90 and AST-LC100 are both available on ebay from a Florida seller. Both parts list as being for land cruisers but some digging for cross references and hoping for the best paid off. They fit the 4runner too.
This bit of work has tightened things up to like new for me. Noises are all gone and it drives like new. Slop reduced to zero or close enough. Hope this helps someone and sorry the pics are all stuck at the bottom.
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