Best way to diagnose front end?: TRE vs. Steering Rack vs.??

[firetruck41]

As the title says, what's the best way to diagnose/differentiate? A while ago I took the 98 LX to a tire shop, and they did a (poor) alignment, said the "steering rack bushing" needed replacement, but could not give a part or labor estimate, I am not confident in their diagnosis. I know TREs are notoriously troublesome for Toyotas of this era, so I think that could be the problem (or part of the problem). Any help on how to diagnose this?

 

[firetruck41]

Duh, forgot to put the problem... Basically the steering is loose, also steering wheel is off center sometimes (depending on crown of road I guess), and it is kind of "darty" when changing lanes at freeway speeds i feel like I have to overcorrect my steering inputs.

 

[jfz80]

dunno how much help this is but i just went through the same on my taco. if you jack up the front and support it and grab 3 and 9 on the tire and try to wiggle you should be able to see if the play is at the TRE or the whole rack moving. i had a fair amount of play coming from the TRE's. at 120k i chose to replace the rack to get two new tre's and fix the small leaking seal. w/ new rack in place it was great for a while, then more slop developed. did same prodedure above and could see the rack moving in the old bushings. bushings are cheap ( 15 ) and went in easy to snug it all up again. also with wheel up stick a pry bar under the wheel and try lifting to see if you have vertical play... this would indicate lower ball joints need replacing. wiggling at 12 and 6 should indicate worn or out of adjustment wheel bearings. hope it helps.

 

[calamaridog]

I'm dealing with the same problem and haven't had much time to try and fix it.

Check this thread for some ideas. I was looking at this thread recently.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=34222

 

[firetruck41]

jfz80 and Calamari, thanks for the info.

 

[NMuzj100]

TRE = Tie Rod End ?

 

[Tinkerer]

Front end suspension systems have a interesting little characteristic:

If one set of worn/sloppy components (ball joints, tie rod ends, whatever) are replaced, but other worn/sloppy components are not replaced at that time, the replaced components may fail again in short order, and other components will also fail in short order.

Many customer complaints/returns stem from failure to replace ALL worn/sloppy components at the time they all needed replacement.

If worn/sloppy components are allowed to remain in the system, they will put excessive stresses on other components in operation, causing premature failures to cascade throughout the system.

You have to replace ALL worn/sloppy components at the same time they are found, to get good results.

(And that means that the mechanic must FIND all worn/sloppy components at the time they ALL need replacement. Not all mechanics are good at this - even so-called "front end mechanics".)

Good luck.

 

[calamaridog]

Good luck.

Thanks


Maybe I'll just replace everything and be done with it.

 

[bjowett]

Hey guys, shamless plug/cleaning out garage. I snagged a couple sets of 555 japanese inner 100 series TRE... open to offers? I also have a 1 OEM Toyota inner and outer, offers?