2001LC
SILVER Star
When damaged. Like hole in screen, lots of micro fractures & leaking, etc. Otherwise, I usually just clean until like new in my sonic cleaner.
How To: Replace your own steering rack (2 Viewers)
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I've cleaned in my ultrasonic cleaner as well, but no real way to see the screen easily. What cleaner do you use?
2001LC
SILVER Star
Simple Green (SG) industrial strength at 100%.
But I first start by inspecting reservoir, while in vehicle with hoses still attached. I pour out fluid and place a light under (backlight). I judge whether needs cleaning and if worth cleaning.
To clean. I use Toyota coolant empty jug, with upper half cut off as container to place in sonic cleaner (SC). I keep two jug of SG, one older dirty and one fresher clean.
Drain and then rinse reservoir with a little old SG. Then heat soak in SC with older SG. After some time, drain out and flush with hose end nozzle. If not clean enough back into dirty SG & SC. Repeat until clean enough for the fresh SG. Then back into SC with the fresh SG. By using old SG first, I'm keep fresh in good condition longer.
Steering Flush & Cleaning
Cleaning power steering reservoir and flushing it's fluid. Keeps Vane pump and rack & pinion in top condition. These step will help you get, a better idea on how to. Power wash reservoir & hoses using a degreaser, before starting service. Makes for cleaner job. Repeat, once all done with...
forum.ih8mud.com
Pulled the pump apart and see no signs of catastrophic failure or anything abnormal.
2001LC
SILVER Star
Did you actually see metal? Yes what type metal? Size and how much?
Unless screen in reservoir has a hole. Particles can't pass through screen into suction hose and on into vane.
If metal in a running pumping system. You should find some in reservoir screen?
Could it have been something else, like a stop leak?
I've had to work on systems with stop leak. In one, the flare fitting of return line, was glue permanently to pipe and frozen in R&P. Return line had to be replaced. Removing from R&P, pieces of harden stop leak broke away.
FSM has inspection procedure for vane. You should, also use a new seal kit, if reusing after opening up.
Finally back on this project and went back and found one of the particles. It didn't pick up with a magnet so looks like a bunch of little aluminum. I'd have to say about a couple of mm in rough diameter.
Pump has been cleaned and resealed. New reservoir installed. New hoses except for high pressure crimped hose. Added a power steering cooler. Not knowing history of this rig I'm suspicious this rack has been replaced before. Old rack was 5 threads off center to the right. Gonna center tie rod ends on new rack.
What was the original position of the steering shaft from the factory on a hundy? Haven't found it in the FSM yet. Going to dig again. Guessing my steering wheel was recentered at some point. Thank you.
Edit: Studying the FSM picture as I don't see anything specific written, the 2 bolt sliding yoke by the firewall should match the u-joint bolt that mates to the rack 90 degrees to the passenger side from center. There's a white dot on mine that points straight up in this position. I'm wondering if this is a factory mark. This looks to be where I need to land and then I can recenter the steering wheel and clock spring. This should get me back to factory.
Pump has been cleaned and resealed. New reservoir installed. New hoses except for high pressure crimped hose. Added a power steering cooler. Not knowing history of this rig I'm suspicious this rack has been replaced before. Old rack was 5 threads off center to the right. Gonna center tie rod ends on new rack.
What was the original position of the steering shaft from the factory on a hundy? Haven't found it in the FSM yet. Going to dig again. Guessing my steering wheel was recentered at some point. Thank you.
Edit: Studying the FSM picture as I don't see anything specific written, the 2 bolt sliding yoke by the firewall should match the u-joint bolt that mates to the rack 90 degrees to the passenger side from center. There's a white dot on mine that points straight up in this position. I'm wondering if this is a factory mark. This looks to be where I need to land and then I can recenter the steering wheel and clock spring. This should get me back to factory.
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Are reman Toyota racks marked differently than new ones? Curious if the one I pulled was reman.
Here’s a picture of the alignment mark that I’m wondering if it’s factory. My old steering rack was out of adjustment by six threads on the tie rods and I think that equates to about two splines on the steering wheel. Trying to get back to stock with the new steering rack.
Finished installing everything today. Discovered that Toyota doesn’t center the rack like other manufacturers. Gonna try to set the toe in as best as can and then deal with centering the steering wheel. Pic of the cooler I added.
After looking at other trucks in the club of the same vintage that have not ever had their steering rack replaced I thought I’d follow up to anyone who is interested that the white dot on the upper intermediate shaft is factory. And the alignment is basically upright or slightly to the drivers side when built since it’s somewhat of an optical illusion at the angle it exits the firewall.
I purchased some toe in bars to set the toe as none of the other alignment was affected with the steering rack replacement and I can use these bars on all the other projects I have.
I purchased some toe in bars to set the toe as none of the other alignment was affected with the steering rack replacement and I can use these bars on all the other projects I have.
Being as this thread was the most useful for me prepping for the job on my car I thought I would add specifics for RHD owners planning pulling their steering rack in the future.
JDM VX spec LC
4.7 2UZ
AHC
JDM VX spec LC
4.7 2UZ
AHC
- Took ~2hrs to remove the rack.
- I'm planning on resealing my current rack as it's play free, just leaking from the input seal. Because of this I removed the inner ball joints from the rack shaft whilst in the car. This means the geo will be perfect when it goes back in (although I will check it). It also reduces the length of the rack as it comes out.
- I steered the rack full to the right before removal and pulled the LH end down first. In hindsight this may have been better full to the left and start with the RH end but it didn't make it too hard
. I taped the rack bar and open end up to give them protection from dirt and bumps on the way out - very worthwhile. - The input spline went smoothly once I had relaxed the bolts on the intermediate shaft joint at the bulkhead so it had somewhere to go. Tap a flat screwdriver in to the gap to relax the grip of the spline then a long rod to tap the joint up and away from the rack body.
- I got the low pressure line removed in situ. Disconnecting the hose from the end of the hard line and feeding a ring spanner over the pipe was the trick for me.
- I did need to lift the LH engine mount slightly, as others have found the rear it a nut and bolt, both 14mm. The front is a weld nut with a 14mm head bolt coming in from the top. I didn't touch the oil filter or housing - the joy of RHD!
I'm curious how expensive those are. I ended up making some for myself out of 1.5" aluminum angle after doing my rack replacement. By simply counting rotations to get the old outer tie rods off (and re-installing the same) I ended up with something like 2.5 deg toe-in (assuming my math was right) and had to adjust something like 7-8 turns on the outers to get back to ~1 deg toe. Not sure if my count was off or if there was just that much difference between the new and old inner/outer tie rods and rack.
Amazon has some inexpensive ones. Mine came with an angle finder too but it no longer listed. Under $50.
Interestingly in talking with a couple of alignment techs, I have not gotten a clear answer about setting the toe in since the bars are shorter than the diameter of the tire, so I did some calculations on mine to set it within 1/8 inch of an inch for the tire diameter. I’m running larger 33’s
Interestingly in talking with a couple of alignment techs, I have not gotten a clear answer about setting the toe in since the bars are shorter than the diameter of the tire, so I did some calculations on mine to set it within 1/8 inch of an inch for the tire diameter. I’m running larger 33’s
Yeah, I'm not sure how much toe-in would be expected to change between being loaded (static) and un-loaded (front end raised with wheels off), but can imagine that could be mitigated by using a pair of jacks to lift the front by the lower control arm, but that also seems like it could be a bit unsafe. Since I made the pieces to do my rough alignment I made sure they were long enough to run tape measures on each side of the tire with the truck sitting on the ground. Each tape measure slot was cut 16" from center, then I used half the difference between front and back measurement and basic geometry to calculate toe.
Conceptually, seems simple enough, but I'm sure there are real-world complications for a suspension that moves in 3-d space and trying to simplify this far.
Those will only give you total toe across the axle. Did you verify toe on each wheel with a string box after aligning the steering wheel? Less than or equal to 1/8" difference across those 16" gauges is perfectly fine. Your toe angle is half the difference in measurement, but that only really matters on a professional alignment setup. What were your total toe measurements? In theory you could have the passenger 1.5 degrees out and the driver 3 degrees in and the total toe would reflect 1.5 degrees toe in.
Secure the steering wheel in the straight-ahead position using a strap or rope to prevent it from turning and damaging the clockspring.
Remove the two pinch bolts at the upper coupler near the firewall. Slide the upper portion of the intermediate shaft upward toward the firewall to disengage it. Then remove the pinch bolt at the lower end where the shaft connects to the steering rack input.
Carefully pull the steering rack toward the firewall to free it from the shaft. If it’s stuck, loop a rope around the U-joint and pull upward for leverage. This avoids hammering on the shaft or coupler, which could cause damage.
To center the rack, measure the exposed length of the inner tie rods from the rack boots to the beginning of the threads. Use small pliers to make minor adjustments until both sides are within 3mm of each other.
With the rack centered and the steering wheel still fixed, slide the upper shaft into the coupler at the firewall first. This end has a groove that must align correctly. Once the top is seated, slide the lower end over the steering rack input. The lower end isn’t keyed, so alignment isn’t as critical.
Always fit the upper portion first. If you install the bottom first, you’ll likely need to rotate the shaft to align the upper slot, which can throw the steering rack out of center. Once both ends are in place, reinstall all three pinch bolts and torque them to spec. I like to use blue thread locker here.
Agreed. Since I made the adjustment on the ground I was also dealing with resistance of the tire against the driveway surface. Since everything was put together, after each adjustment I'd back up about 10' then drive back forward to ensure the truck was tracking straight (changing the calculated toe by 1 deg made a marked difference in how it steers, it was still pretty obvious if it was wanting to track straight or to one side or the other), then re-measure. It was rough and dirty until I get the rest of the modifications done and can get it on a laser alignment rack, but with a total calculated toe in of around 0.8 deg it seems to drive well and I've seen no signs of excess tire wear after about 60 miles of around-town driving.
In the past I have placed two pieces of parchment paper under the tires to reduce that friction. You can even put a little dap of butter or grease between them for extra slip. Sounds like you have it handled. They still do race setups with a string box for a reason.
After a lot of measurements, realizing our Toyota rack did not come centered and inspecting original racks on hundy's in the club was able to get it spot on and it's doing great. Highly recommend the aftermarket cooler.
