If you end up throwing random parts at it and anything works, please let us know. Just got back from a week of trail driving and camping, steering feels like s*** on the trails.
How To: Replace your Upper Steering Column Shaft
- Thread starter Ayune
- Start date
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If you end up throwing random parts at it and anything works, please let us know. Just got back from a week of trail driving and camping, steering feels like s*** on the trails.
I noticed while just sitting in the car, engine off but wheel unlocked I could jiggle it from side to side quickly and hear a low tone “knock knock” from the back and forth. That’s when I started to do it and listen under the dash near the pedals and just happened to narrow it down.
Good luck, keep up the hunt!
Good luck, keep up the hunt!
This is what mine is doing as well. It's a klunking/knocking noise when the car is off or when it is on and I am stationary. All after the upper steering shaft repair. I will keep on thinking about it and pondering!
FWIW, sorry the noise is still there. That would bum me a bit also,
Try finding the u-joint down there where it enters the firewall area and just push up just a bit on it and jiggle the wheel and see if it goes away? That's how I found mine.
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I ended up throwing parts at it.
Fingers crossed but I think this might have actually fixed it. I drove the roughest paved roads I could find today after installing the parts, no crazy shakey feedback, no clunking sound. Until I can get on a trail or rough gravel though, I won't know 100%, but it definitely feels different on the s***ty paved roads where I live. I can think of worse ways to spend $300ish dollars. The u joint that connects to the steering rack was particularly worn and felt sloppy.
I also replaced the two bolted steering rack bushing with OEM bc my last replacement was aftermarket and I wanted to see if they were different. I did notice some difference in the shape and profile of the bushing, hard to say if that makes any difference though in feel.
Edit: After a few months of driving, it's still as tight as a brand new vehicle. This finally fixed my "loose" hard to describe steering issue.
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Finishing up this job now on my 99 LX470. This write up was SUPER helpful. Thank you! One question: my shaft looks a little different and I’m concerned that I’m not seeding it all the way into the U joint. Any tips and tricks? I can’t imagine how bad it would be if the shaft came out while driving. This is how mine looks and it seems like only the bottom half of the splines are going into the U joint no matter how hard I pull. I’m considering loosening the joint, setting the shaft in place with the screw and then trying to tighten the u joint again. Does that make sense?
- Thread starter
- #27
You must remove the securing screw from the u-joint before inserting the shaft. Once the shaft is fully inserted you replace the screw. The screw occupies the groove in the shaft (circle below) and prevents the shaft from pulling out even if the screw loosens.
Thank you so much for responding! I’m planning on working on the car again tomorrow. I think the set screw is in the correct place. I second guessed it because the top half of that spline is not seated in the ujoint. But as far as I can tell, it can’t. I’ll take a pic tomorrow. Do any of you all have a lx470 that you could post a pic of the assembly at the ujoint?
I’m thinking this may not be in far enough. Can any other Lexus owners confirm or deny that? It seemed to be a different shaft than the Toyota one.
Nevermind! Got it fully seated! Just pulled down really hard with the bolt out and then reattached. Thanks again
Eyedaho
SILVER Star
If the bolt is in the slot then you're good. If not, it's NOT good.
Glad you got it sorted.
Thank you! It’s all good now! Whew! Did my steering rack bushings after this job so my steering is getting a lot tighter!
Finally got around to ordering these parts. Were you able to replace by pulling the steering column in the cab and feeding the shafts through the fire wall?
From what I remember, yes that sounds right. It wasn't a bad job. Might need some pentrating spray on the shafts and splines first.
Jack90210
SILVER Star
Do these parts correspond to the VGRS setup (in the later LX470s) as well?
- Thread starter
- #36
No, the VGRS steering column is different.
Thanks, I've done my steering rack in the last few years so I dont think anything is seized. Did you mark with paint everything to make sure it goes back about the same? I need to center my rack as well because I didn't do that when I did my steering rack.
You can use a sharpie to mark everything that your worried about. The bottom shaft to the rack is important, getting the steering wheel back on in the exact same spot it came off is important, I think everything in between those two can only go on one way and the exact spline line up doesn't matter.
Success! I owe you a beer for the parts list and the help my friend. Knocking is gone and steering is SUPER tight. Thanks again!
Love to hear it. Cheers to tight steering again!
