Power Steering Rack/Box Leak Suggestions (91 Surf LN130) (1 Viewer)

[Jemjem787]

Hey Mud, I've had a problem with my power steering rack for a while, and a bottle of lucas stop leak hasn't fixed it yet so I'm delving deeper into it.

A local shop quoted me $3-400 (CAD) to take it out and get it rebuilt, however i want to take a stab at it first. I think i have the skillset to figure it out but i would like to hear what the experts say.

The second thing i looked at was getting a replacement rack or even a seal kit to rebuild myself, however I'm unable to identify what kind of rack i have. Apparently if the surf was made before 91/8 then it has a different rack than the latter . After looking at all of my name plates I'm still unable to narrow down the month. My exact model is LN130G-GKMGT. On my nameplate (Which i have attached a photo of below) has an entry for plant/built. The plant name is there however there is nothing following so am i SOL?

Here are a couple pictures. It looks like the seal for the steering column is leaking. Do you think i could just pull the steering wheel out and leave the box intact and repair it from there? Or would you recommend me to pull it out and figure it out.

 

[jgranthevagrant]

A bit hard to tell from the photos whether the steering box is similar to common ones here. Maybe there is a part number under the gunk? I have 2 or 3 steering boxes in my parts storage. I can dig them out and look for a part identifying number if you don't find info elsewhere. Did you try your VIN on sites like Toyota DIY? I have only ever worked on the steering gear by removing it from the vehicle.

 

[Jemjem787]

A bit hard to tell from the photos whether the steering box is similar to common ones here. Maybe there is a part number under the gunk? I have 2 or 3 steering boxes in my parts storage. I can dig them out and look for a part identifying number if you don't find info elsewhere. Did you try your VIN on sites like Toyota DIY? I have only ever worked on the steering gear by removing it from the vehicle.

From what i know of VIN numbers (And i may be completely wrong) is that if the VIN is factory, then VIN lookup sites will return the correct information. However if the vehicle has a ICBC assigned VIN, which imports have, the VIN does not follow the factory VIN format. I HAVE checked vin sites in the past, and i double checked again for confirmation and it cannot find any information.

I just checked out the frame number and it has some information on it. It leads me to a kit for sale right here, however it doesn't ship to Canada, and no other sites i have found do.

Looking at the parts catalogue, it's confusing me on what the part number of the actual box is. I'm curious if i'm able to just hit the junkyard or a parts runner, and pickup a box for cheap, but i don't want to pickup the wrong one. I could always pull the box and take lot's of pictures and compare, however im dailying it right now and ideally want to bang this off on a weekend.

Thanks for the info JG!

 

[gnob]

Is there some reason you cant take a pick from the wheel side?

That appears to be a late, post 91, ifs box.
The kit is available from Toyota and there are threads showing the build.
That box requires removal of the piston to replace the input seal that is leaking. placing the 40 ball bearings back into the piston properly is a bit of a PITA. Not really for low skill level. I consider the box rebuild moderate to hard.

 

[jgranthevagrant]

I did not know ICBC assigned VINs. Your original Japanese vin should still be valid for parts searches. Toy DIY usually matches the dealer parts numbers in Canada. Maybe go in to a dealer on a slow morning and see if the parts guys can give more info. Sometimes they have spent an hour looking for arcane stuff for me. I have steering boxes for 1989-1994 pickups. Not sure which ones leak and which don't at this point. Let me know if you want me to look for them. I probably can't get to that before Sunday.

 

[Jemjem787]

Here is the nameplate on the inside of the door. Like i said, i am unfamiliar with how importing/vins work and i am just making some assumptions. However what i know, is that my VIN doesn't follow any form of standard or anything, its just a bunch of random numbers and characters.

Also JG i live near you in Abby, and have had nothing but absolute horrible experiences with the local Toyota dealership here, along with some of my friends who daily 'normal' Toyotas getting completely conned out of their money as they do not know any better. Are there any better dealerships closer to the city you would recommend?

Also don't worry about the steering boxes. After looking into a couple build threads im probably just going to bring it into EBI and get them to do it for me, as rebuilding it looks pretty tough.

Thanks for the help GNOB and JG!

 

[jgranthevagrant]

First time I've seen that blue thing from ICBC. Does that mean they removed all the other VIN plates? Door pillar and dash? I go to Pattison Toyota in North Surrey auto mall, which is near work. I'm in there a lot when I'm at the start of camping or something big on the truck, so they are pretty nice to me. Staff changeover in there is my worst enemy. EBI should be totally fine too. Been in there a few times just for a look. Too bad Pick a Part closed. They had a Hilux Surf in there in the fall.

 

[Jemjem787]

I've been unable to find any form of vin other than that plate on the vehicle, however I'll crawl over it again and check.

I'm aware of the surf that you are speaking of, i was told that within a day of it being there, anything useful was taken. I managed to score the 2 rear headrests though before it was shut down.

 

[toyotaboy80]

So the truck is right hand drive and we're looking at it from the inside of the frame rail underneath?

Snap some better pics and can probably CSI it better to see if it's just a US late model IFS box.

If the box is in fact leaking from the seal and not the torsion bar, then it's worth resealing. If it's leaking at the shaft inside the input shaft spline then the box is passed its service life. At least that's what I understood when I read a how-to about 5 years ago.

 

[jgranthevagrant]

Yes, Toyotas of any sort from any continent get attacked pretty quick and stripped.

 

[Jemjem787]

Yes, Toyotas of any sort from any continent get attacked pretty quick and stripped.

Or they get put in the "Premium" hold yard of local places and up sell the hell out of every part. (Looking at you Empire)

So the truck is right hand drive and we're looking at it from the inside of the frame rail underneath?

Snap some better pics and can probably CSI it better to see if it's just a US late model IFS box.

If the box is in fact leaking from the seal and not the torsion bar, then it's worth resealing. If it's leaking at the shaft inside the input shaft spline then the box is passed its service life. At least that's what I understood when I read a how-to about 5 years ago.

Yea its RHD.
I'll snap a few more pics. I think i found where the model number of the box is, however its tight up against some plastic (facing the front) and im unable to decipher it.

Will the RHD box be a completely different box than a LHD box? I was told that some are, however it doesn't make sense to me as the mounting holes will be on the wrong side of the box if i was to swap it.

 

[toyotaboy80]

On a LHD truck the box mounts on outside of the frame. If the box on the RHD truck mounts on the inside of the frame, then I could see it being the same box.

 

[chesshircat]

It is probably the same box as LHD. Dorman makes a rebuild kit, I got mine from rock auto. It’s not that hard. Just clean everything real well and don’t lose any of the ball bearings.

 

[gnob]

The RHD is a mirror of the LHD. there no reason the seal kits wont interchange

 

[Jemjem787]

It looks like my box (Pictured on the left) is mirrored when compared to the one i found on rock auto for a 91 runner. I'm gonna assume that the seal kits are exactly the same.

However i'm still trying to figure out if i have the earlier 91 or the later 91 box. I've been unable to find any pictures online of the 2 boxes side by side, and rockauto has a few different entries for kits before 8/31 and after. I've gone over my entire vehicle again and I'm unable to find the factory VIN to tell me what month my vehicle is. Any of you have input on this?

 

[gnob]

The two boxes are different in that the late box has the hose fitting in the input system section. The early boxes the fittings are in the box section. Also the early box has a spanner nut at the input shaft so you don't have to tear the box all the way down to change it.

 

[gnob]

Pic of size differences

 

[Jemjem787]

Thanks for the help gnob, I'm unsure how i never found that diagram you posted. I should look harder next time. However my box seems to share a couple similarities with box the earlier and the later box diagram.

On the earlier box, it seems to share a raised lip before it hits the top of the steering box, however on the later box, it seems to share a inverted nipple looking thing. I hope i'm not missing something blatantly obvious. (Both of the pictures below are from the same front facing angle)

Here is the picture from the back of the box. This angle makes me think it's a later box.

 

[chesshircat]

Yours is a later box

 

[Jemjem787]

Awesome, thanks for the confirmation. And thanks to you all for giving me a hand. I've just ordered the kit and started my research on rebuilding it.