SOLVED- Poly Bushings for ‘05 LX470 Steering Rack (1 Viewer)

[Indiana80]

Update (5/14/24): this issue was resolved after I took the truck to Ed Martin Toyota. They found control arms not torqued to spec. Tighten everything to spec. Rubber band steering feeling is gone. Ed Martin is good. Should have taken the truck there for install of new control arms.

I’m getting very close to dialing in my 05 LX470 that I bought back in December of last year. After replacing UCAs, LCAs, shocks, properly adjusting wheel bearings, and an alignment from a good local independent shop, I’ve got just a bit of slop in my steering. For example, if I’m on a road with a very gentle crown, I’m always having to keep slight pressure to the left on my steering wheel as long as it’s under load or especially when accelerating. If coasting, I have to apply less force left with steering wheel- will basically track straight and steering wheel feels straight. . If I’m making a left to turn onto a highway, as soon as I straighten out, I have to keep steering wheel cocked about 10-15 degrees for a little while and then straighten it out gradually. Also, there’s about a 1/2” to an inch” of dead / play when steering wheel is centered on the road. I feel like I have to chase the steering more than I did before all the suspension work. Everything else is nice and tight in the front end- including tie rods. Rack is OEM Lexus for VGRS system and was replaced maybe 4 years ago / 30-40K miles ago. I’m thinking it’s slop in steering rack bushings and am considering swapping in some Whiteline or Super Pro poly bushings. Anyone have a similar experience and make a switch to poly bushings to achieve tight steering again?

 

[suprarx7nut]

This may sound dumb, but... Had an alignment yet?

I'm never a fan of poly for street driving. Seems unlikely relatively new rubber would be allowing enough movement to be noticeable like that.

 

[Indiana80]

This may sound dumb, but... Had an alignment yet?

I'm never a fan of poly for street driving. Seems unlikely relatively new rubber would be allowing enough movement to be noticeable like that.

Yes, I had a couple alignments- one not so good at a Toyota dealer. Then a second a few weeks ago at independent shop.

 

[TexLexican]

What kind of play does the wheel have at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions? I switched to poly from really old rubber bushings and the most noticeable difference was less effort to turn the wheels. I also felt more vibrations in the steering wheel but it’s not that big of a deal.

 

[Indiana80]

What kind of play does the wheel have at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions? I switched to poly from really old rubber bushings and the most noticeable difference was less effort to turn the wheels. I also felt more vibrations in the steering wheel but it’s not that big of a deal.

There is some play at 9/3

 

[Indiana80]

I’m looking at the steering parts diagram for my truck and it looks like the inner tie rods came installed on the new steering rack that was installed a few years ago. Looks like outer tie rods are original and at about 212K miles now (+ the additional miles that 33” tires would have added over the past 100K miles). I need to check the TREs for play. Is ~ 200K miles normal for outer TRE replacement on these trucks? It saw some off road with PO, but I don’t think anything extreme. Aside from outer TREs, maybe sway bar bushings are worn bad enough to create the constant back and forth rubber band feeling I have in the steering??? I’ve got new OEM LCAs, new SPC UCAs, new OME shocks. Newer OME torsion bars and new OME 1” medium springs in rear. Wheel bearings adjusted properly. Brakes not dragging. Good alignment numbers. BFG KOs 33” with maybe 20-25K miles and inflated to 40PSI. I can’t think of anything else that would cause a pull right under acceleration / torque steer….Unless it’s maybe worn bushings in rear. The truck had older SPC upper LCAs, original OEM LCAs, and older OME shocks when I bought it. Felt much more stable / planted before I had the above-mentioned suspension work done.

 

[OakieEd]

Update (5/14/24): this issue was resolved after I took the truck to Ed Martin Toyota. They found control arms not torqued to spec. Tighten everything to spec. Rubber band steering feeling is gone. Ed Martin is good. Should have taken the truck there for install of new control arms.

I’m getting very close to dialing in my 05 LX470 that I bought back in December of last year. After replacing UCAs, LCAs, shocks, properly adjusting wheel bearings, and an alignment from a good local independent shop, I’ve got just a bit of slop in my steering. For example, if I’m on a road with a very gentle crown, I’m always having to keep slight pressure to the left on my steering wheel as long as it’s under load or especially when accelerating. If coasting, I have to apply less force left with steering wheel- will basically track straight and steering wheel feels straight. . If I’m making a left to turn onto a highway, as soon as I straighten out, I have to keep steering wheel cocked about 10-15 degrees for a little while and then straighten it out gradually. Also, there’s about a 1/2” to an inch” of dead / play when steering wheel is centered on the road. I feel like I have to chase the steering more than I did before all the suspension work. Everything else is nice and tight in the front end- including tie rods. Rack is OEM Lexus for VGRS system and was replaced maybe 4 years ago / 30-40K miles ago. I’m thinking it’s slop in steering rack bushings and am considering swapping in some Whiteline or Super Pro poly bushings. Anyone have a similar experience and make a switch to poly bushings to achieve tight steering again?

I'm trying to figure out what rack bushings to buy for my 2006LX. Mine seem to have alot of slop. Anyone have part number for OEM or a good aftermarket..either poly or rubber?

 

[Indiana80]

I'm trying to figure out what rack bushings to buy for my 2006LX. Mine seem to have alot of slop. Anyone have part number for OEM or a good aftermarket..either poly or rubber?

I may be mistaken, but I don’t think you can buy just the rubber OEM bushings b/c they are one piece and you’re going to have to remove the rack anyway to get to them. Installing one piece rubber ones would probably be a job in itself. There are at least a couple 2 pc poly bushing options out there, and they can be installed with rack in place- doesn’t look like a terrible job, but I’ve not done it. Just Google and YouTube search 100 series poly steering rack bushings for products available and how to install.

 

[OakieEd]

SuperPro SPF2987K​

 

[98100series]

I would not recommend poly bushings for any Toyota with VSC. The VSC requires some play in the rack, putting on any urethane will cause the steering to be to precise, this will cause the VSC to engage prematurely, long sweeping turns become a nightmare and can be dangerous if the system fully engages. The VSC engages the brakes, it makes a crazy metal/metal noise and you cannot power out of it. Best case you’ll just get the beeping and trac control light on the dash! Stay away!

 

[AARONTLC]

I would not recommend poly bushings for any Toyota with VSC. The VSC requires some play in the rack, putting on any urethane will cause the steering to be to precise, this will cause the VSC to engage prematurely, long sweeping turns become a nightmare and can be dangerous if the system fully engages. The VSC engages the brakes, it makes a crazy metal/metal noise and you cannot power out of it. Best case you’ll just get the beeping and trac control light on the dash! Stay away!

This is interesting. So what are my options? My rack does not leak and I can't buy the 2 smaller OEM bushings. Do I just replace the "D" bushing only? Sounds like you have experience with this issue? Have others encountered the issue mentioned above?

 

[98100series]

This is interesting. So what are my options? My rack does not leak and I can't buy the 2 smaller OEM bushings. Do I just replace the "D" bushing only? Sounds like you have experience with this issue? Have others encountered the issue mentioned above?

I just replace the “D” bushing that is available. It helps a lot. Even replacing just the “D” bushing with urethane will prematurely cause the VSC to engage.
The system picks up under/oversteer. With the urethane it is to rigid and causes the system to pick up under/oversteer on the slightest steering inputs. This is why there is a little slop even on a brand new vehicle. This doesn’t only effect the LC but it effects any Toyota truck/SUV with VSC. If you don’t have VSC you’re all good, most LC’s had it.

Only correction is to buy a new rack, as you mentioned the 2 small bushings are not available. I have had rubber grommets spun to replace them in the past but the guy since went out of business.

Lot of people replace to urethane, then have this over active VSC issue that becomes so annoying and dangerous and shops cannot figure out the issue so people learn to deal with it or go super slow around long sweeping turns in an effort to not engage VSC. You go from loving you cruiser to hating to drive it, and really can’t figure out the issue, even Toyota won’t figure it out they will tell you the VSC needs calibration or you need to zero point calibrate the entire ECU/VSC and it does nothing!

 

[MongooseGA]

This is interesting. So what are my options? My rack does not leak and I can't buy the 2 smaller OEM bushings. Do I just replace the "D" bushing only? Sounds like you have experience with this issue? Have others encountered the issue mentioned above?

05 LX. I can speak having had bad OEM bushings, replacing with new OEM rubber, then a bad rack, then a full new OEM rack, then bad rubber bushings again, and now the same OEM rack with poly bushings.

I've never once seen my VSC come on, and I drive aggressively compared to most. I don't baby it. The limiting factor in my truck now is running lighter LC torsion bars (removed my Tough Dog bars) and running no front sway.

I agree with the sentiment that poly makes the car less comfortable. In my case, I just did all new rubber OEM bushings less than 100k ago. The job is a pain. I didn't want to do it again, and so when it was time, I put poly in the rack and front lower control arms. Yes there is more road feel. To say otherwise is disingenuous. But, if I had to suggest poly in any capacity at all in our trucks, it would be for the rack and the sway bars.

For my use case, being a truck that gets used hard off road, everything is poly now. If I only ever drove on the road, I'd do rubber everywhere, except the rack and sways.

 

[MongooseGA]

I just replace the “D” bushing that is available. It helps a lot. Even replacing just the “D” bushing with urethane will prematurely cause the VSC to engage.
The system picks up under/oversteer. With the urethane it is to rigid and causes the system to pick up under/oversteer on the slightest steering inputs. This is why there is a little slop even on a brand new vehicle. This doesn’t only effect the LC but it effects any Toyota truck/SUV with VSC. If you don’t have VSC you’re all good, most LC’s had it.

Only correction is to buy a new rack, as you mentioned the 2 small bushings are not available. I have had rubber grommets spun to replace them in the past but the guy since went out of business.

Lot of people replace to urethane, then have this over active VSC issue that becomes so annoying and dangerous and shops cannot figure out the issue so people learn to deal with it or go super slow around long sweeping turns in an effort to not engage VSC. You go from loving you cruiser to hating to drive it, and really can’t figure out the issue, even Toyota won’t figure it out they will tell you the VSC needs calibration or you need to zero point calibrate the entire ECU/VSC and it does nothing!

Take this with a grain of salt. Not only have I never heard of/ experienced any of this whatsoever, but everyone I do know with poly rack bushings loves them and the more precise steering feel they give, no side effects to speak of.

 

[AARONTLC]

I just replace the “D” bushing that is available. It helps a lot. Even replacing just the “D” bushing with urethane will prematurely cause the VSC to engage.
The system picks up under/oversteer. With the urethane it is to rigid and causes the system to pick up under/oversteer on the slightest steering inputs. This is why there is a little slop even on a brand new vehicle. This doesn’t only effect the LC but it effects any Toyota truck/SUV with VSC. If you don’t have VSC you’re all good, most LC’s had it.

Only correction is to buy a new rack, as you mentioned the 2 small bushings are not available. I have had rubber grommets spun to replace them in the past but the guy since went out of business.

Lot of people replace to urethane, then have this over active VSC issue that becomes so annoying and dangerous and shops cannot figure out the issue so people learn to deal with it or go super slow around long sweeping turns in an effort to not engage VSC. You go from loving you cruiser to hating to drive it, and really can’t figure out the issue, even Toyota won’t figure it out they will tell you the VSC needs calibration or you need to zero point calibrate the entire ECU/VSC and it does nothing!

Ok. I definitely don't want to introduce any issues with my cruiser. I LOVE driving it so I will wait until I have to replace the rack. Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like you speak from experience.

 

[98100series]

Ok. I definitely don't want to introduce any issues with my cruiser. I LOVE driving it so I will wait until I have to replace the rack. Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like you speak from experience.

Sounds like some guys have had great luck with them, move forward how you see fit. I just replaced an entire rack on a 2002 to get rid of the issue, previous owner installed super pro kit on a brand new OEM rack, could not take off ramp turns without the the VSC engaging. 2 months ago I did an 04 Tundra limited that had VSC, a shop installed the Energy kit and that point on it was un-drivable. This guy had the VSC zero point calibrated by the dealer for $190 and it did nothing.

 

[98100series]

from a simple Google search I found these to kind of mimic what I said. Even long time Mud member.

 

[AARONTLC]

from a simple Google search I found these to kind of mimic what I said. Even long time Mud member.

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I believe you. I would love to hear if others are experiencing this issue after swapping to urethane bushings. It sounds dangerous and is definitely not desirable. I have a long 360 degree on ramp near my house and would hate to have the VSC engage on especially my wife. I would NEVER hear the end of it.

 

[98100series]

I believe you. I would love to hear if others are experiencing this issue after swapping to urethane bushings. It sounds dangerous and is definitely not desirable. I have a long 360 degree on ramp near my house and would hate to have the VSC engage on especially my wife. I would NEVER hear the end of it.

Scares people when they are not expecting it, feels like you are getting rear ended lol.

Once you know it’s there you can drive around it but it’s annoying! Only fox is to swap in new rack.

Wife would hate it for sure!

 

[Torquey]

I have had this problem for years and as I think back, it started after I replaced the steering rack and the shop used urethane bushings! I hate it, it's dangerous and very alarming to say the least. My VSC will mostly do this on sweeping right turns like mountain roads as the system tries to put you into oncoming traffic! I know I need a new rack again so I am going to go back to the rubber bushings and hopefully solve this issue. Now I am very motivated to replace, this is the motivation I needed.