Steering rack movement (1 Viewer)

[TTO5]

Just had the rack replaced with a brand new oem toyota rack and new tie rod ends as well as the steering hoses. Things feel great but I have a question. With the old rack you could see the whole rack shifting side to side visibly when turning the steering left and right. Moved maybe 1/4 inch or so. The same thing is occuring with the new rack. I had the technician replace the rack bushings on both sides (passenger side is kind of a horseshoe shape). We also put all new rack mounting hardware in (bolts, nuts). Is this normal? Can't understand why I have movement with the new rack also? Input is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Bardiya]

Many people upgrade to polyurethane bushings for this reason.
Apparently it makes a huge difference, looking forward to trying it on my car.

 

[TTO5]

So I guess it doesn't seem unusual that even with everything new I still have the shifting of the rack?
Do you know how involved it will be to put poly bushings in? Do I need to "undo" everything that was just done? Will my alignment be off if I switch to poly bushings? I assume the factory is trying to reduce vibrations and that's why the rack is allowed slight movement? I wonder if the people with poly bushings have more vibration feeding back to the steering wheel?

 

[bucfl]

I would take it back.

 

[TTO5]

Can someone confirm if the rack is supposed to shift back and forth slightly when turning left and right? Thanks

 

[TTO5]

I work at a Toyota dealer as an assistant service manager (for the last 20 years). I had a chance to talk to our Toyota service rep and he said that movement is caused by the factory rubber bushings. He said in actuality it moves less when the truck is rolling down the road as it has less load on it due to the momentum of the truck. (my wording not his) but this was the gist I got from him. My technicians don't seem to know if this is normal or not. Thanks

 

[2001LC]

I agree with the Toyota rep, they could have used poly but didn't. IMHO this is because rubber reduces vibration and shock to rack, aiding in ride comfort and life of rack.

 

[re_guderian]

I agree with the Toyota rep, they could have used poly but didn't. IMHO this is because rubber reduces vibration and shock to rack, aiding in ride comfort and life of rack.

This is evident based on the design of the rubber bushing. It does not contact the cylindrical wall of the rack sleeve all the way around, rather only three large, raised pads on the bushing make contact with the rack. This clearly compromises positional stability in favor of reduced vibration/feedback, not even taking into account the differences in rubber v poly. This puts the burden of positional stability on the large, passenger's side bushing, which relies on a clamping, friction force to hold the rack. No wonder they changed the design in '03...

 

[re_guderian]

Yes, you will feel slightly more vibrations with poly, but totally worth it in terms of better steering precision. No, you will not need an alignment afterwards, and you can install the poly bushings with the rack in place, there are several threads on here, though it obviously is way easier to do it when you are swapping racks and have the rack out if the truck.

 

[spressomon]

Fortunately its a job to swap the large passenger side rubber bushing for a poly bushing on early model 100's. And yes even with a new rack and outers you'll have just a little "play" or flex in the system; having said that after a new rack install it wasn't something that could be detected, as TTO5 stated, while driving.

 

[TTO5]

Ok, thanks for all your guys' input.

 

[TTO5]

When I try to talk to my technicians about my truck they all just think I'm nuts for putting money into it. I say they haven't had the pleasure of owning one of these tanks and just don't understand. LOL

 

[2001LC]

Be interesting to see comparison of movement of a new 98-02 rack compared to a new 03-07. I'll be it reduced only slightly.

Of the three set (98-02 style) I replaced last years, one was in dire need. It was so bad steering remained in direction of turn (drastically) to a point it was unsafe to drive. With the newer design mounting points after 02 I'll bet this couldn't happen, but Toyota still used rubber. The other two I replaced steering would only wonder bit going down the highway, even with proper rake.

I used ploy in all three only because I couldn't find rubber. @Ali FJ80 and I have talked about this, we both agree, Toyota engineers had more than just confront in mind when they used rubber.

 

[TTO5]

One thing that always bothered me was the inconsistency of the steering wheel being centered. What I mean is sometimes the wheel is perfectly centered and the truck goes straight, sometimes the wheel is cocked slightly to the left (does this regardless of the crown of the road), we tried to center the wheel again on the alignment rack but finding it hard to get it centered at all times while driving.) alignment specs are right on. We are thinking it has to do with the rack shifting side to side depending on road type. ball joints are fine and tie rods are new. thoughts?

 

[2001LC]

Just had the rack replaced with a brand new oem toyota rack and new tie rod ends as well as the steering hoses. *****. I had the technician replace the rack bushings on both sides (passenger side is kind of a horseshoe shape). We also put all new rack mounting hardware in (bolts, nuts). ***

DS bushing from Dealer only come with new OEM rack, PS horseshoe is sold separately by Toyota. Are you saying tech replaced DS bushing removing what came with new rack?

What tires and pressure are you running?

 

[TTO5]

New oem toyota rack with new bushings (pass and driver side)
4 brand new michelin defender ltx m/s (look like the old ltx m/s). stock size, 275/70/16
32 psi cold in all 4. door sticker calls for 30 psi.
tires installed at the same time as the rack

 

[2001LC]

Sounds perfect.

I'm assuming you have either 98 or 99 with high mileage?

How are the bushing throughout LCA, UCA, stabilizer & shocks?

BTW: IIRC 32PSI all four until 2000 at which time Toyota changed that to 29 PSI front & 32 PSI rear cold.

 

[TTO5]

Shocks are oem toyota changed about 35000 miles ago. Stabilizer bushings ok, control arm bushings seem tight

It's a 2000 with 284k on it.

thoughts on the steering wheel centering issue?

 

[2000UZJ]

I went through 5 steering racks. Each of them had some amount of play from the factory. The rubber bushings are very soft. I replaced mine, after the 5th time with poly bushings. It certainly made road vibrations more apparent, but also extended the life of the bushings

 

[2001LC]

You've covered everything it seems, except rake?

My 01 returns to same spot, has factory rack with poly bushing. Everything else is from factory except I just replace stabilizer bushings & links. It was wandering a bit on HWY before I replace replaced bushing, but steering returned to normal even before that.