Steering Rack Replacement, What's the Latest Word? (1 Viewer)

[NoTempoLimit]

My 2006 LC 100 has 167k miles. It has served me well and I managed to avoid having to visit a mechanic for 2.5 years. Then my alternator went bad just as I was moving out of my workshop space and it was 32º and raining outside, so I could not do the job due to time/weather considerations.

I just had the alternator replaced in December by a local Indy mechanic. I asked him to let me know anything he saw that needed work.I was told that my steering rack is leaking. I knew I needed to replace the steering rack boots (and I have them), but he told me that the leaking power steering (PS) fluid would just ruin the boots again.

I want to point out that my rate of PS fluid loss is very slow. I added fluid once after I bought the truck and have not done so since. So perhaps what is being seen is the result of a cumulative effect over time. I have already added AT-205 reseal as per Paul @2001LC recommendation.

I know replacing the steering rack is a costly job. I'm now in a position to take on some of the items on my LC that need work. But I want to do it right and avoid unneeded expense. I have read on here repeatedly that only OE racks are to be considered. I'm assuming that a factory rebuilt rack is acceptable.

Here are my questions:
1. What is a good source for a factory rebuilt steering rack?
2. What other parts should be replaced along with the rack: Bushings, tie rods, etc?
3. What is the typical amount of labor hours for this job?
4. Is it possible to do something short of replacing the rack that would make the situation better and defer replacing the rack for a future time? Would a PS fluid flush and adding AT-205 help recondition the seals and buy some time?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jsloden]

Just finished replacing mine with a factory rebuilt one. I ordered it through my local dealership. It was a little over $300. More than an aftermarket one but considerably less than a brand new oem one. Plus they have a pretty good warranty. If it leaks then I might consider going with a brand new one but at 440k I'm not looking at spending too much money on it. Mine took a considerable amount of time but I did the timing belt and water pump job at the same time. It helps to have the radiator and fan out of the way. There are a couple of tutorials on here on how to do it. You basically have to remove the oil filter housing to get clearance. You can then eyeball everything else. I took off the driver side tie rod end then slid the rack all the way over to the passenger side and had just enough clearance to remove it. I had the engine jacked up when I did mine because I was replacing the driver exhaust manifold as well. Not sure if you have to do that or not but it definitely doesn't hurt.

 

[NoTempoLimit]

Just finished replacing mine with a factory rebuilt one. I ordered it through my local dealership. It was a little over $300.

What year is your truck? It seems the newer racks are more costly.

So it seems that it makes sense to do the rack replacement in conjunction with the timing belt service.

 

[Mike NXP]

All I can add to this is I replaced my entire setup with Toyota OEM remanned rack and the rack still moves about 1/2" - 1" in the bushing. It gives me a boat like feel and Toyota said well it's new so everything must be fine.

Some people may not be as concerned but I tend to feel the slop in the steering wheel and it's kind of annoying especially at highway speeds.

The consensus around the forums is to replace the soft rubber toyota bushing with aftermarket poly but I can't justify putting any more money / time into the steering rack

 

[RND1]

I bought a new rack for my '03 from McGeorge. Paid $749 in 2017 and it's actually gone down in price $618 now. I also replaced outer tie rods (~$50/each). I had a local indie (LC specialist) do the work - if I recall it was about 3 hours labor.

Toyota Gear Assembly Power Ste 44250-60100 | Toyota Parts

Genuine Toyota 44250-60100 - Gear Assembly Power Ste. Toyota Online Parts is your choice for Toyota Parts and Toyota accessories. We are a factory authorized Toyota Dealer with Toyota parts and Toyota accessories all at wholesale prices for your Tundra, Tacoma, Camry, Corolla, RAV4, 4Runner...

toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com

 

[87warrior]

All I can add to this is I replaced my entire setup with Toyota OEM remanned rack and the rack still moves about 1/2" - 1" in the bushing. It gives me a boat like feel and Toyota said well it's new so everything must be fine.

Some people may not be as concerned but I tend to feel the slop in the steering wheel and it's kind of annoying especially at highway speeds.

The consensus around the forums is to replace the soft rubber toyota bushing with aftermarket poly but I can't justify putting any more money / time into the steering rack

My brand new Toyota rack did the same thing... 6 years ago. I installed Whiteline poly bushings and installed them with the rack still in the cruiser. Not difficult and stopped the shifting rack.

 

[Mike NXP]

My brand new Toyota rack did the same thing... 6 years ago. I installed Whiteline poly bushings and installed them with the rack still in the cruiser. Not difficult and stopped the shifting rack.

Good to know, I guess the toyota rubber is just soft. Suppose I need to look more into the procedure on how to do that. It looked a bit intimidating but probably worth it to eliminate the boat feel. Would replacing the easier half moon bushing help or is the play more in the pressed bushings in the rack?

 

[87warrior]

Good to know, I guess the toyota rubber is just soft. Suppose I need to look more into the procedure on how to do that. It looked a bit intimidating but probably worth it to eliminate the boat feel. Would replacing the easier half moon bushing help or is the play more in the pressed bushings in the rack?

I do not believe the D bushing on the end of the rack does much to prevent the sliding movement, whether it be a new Toyota bushing or a Poly bushing. The pressed in bushings are what controls the side-to-side sliding motion. I used a floor jack with a screw driver on the bushing to press out the OE bushings and they popped out surprisingly easy. I used threaded rod, nuts and washers to help seat the new poly bushings. The improvement in steering response was certainly worth the effort.

 

[Mike NXP]

I do not believe the D bushing on the end of the rack does much to prevent the sliding movement, whether it be a new Toyota bushing or a Poly bushing. The pressed in bushings are what controls the side-to-side sliding motion. I used a floor jack with a screw driver on the bushing to press out the OE bushings and they popped out surprisingly easy. I used threaded rod, nuts and washers to help seat the new poly bushings. The improvement in steering response was certainly worth the effort.

Hmm interesting, well maybe I should chase down doing that repair.

I'm not sure if I have what it takes to do that in my frozen gravel driveway. Alignment shop told me the rack needs to come out but I wonder if I can convince them otherwise.

Is there a chance you have those part numbers handy ? If not I can do some Googlin'

 

[87warrior]

Hmm interesting, well maybe I should chase down doing that repair.

I'm not sure if I have what it takes to do that in my frozen gravel driveway. Alignment shop told me the rack needs to come out but I wonder if I can convince them otherwise.

Is there a chance you have those part numbers handy ? If not I can do some Googlin'

The Amazon picture is wrong. This is the Whiteline steering rack bushing kit: Amazon product ASIN B00BED6AB0

 

[liveoak]

The factory bushings are designed purposely for some rack movement. Why exactly? I don't know but I'm sure there is a reason and because I don't think the whiteline poly bushing creator is smarter than a Toyota engineer, I stuck to the factory setup on my 2000. Why was the rack redesigned for later models? I don't know that answer either but a lot of other things changed too. You could speculate all day about these things. My best guess is that it is designed that way for isolation. With poly bushings, you will probably get feedback at the wheel from the AWD system. The steering system feel on these is already very sensitive to even the slightest tire, wheel, or balance issue.
I posted about it here
If an alignment shop is telling you something is wrong because the rack is moving a bit, it's because they've never worked on a 100 series before or aren't very experienced.
If you have a ticking manifold on the driver side, it would be a great time to replace it while the steering shaft is out.

 

[NoTempoLimit]

I bought a new rack for my '03 from McGeorge. Paid $749 in 2017 and it's actually gone down in price $618 now. I also replaced outer tie rods (~$50/each). I had a local indie (LC specialist) do the work - if I recall it was about 3 hours labor.

Toyota Gear Assembly Power Ste 44250-60100 | Toyota Parts

Genuine Toyota 44250-60100 - Gear Assembly Power Ste. Toyota Online Parts is your choice for Toyota Parts and Toyota accessories. We are a factory authorized Toyota Dealer with Toyota parts and Toyota accessories all at wholesale prices for your Tundra, Tacoma, Camry, Corolla, RAV4, 4Runner...

toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com

Thanks for all the good info!
I did not know you could get such a good price on a factory rack from McGeorge.
When I put my VIN in to check, it list 44200-60100 as the correct part for '03-'07 and "discontinued):

Toyota 2003-2007 Toyota Land Cruiser Steering Gear (SUPERSEDES TO 44250-60100) 44200-60100 | Toyota Parts

Genuine Toyota 2003-2007 Toyota Land Cruiser part # 44200-60100 - Steering Gear (SUPERSEDES TO 44250-60100). Toyota Online Parts is your choice for Toyota Parts and Toyota accessories. We are a factory authorized Toyota Dealer with Toyota parts and Toyota accessories all at wholesale prices...

toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com

The PN you linked to seems almost the same. It does not say "rebuilt" anywhere on that page, nor does it ask for a core charge.
Anyone know what's going on here?

 

[Red Beard]

If you haven't already, read through this thread. Lots of great information in there. You'll see my post pop up in there near the end. It's a lot of work but doable with the engine mount trick.

How To: Replace your own steering rack

I just wrote up this long how to for member who PMed me so i figured I may as well share it with the masses. 98 LC 200k seemingly well cared for miles, but this is def its first rack. Its now strictly for off road use. This is not a 1 banana job. But anyone can do it with a day, maybe a...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[NoTempoLimit]

Anyone have any recent experience with CVJ Axles in Denver? I read in the thread that @Red Beard posted above that they can rebuild the LC steering racks. It is likely that I may need to drive to the west coast, and Denver is on the way. If they can do the job quickly it might work out.

 

[jsloden]

What year is your truck? It seems the newer racks are more costly.

So it seems that it makes sense to do the rack replacement in conjunction with the timing belt service.

Mine is an 01 lx but the lx and lc racks are interchangeable as long as the years are the same as far as I know.

 

[RND1]

Thanks for all the good info!
I did not know you could get such a good price on a factory rack from McGeorge.
When I put my VIN in to check, it list 44200-60100 as the correct part for '03-'07 and "discontinued):

Toyota 2003-2007 Toyota Land Cruiser Steering Gear (SUPERSEDES TO 44250-60100) 44200-60100 | Toyota Parts

Genuine Toyota 2003-2007 Toyota Land Cruiser part # 44200-60100 - Steering Gear (SUPERSEDES TO 44250-60100). Toyota Online Parts is your choice for Toyota Parts and Toyota accessories. We are a factory authorized Toyota Dealer with Toyota parts and Toyota accessories all at wholesale prices...

toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com

The PN you linked to seems almost the same. It does not say "rebuilt" anywhere on that page, nor does it ask for a core charge.
Anyone know what's going on here?

It looks like the 2 part numbers are very close with the one I bought maybe superseding the one you posted? All I can tell you is that is the rack that I purchased for my '03 and it fit. It was installed 4 years ago and zero issues.

 

[flintknapper]

All I can add to this is I replaced my entire setup with Toyota OEM remanned rack and the rack still moves about 1/2" - 1" in the bushing. It gives me a boat like feel and Toyota said well it's new so everything must be fine.

Some people may not be as concerned but I tend to feel the slop in the steering wheel and it's kind of annoying especially at highway speeds.

The consensus around the forums is to replace the soft rubber toyota bushing with aftermarket poly but I can't justify putting any more money / time into the steering rack

Clean the rack tube well and then replace your 'D' bushing with a Poly. It can be done with rack in place.

It is best use the OEM rubber bushings where the other two mounting bolts go, to help prevent jarring and road noise being transmitted. But the D bushing can be poly. The rubber version just doesn't seem to hold up. I used a 'whiteline' bushing on mine.

 

[OwnerCS]

View attachment 2893042

Clean the rack tube well and then replace your 'D' bushing with a Poly. It can be done with rack in place.

It is best use the OEM rubber bushings where the other two mounting bolts go, to help prevent jarring and road noise being transmitted. But the D bushing can be poly. The rubber version just doesn't seem to hold up. I used a 'whiteline' bushing on mine.

This is the exact approach that I used for the new rack installation. A poly D with OEM for the other two.

 

[2001LC]

Thanks for all the good info!
I did not know you could get such a good price on a factory rack from McGeorge.
When I put my VIN in to check, it list 44200-60100 as the correct part for '03-'07 and "discontinued):

Toyota 2003-2007 Toyota Land Cruiser Steering Gear (SUPERSEDES TO 44250-60100) 44200-60100 | Toyota Parts

Genuine Toyota 2003-2007 Toyota Land Cruiser part # 44200-60100 - Steering Gear (SUPERSEDES TO 44250-60100). Toyota Online Parts is your choice for Toyota Parts and Toyota accessories. We are a factory authorized Toyota Dealer with Toyota parts and Toyota accessories all at wholesale prices...

toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com

The PN you linked to seems almost the same. It does not say "rebuilt" anywhere on that page, nor does it ask for a core charge.
Anyone know what's going on here?

You can call MQ to confirm PN #'s
MG portal is better than once was, but still gives some bad PN#.
Try this sub PN# for 03-07 LC Gear Assembly Power Ste 44250-60100 | Toyota Parts - https://toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-gear-assembly-power-ste-4425060100?c=az0x
I think MG has wrong picture, as it shows the 98-02 rack.

Interesting, I see PQ gave a sub of this sub PN#, that's not a 100 series. They're usually spot on w/PN# and pictures.

GEAR ASSY, POWER STEERING(FOR RACK & PINION) 4425060100 | Toyota Parts | PartSouq

Quality parts for Toyota auto with fast delivery here! For a fast search using the part number 4425060100 - GEAR ASSY, POWER STEERING(FOR RACK & PINION)

partsouq.com

Basically we have 3 different racks in the 100 series IIRC.
98-02 LC OR LX Blue
03-07 LC Green
03-07 LX "VGRS" Black

CVJ in Denver does okay. But they didn't know there is a difference between 03-07 LC & LX (VGRS). They use after market parts like; mounting bushings, boots & inner tie rods. Not sure about seal kit or gears. They also paint racks black, which I don't like. As it covers the identifying OEM paint.

I took CVJ a good 03 LX rack, that was just leaking at output seals. AT-205 was tried, before hand. But as usual, AT-205 is not very effective with stopping output seal leaks. Those seal once they leak are usually damaged. So AT-205 typically only slows those leaks. My cost was $550, and they had ready in a day. But the one part they can't get OEM, is the rack rubber mounting bushing. Those OEM rubber bushings no one has, that I've found.

I've an 03LX I just put new poly bushing in a few days ago. It's rack has been cover in black paint. So I suspect it is a CVJ rebuilt. I found the top PS bushing had turned, about 10 degrees CCW, most turn CW about 5 degrees. Typical a turned bushing on the 03-07 PS side is sign of failed rack bushing. What this turning indicates, is rubber separating from between metal cups of bushing. In this one 03, all the 4 hoses/lines were leaking, but rack appears dry at boots (output shafts) and steering column shaft connecting point (input shaft). I had sets of poly lying and, so I tossed those in. I also R&R all lines and hoses.

Note: I suspect oil on rack mounting bushing, results in their early failures.

I've used both rubber (from re-builders) & poly bushing rack & pinion mounting bushings replacements.

The rubber bushing used by Toyota. Are to reduce shock transfer through the system, all the way to hands on the steering wheel. If shock wasn't a consideration. Well, I suppose Toyota could have hard/solid mounting rack to the fame. But that would transfer every little bump thought the system into our hands! Which would be, hard on system and hard on hands!

Aftermarket rubber bushing are softer than OEM. As such a little too sloppy IMHO. But they do their job at reducing shock and stop HWY wondering. But when you hit the ruts in HWY, those ruts that pull at steering. They can be to soft. Add that with say old shocks & their aged bushing, control arm bushing, TRE, ball joints, AHC not tuned well and or old tired globes, etc. We then sometime kick off VSC, (scary)!

Poly bushing are hard. Almost like no bushing at all. They do not let the rack move side to side much at all. This can really tightens up the feel and eliminates HWY wondering. They last a long time if not forever. But they transfer much more shock through the system, than rubber bushing. If system components already weak, say lower ball joints aged and marginal condition. Those ball joints will go bad faster, than they would have with rubber bushing (in good condition)

The very best for reliability, value, and feel is a new OEM rack (98-07 LC & 98-02 LX). It's the only way to get OEM mounting bushings. We get new inner tie rods with the assembly, which are worth a few hundred just in parts cost themselves. So new rack is a very good value. Except for the VGRS rack of 03-07LX, which are much more pricey. In those, it may be worth sending ones own rack out to be rebuilt. Provided a good rack and best if OEM inner TRE and boots used during the rebuild.

If Toyota or Lexus is offering a re-manufactured. It would have -84 on end of PN#. This I've never looked into. But if a true re-manufactured done too Toyota standards, with all OEM. I'd be interested those.

If a new OEM rack installed, and one is still getting HWY wondering. Something else is going on. New OEM rack installed in a refreshed front end, with proper alignment (which includes at-least 3/4" rack (lower in front), will not wonder.

I like replacing old tired TRE, with new OEM only. When doing a rack job. Also replace ball joint if marginal condition. Of course, wheel bearing also need proper servicing. Then refreshes stabilizer system. BAM, like new handling, is so sweet!

Rack PS mount 03-07 turned about 10 degrees.

Another 03-07 rack PS top mount bushing cup turned, about 5 degrees CW

98-02 LC & LX Blue

03-07 LX Black

03-07 LC Green

 

[Ridgerunner78]

Anyone have any recent experience with CVJ Axles in Denver? I read in the thread that @Red Beard posted above that they can rebuild the LC steering racks. It is likely that I may need to drive to the west coast, and Denver is on the way. If they can do the job quickly it might work out.

Seems there are mixed opinions on here about CVJ. I went with a reman rack from them on my '04, installed in 8/2020, ~23k miles and no issues so far.

edit: If I had to do it over, for the price of the CJV rack, I would have spent the extra for new OEM. I plan on driving this thing for as long as possible, and replacing the rack is not something I want to do again soon.