Steering racking replaced

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2000UZJ

2000UZJ

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Threads
214
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9,208
Location
Atlanta
100 went into the shop today. The techs drove it and started taking things apart. Found the rack was so worn it was moving about 1-1.5" side to side. $1750 including new rack, inner/outer tie rods, alignment and rental car for 3 days. I think I did pretty good on price.

What does MUD say?
 
Rack from Beno was between $5-600. My local shop did the install and alignment for $365. New poly bushings ran another $70. Rod ends from Beno were another $56 per side. So it cost around 1k for everything out the door.
 
Seems like a lot of people are replacing their racks lately, with a few on their 2nd or 3rd one. Are the racks really that fragile or are you guys just abusing the crap out of your rigs?
 
SanDiegoCruiser said:
Seems like a lot of people are replacing their racks lately, with a few on their 2nd or 3rd one. Are the racks really that fragile or are you guys just abusing the crap out of your rigs?
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I'm starting to wonder the same. I'm betting the racks slightly differ for the US trucks to make them easier to handle. I have a feeling those who wheel hard will see rack replacements MUCH earlier than those who put bumpers, tires, lifts and winches on and don't really wheel other than your typical gravel road. Does anybody know if the racks are the same for all IFS V8? I feel that putting the rack in a bind will seriously damage it. That's a lot of stress and our power steering system is incredibly powerful.

I'll be getting my old one back, going to disassemble everything and find out where the weak point in these racks are.
 
It's my understanding that Schotts damaged his steering when turning with the front locked. IIRC, you are not locked so wonder if the same wear happens with turning and Atrac?
 
The 100 series has been around long enough it is seeing more and more trail time as it becomes more economical to wheel them. Steering rack seems to be one of the primary failure points when they get wheeled hard. It is becoming more and more apparent that they are not as hearty as an 80 series steering system. John
 
SanDiegoCruiser said:
Seems like a lot of people are replacing their racks lately, with a few on their 2nd or 3rd one. Are the racks really that fragile or are you guys just abusing the crap out of your rigs?
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From my understanding, they are so over-boosted/assisted that they eventually destroy themselves when put to the limit off-road in an attempt to reduce driver fatigue.

Have you watched the way the OP drives off road? :popcorn:

Did the techs mention anything else regarding the way your truck drove?
 
04UZJ100 said:
From my understanding, they are so over-boosted/assisted that they eventually destroy themselves when put to the limit off-road in an attempt to reduce driver fatigue.

Have you watched the way the OP drives off road? :popcorn:

Did the techs mention anything else regarding the way your truck drove?
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I'd rather them be not boosted. I wonder if there is a way to dial that back.


The tech said besides the rack being loose and causing the thing to steer all over the place it drive fine. He did ask me why there was so much body roll, I finally told him the sway bars were not there. I do have all new hardware and brackets for them to go back on next weekend. I am putting the front one back on, leaving rear off for now.
 
Your price doesn't seem too bad for all you are getting. Just got my new rack yesterday, steering is so much tighter. I used the super poly bushings too. I paid $97 delivered, they are proud of those bushings......you are getting a new oem rack, right.? Do not do the reman, been there done that, garbage.
 
bluecruiser said:
Your price doesn't seem too bad for all you are getting. Just got my new rack yesterday, steering is so much tighter. I used the super poly bushings too. I paid $97 delivered, they are proud of those bushings......you are getting a new oem rack, right.? Do not do the reman, been there done that, garbage.
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I had read a post from you earlier today, I had the option to go reman and remembered you saying something about it not lasting. For another $150 I went with a brand new OEM rack. My steering was beyond loose, it was causing VSC/ABS issues. I'm not happy about the bill, however I can't tell you how excited I am about getting it back and having a truck that handles like it should. The OEM bushings lasted 162,000 miles and I have been wheeling it hard for the past 60,000 miles. The OEM bushings are good enough for me. I wonder if they can be added later on in the year as I don't have time to order them and have them installed. Do you think they make a big difference?
 
I would not say a big difference. If I was in a time crunch, I would not have worried about it. The passenger side bushing can be changed with the rack in the truck, pretty easily. You wouldn't be able to on the drivers side. I think you are going to really notice a huge difference with the new rack and other parts because it sounds like your entire front end was pretty beat. Enjoy the new ride, it's going feel nice.
 
I'll be honest. I wasn't ready for it today. I guess my rack has been "going out" for quite some time. I would say several months I have been on a worn rack. The bushings on the driver side were dry rotted, cracked and pieces missing. The bracket/bushing on the passenger side had stretched out over time and was allowing the rack to shift forward and roughly 1.5" towards the passenger side (which explains the pulling). The inner tie rod was apparently bent :confused:. The VSC/ABS system is working perfectly now. The steering is so unbelievably tight it's incredible. The loud bang is now gone with I hit small pot holes, I am assuming this would move the rack in the mount when I hit something. I was looking at photo's of URE and noticed my passenger tire is never pointing in the same direction as my driver side. The rack was leaking on both ends.

The total came out to $2,000 even.


-Steering rack (new)
-Inner/outer tie rods
-Repack front wheel bearings
-Alignment (set to negative camber)
-Oil change (synthetic)
-Trans flush
-F/R Diff flushed
-CV reboot kit (rebuilding spare axle)
-new air filter
-cleaned TB and MAF (didn't need to be done, but they offered for no charge)
-Rental car for 3 days (2012 Highlander. Quite peppy I must say. It could walk a stock 100 straight line)
-Complimentary wash



I must admit, the truck drives 150% better. My next project is lowering the entire truck 1" to bring the angles down a bit. I love the way it looks, but sitting at 2.8" upfront and 3.2" in the rear makes it a bit too tall.



Absolute joy to drive now
 
You noted you had allignment set to negative camber. Can you explain to me why. I have been searching every thing I can on allignments and I have noticed this a by a couple people now. I just had my wifes alligned yesterday after cranking up the torsion bars and it drives worse now than it did. I hope this isn't a highjack, if so sorry. Also does any one know if there is any caster adjustment at all. I was told there was no adjustment by technision.
 
Toy Fan said:
You noted you had allignment set to negative camber. Can you explain to me why. I have been searching every thing I can on allignments and I have noticed this a by a couple people now. I just had my wifes alligned yesterday after cranking up the torsion bars and it drives worse now than it did. I hope this isn't a highjack, if so sorry. Also does any one know if there is any caster adjustment at all. I was told there was no adjustment by technision.
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Many reasons why I run negative camber on my truck. Mainly is the additional cornering stability with oversized tires. When you do not have any camber (0*) and go around a corner, the contact patch (% of tire that is actually fully contacting the ground) on the outside tire will roll towards the outside of the tread. Camber is constantly changing as you go over bumps, and around corners. With positive camber (depends on how much + camber, but this is a general example) the outside wheel during a corner is going to roll over and you will be riding on the outside 30% of the tire. Reducing the contact patch on the road and effectively allowing the front end to produce understeer and slide/push. The inside tire is going to achieve a "zero" camber effect and have full contact patch. The inside tire is going to have more grip than the outside, understeer is still going to happen.

Now, with a negative camber setup, your wheels sit like this: /\. When you enter a corner the outside tire will acheive a "zero" camber position and result in 100% contact patch which will reduce the chances of understeer. Running a negative camber setup is great for cornering, however your have two other factors playing. Toe and caster. Mixing proper toe/camber is important. Camber doesn't effect the ride directly, the height of your front end is the main player. What are your hub to fender measurements? Also, I recently discovered that most generic "quickie" tire shops don't actually adjust camber/caster. They only play with toe, which can stop outside/inner tire wear and make your typical consumer think they aligned it because the tires stopped wearing on the inside/outside. I would ask what they adjust, specifically camber. Big 10 Tires in Atlanta does NOT touch camber, I had to beg them. I then went to Butler Tire (high end custom wheel/alignment shop in Atlanta) and had them fine tune it to my specs after reading multiple threads and consulting a lot of people about SUV's and camber settings.
 
2000UZJ said:
The total came out to $2,000 even.


-Steering rack (new)
-Inner/outer tie rods
-Repack front wheel bearings
-Alignment (set to negative camber)
-Oil change (synthetic)
-Trans flush
-F/R Diff flushed
-CV reboot kit (rebuilding spare axle)
-new air filter
-cleaned TB and MAF (didn't need to be done, but they offered for no charge)
-Rental car for 3 days (2012 Highlander. Quite peppy I must say. It could walk a stock 100 straight line)
-Complimentary wash



I must admit, the truck drives 150% better. My next project is lowering the entire truck 1" to bring the angles down a bit. I love the way it looks, but sitting at 2.8" upfront and 3.2" in the rear makes it a bit too tall.



Absolute joy to drive now
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Pretty sure that inner tie rod is part of the new rack. May want to check if you see a line item and charge for that. Sounds like you needed a rack really bad....I think of the cost in terms of "racks", Rack for wife or GF, $6K and it could decide to walk away at any time....this rack only $1K and its yours!!...pretty good deal......:beer:
 
bluecruiser said:
Pretty sure that inner tie rod is part of the new rack. May want to check if you see a line item and charge for that. Sounds like you needed a rack really bad....I think of the cost in terms of "racks", Rack for wife or GF, $6K and it could decide to walk away at any time....this rack only $1K and its yours!!...pretty good deal......:beer:
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I love my new tight rack :) The inner tie rods do come on the rack, there is no separate line with "inners". I'm not sure why I put that, other than it makes me feel better. The longer the list is, the better that 2K sounds.
 
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