intermediate steering shaft not catching steering column

Looks on mine....2rz....its little more safe with that slip being on the top shaft....

If you have 3rz or 5vz 4x4's.....its very dangerous to jack that rag joint very much....because of the close proximity to that slip fit...

could in fact be a $500 mistake....


According to that thread......you're suppose to SEPERATE the rag and slide the top half of the rag up the shaft....not shove the whole shaft up...

and those lock bolts are keyed to a grove in the shaft.....a lot dont understand you have to take the whole bolt out before it will slide up/down

that slip shaft is probably little tougher than whats portrayed here....not a super common failure....
I actually never heard of a lower one fail......its always been the top one like mine......the 4x4 ones may be a little tougher design...

 

Well, mines got that second spacer clamp that shouldn't be there as far as I can tell, and because of that the rag joint wouldn't move up the splines, so when I was hammering it the entire shaft collapsed, which I mistakenly thought is what was supposed to happen.

Yeah, like I said, mines got what looks like an aftermarket spacer which I didn't recognize. I should have taken that off too, but didn't, which is why the entire shaft collapsed instead of just the rag joint moving.

 

Yeah that pinch bolt I thought was missing....that one you said wont budge....probably has to come completely out to free that coupler

 

I just had a thought: if I remove the spacer, the shaft should extend again, meaning the spines should catch. Since the shaft is held under tension between two components that are hard mounted, there shouldn't be any risk of it collapsing. Thoughts?

 

Thats a big risk.....what if you hit a bump/pot hole and lose steering at 55...

this is like the fuel system......want to give any trouble wide berth.....

thats reason I pony'd up for the $200 fuel hose.....didnt want it mickey moused....


I would even worry about a salvage one being compromised from water intrusion..

I myself would go the tack weld...

Only problem is you got to be damn sure its set right before the tack..
would be best to have another to lay side by side....
aint that a bitch....

 

I mean, both the rack and u-joint are hard mounted to the frame or body, not the suspension. There shouldn't be a way for a bump like that to collapse it, right?

 

Shock to wheels is what Id be worried about....not the chassis



I guess you're the Canary.....

.....document everything, so they can figure out what went wrong...

 

Ah, so you're saying a hard jolt to the wheels could cause it to skip some teeth? Yeah, I see how that could be an issue then. I'll check out my local junk yards next chance I get then.

 

You know if you dont pay bills....all they can do is lien....

If you cause damage to others.....they can take the pictures off the wall and the wall(whole house)



There are some roads near the warehouse districts, you cant drive without tearing whole truck up...

 

I would still take the junk one and have it tack welded.....what have you got to lose besides $10 and 20min...

just make sure that junk one hasn't jumped/slipped......not sure how you'd test that without a significant load on it.....


Damn you toyota....Im way more concern about causing a wreck or walking, than getting impaled...

 

Oh it's definitely slipped. It's spinning freely right now, but once it's extended, I should be able to line everything back up and mark some witness lines for the tack.

Edit: just realized you meant the junkyard one. Yeah, I'll definitely install it and see how it does with wheels on the ground, but so far as I can tell you shouldn't be able to collapse it by hand, which you can easily do on the one I currently have installed. As long as the junk one doesn't collapse or have any play when I twist it, I'm guessing it'll be in relatively good shape.

 

Yeah good luck....let us know your final outcome...

hopefully others will come across this and avoid this pit...


Others I know would die before a salvage or weld option.....
business must be good for toyota and its subsidiary's


All the main components for these are reasonable.....its all this little stuff that'll eat your ass...

Wonder when Elon is gonna figure out where the real money is at...

 

Thanks, I will for sure. And thanks again for all of your advice!

 

You could always take the old one to a machine shop and have them put a roll pin in.

I think that would suffice


On that smaller pic I tried to show where they spot welded right at that dimple.
that would be great place to put the roll pin....

 

Sounds like you've got it figured out.
That extra bracket is a steering shaft extension from a body lift kit.
Looks like probably a 3"

 

Went to the junkyard this morning and picked up a "new" intermediate shaft here's a quick comparison of it with the old and busted for those interested:

https://youtu.be/-0nz-INkfnA

And culprit of the whole problem to begin with:



I'll update again when the install is complete.

 

Update: wheels on ground and took it for a rest drive. It handles phenomenally and feels like a completely different vehicle. Gonna take it in for an alignment in the morning before work. Thanks again @O'Silver_Taco, I owe you a beer!

 

Did you get this out of a 3rd gen 4runner? I have replaced almost everything in my steering other than this piece and can feel a small amount of play when I turn my wheel with the truck off and hold the shaft under the u joints, I've just been dreading buying a new one from Toyota since they want $400 for one. This seems like a great option!

 

Yup! Only cost me $40. It also cleaned up pretty much all of the play in my steering. So definitely do this if you've ruled out the steering column and tilt ball.

 

Nice, that's quite the savings. I'm very thankful to Toyota for making so many 2wd 3rd gen runners and sharing so many parts, otherwise I'd never find anything at the junkyard for these trucks!