Steering rack replacement

So im getting ready to change out my steering rack, iv watched over 10 30m-1h videos on youtube i think i know what im doing but for some reason im still hesitant, i figured id learn to do it myself since its probably not going to be the last time, since these steering racks are known to give up when ur truck is heavy ect. I got my replacement rack at autozone its a reman but i have lifetime warranty so what ever im hoping they gave me the right rack since ik 4wd and 2wd are different in size. Anyways im going to start friday and hopefully have it done by sunday nightif it all goes good lol lol another thing i dont even have tools like that i got a couple renches and sockets and watnot so its going to be a mess.

If anyone has done this job before leave a helpful tip thx lol

 

It's really not that bad. It's just tie rods, 3 bolts that mount the rack, 2 bolts at the rag joint, and the 2 lines.

I'd suggest you use flare wrenches on the lines. They can round off pretty easily, and you don't want that. Make sure you have the steering wheel strapped so it wont move when you disconnect the rag joint, and mark witness marks on the coupler/shaft so your steering wheel doesn't end up cocked to one side or the other.

Even though it is new, I'd suggest replacing the mounting bushings with either Total Chaos bushings or Whiteline. The rubber ones that come on the rack are always junk. (I wouldn't use Energy Suspension bushings. I used them for a while and had no real problems with them. But, others seems to have all kinds of bad luck with them... I'm running Whiteline now)

 

Yes I recently did this last year. I did the A-arms and ball joints first, but put in a new OEM rack when I did the coilovers.

If you've seen Timmie's video, you know all about what to do so I'll just chime in with what you'll need.

Solid jackstands are a must. While you're under there you're going to find you wish you'd had even more room. Block back wheels, front off the ground. Don't use cinder blocks, logs or wood blocks (I've seen it,) you're going to be pushing and pulling and working with fasteners up to 140 ft/lbs torque, get or borrow good jackstands.

Before starting ANYTHING, rope your steering wheel dead center. The key lock is almost never dead center. You'll see why this is important below. I used ratchet straps connected to the front seat mounts, make sure the steering wheel is not going to move, you'll be doing some pulling and twisting below and if not done you'll have a steering wheel that is crooked when you're going straight or a broken clock spring which is huge expensive.

Buy some sway bar bushings before you start. The sway bar has to come out to make room to work, they're cheap and you don't want to take time to do it later. I wish I had. :-D

Have new rack bushings on hand. An OEM rack has the vertical and horizontal bushings installed, but not the big one on the passenger side that goes in the U clamp, it's like $50. I went with a set of red Energy Suspension poly bushings. If you go with poly be sure to get silicon grease for this part of the install (ES grease is cheap and you don't need much,) poly bushings have a reputation for squeaks. Rubber bushings do not need grease. Do not use petroleum based oils/grease, it deteriorates rubber.

You will find the sway bar links are kinda . . . weird, there's little room to hold the back to keep the nut from spinning without damaging the rubber boot. Get a set of these for that purpose.



Be sure to note the direction of the sway bar, it's easy to get it upside down on reassembly, don't ask how I know.

Getting the TRE's apart will probably be the biggest challenge, so for sure you will need a puller that fits the TRE's, a big ass hammer, a couple cans of PB blaster. Spray the TRE's good the night before, two days if you have time, you might get lucky and they will fall right out.


The idea is that the puller should be strong enough to pop the TRE out on it's own, on a 20 year old truck it may not work out that way. I broke my favorite puller proving this point. :-D

Loosen but do not remove the TRE castle nut so it doesn't explode when you put on the puller. Loosen it so the top of the castle nut is flush with the TRE threads. Gett the puller ast tight as you feel safe with, then start hammering around the outside of the knuckle where the TRE goes in. Tighten the puller slightly more. Hammer. Rinse and repeat, when it comes loose it will literally fall out. Also from experience, frustrated expletives don't accelerate the removal of the TRE's.

You will need at the very least a half inch drive breaker bar, best a half inch drive impact wrench, to break loose the 4 nuts and bolts holding in the rack. You will need a torque wrench with at least a 140 lb ability, one of the nuts is 140 ft/lbs. It can be done without an impact wrench but it sure is handy to have one. You won't be able to get the top bolt with the impact wrench, but you CAN get a breaker bar and eventually a torque wrench in there. It's a whole new experience seeing how many contortions your body can do while laying on your back, but it can be done.

The front bolt may seem like more parts need to come out, but they don't. As it unscrews, start moving the rack rearward until you're sure the bolt is free of the rack. Leave the bolt in the chassis. Once the rack is coming loose, get something to support the weight of the steering rack while you split the rag joint and remove the fluid lines.

Do not use regular wrenches on the fluid line fittings, use flare wrenches. Even with a brand new set of wrenches I still bunged up the return line fitting enough that there was no way I was going to put it on a new rack, wound up buying and replacing the return line. (You could fab the terminal part here, I wasn't going that route.)



Remember how you roped the wheel? Look at the output shaft of the new rack, there should be "witness marks" - paint marks showing you the exact dead center of the rack. If the shaft is "roped" to dead center make sure these are aligned and you should be pretty darn close when it's finally assembled (yes, finally, it's going to take longer than you thought first time 'round.)

The last surprise is even if you use the bleed procedure before starting, don't freak out when it shrieks like a wild banshee on first startup. It will take a few tries to get all the air out. While on the stands, fill it up, turn hard right, hard left, start the engine, repeat, turn the engine off, refill reservoir, rinse and repeat until the screaming subsides. Now set it on the ground and repeat this procedure until it quiets down to a groan, and eventually it should go away. Use only ATF in the power steering system.

 

Just to add emphasis to the comments above, FLARE NUT WRENCH.
Even with the flare nut wrench, be patient and work slow.

If the tube nuts start giving you issues, I would plan for how you will get it back together before you destroy it taking it off. Especially if you need the truck on Monday morning.

Hit them with some PB now.
Screwing one up is an easy way to turn this job into a week long headache waiting for a new line or new tube nut if you can't find one local.

 

I've always found that it's nice to have a write-up with the necessary steps, photos, etc. that you can reference when you're doing a job like this. I replaced my rack a couple years ago, and put together this step-by-step guide that walks through the entire process and lists all the tools that help:

Step-by-Step: Replacing the Steering Rack on a 1st Gen Tacoma

A couple things I'll add to the notes from previous commenters (which I agree with):

1. Use an OEM rack as your replacement. Costs a few more $, but is well worth it as the non-OEM seem to fail reasonably quickly, which means you're doing the job again.
2. Consider replacing the steering rack bushings at the same time. Not a requirement, but some folks like to put poly bushings in, and there's no better time to do it than when the rack is replaced.

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superior advice all around^^^^^

i would add(unless OP just budgeted for an alignmnt)
count the threads(twice) on otr tie rods.....set otr tie lock nut to the same amt you counted for each side

must be stated, if the inr ties on the RM rack are visibly different lenghts than original inr ties.....align will be needed regardless
(many times 'other' inr ties fit into the rack but are not same size)

 

Thankyou guys you are all bad ass ! Everyone said exactly what i needed to know ill keep yall updated