Which steering rack seal kit would you advise??

I read up allot on the rack seal failures and I'm gonna rebuild mine. I don't need the truck everyday and so far I've rebuilt everything in life and all has been well (OP knocks on wood).

Anyhow, I looked on RockAuto at seal kits and there are numerous brands, some are 30$ and others are 60$, I did not see an OEM Toyota part number for their seal kit which I'd probably trust versus anything aftermarket. Who wants to do a steering rack twice?...

Thanks for any help

 

Subbed for responses


I'm rebuilding one myself and was thinking of going with the gates brand seal kit. I've used gates branded belts and never had an issue with them so I figured they'd be alright

 

They sure do make good belts! I'm just concerned because although the end oil seals are just a dual lip spring backed seal and nothing special, the piston seals themselves have to be clamped to a slightly smaller size or they don't fit. So, they're a different type of seal and I'm sure the material they are made of is important.

I believe I found AC Delco, Songson SP??, and something like Edelman?? It's quite a job to do without a lift, garage etc and I only want to do it once but I've been rebuilding backhoe cylinders and many other things my whole life without a failure, I just want to do it once and be done until they leak again due to the slight angle from the lift I guess.

I have a 2" lift and the tie rods are not a straight shot anymore, that's probably why it went bad.

My old 88 TOY power steering box and idler arm always worked just fine. The rack is supposed to be an upgrade, who'd know...

 

there's a guy on here @Dirty Pool who is an absolute legend.. wrote a very informative post on rebuilding our racks... gimme a second to find that post, I always have a hard time searching for it

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rack-pinion-service-tools-tips.312600/


I've read it about a dozen times in preparation of my rebuild

 

Toyota is not big on Kits The system is built on one part at a time.

Then the parts catalog does not even give a hint of parts needed . Just the diagram

Who knows it might have changed doubtful but who knows .

 

Toyota sells the seal kit as well as nearly every rack part separately and always has. Same kit for all 1st gen 4wd/Prerunner years. The hitch is the typical inflated Toyota pricing, around $120 (online) for not much.
For that reason I used the Gates kits from RockAuto. I doubt any of the after market kits are much different other than the label.

Anyone looking into this should be aware of costs adding up. A "rack guide up grade/replacement", inner tie rod ends, maybe a boot or two along with the seal kit and you are getting up there. An all new OE rack at an online price starts to look not so hard to take. Then some of us just like the fixin and frankly there just isn't much to these things.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies, I'll let ya know how long it lasts, or if I fail...

 

Wanted to update that I ended up buying a whole rack with tie rods from Detroit Axle back at this time, it was 212$ shipped. Although the rack was poking out of the box when it arrived (was packaged horribly bad) the rack went in smooth and has no leaks to date. I'm still beating on this truck with 33" BFG AT tires and no leaks yet, it's nice and tight. I never seized both lines as they were a PITA to get out of the old rack and all the thread adjustments for the tie rods. Overall it wasn't a difficult repair at all, just wanted to share... If the tie rods go bad or it leaks, I'll be back...