Worth fixing? Rack & pinion replacement

My grandpa gave me his 2001 prerunner at 200k, ive dumped quite a bit of money into it this last year making it nice & safe. But got it checked at 3 different places & told basically the same thing- need a new rack & pinion. Truck is now at 220,000 and wondering if its worth putting in almost 2k this late in the game. i hear these can last forever but not sure if my grandpa took care of it the way it would need to get there early in its life. Is it time to get a new one?!

 

Do it yourself. Get the rack rebuilt for a couple of hundred or buy a reman for <$500, another $20 for a box of beer and you know what you’re doing Saturday afternoon!

Edit: A wheel balance for $100 on a steering rack R&R?? I’d tell that outfit to take a long, hard suck!

 

Depending on if you want to get dirty you can do it yourself for about $200... From experience I have gone multiple routes on the rack. If you want to go the cheapest route I would look on EBAY. I believe I paid $125 or $150 for a re-manufactured one HOWEVER, after only 1 year the end cap of the rack tube came apart. Not sure if this was a true representation of the product or just a one off defect but the shitty part was the EBAY seller agreed to HELP but the HELP was for me to buy another rack from them and they would give me $25 off for my hassle. I said FUCK that. I bought the next one at Autozone for the lifetime warranty. Big tires and off roading wear these racks out fast so likely to have to replace this again in the future is why I opted with the Autozone lifetime warranty. It's like $289 at Autozone. Because you have a stock truck, I'd almost be willing to advise you to the cheapy ones on Ebay. I think off roading and having 35" tires is what ruined the cheapy one on Ebay for me. If you buy one of the cheap ones on Ebay I bet you could do this job yourself for under $200. Depends on how adventurous you are. Plenty of videos and write ups to help you out. It's not hard at all.

 

DIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoRP5ogrK0

 

$1,621.48....thats a lot of duckets. It would be well worth it to spend a quiet afternoon and watch some YouTube vids and do this yourself. Once finished you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done PLUS use the difference from the money you saved to buy some brew(s).

 

If you’re serious about keeping the truck there are lots of ways you can buy certain parts at better price points and I’d look for a shop that knows this is not a 5 hour job like it appears to be quoted for you on the price list. As noted there are eBay remanufactured racks, Parts Store rebuilds with warranties, but for the price they quoted you for a rebuilt rack you could buy an original Toyota factory one online here or at various other online Parts Dealers


https://toyotaparts.bochtoyotasouth...4425035042?c=bD0xJm49U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHMmaz0x

The other parts like tie rods would also be possibly the same price as aftermarket or cheaper if you buy all of them at once with one shipping charge.

RockAuto.com is also a great place to save money on parts but there’s a shipping fee also.

Knowing where you’re located would help us to make suggestions for more reasonably priced yet reliable mechanics if you’re feeling like this isn’t something you or someone you know is able to handle.

 

You can get both outer tie rod ends for around 110 bucks (combined) from McGeorge Toyota. I'm assuming the tie rods listed are outers because a reman rack normally comes with inners already installed.

You can get the entire steering rack bushing kit from Amazon for 30 bucks (Energy Suspension)

The rack replacement it's self is a bit time consuming, but the only, somewhat, special tool you'd need is a 17mm (I believe) flare wrench. You could save yourself labor there.

That gets you a lot closer to right at $1000.

When you have a truck that's over 15 years old, and 200K+ miles... things like this come up. If you get this done, and start working on getting the rest of maintenance done, you'll have yourself a solid truck.

 

Also a pitman puller for separating the tie rod ends, and a big 19mm box end wrench for the fastener on top of the rack, and some big wrenches for removing the outer tie rod ends. It's a straightforward DIY job, but I wouldn't call it easy. It took me a lot longer than I was hoping.

 

Pitman arm puller - yes (ggod call)
19mm box wrench - Should be something in anyone's tool box, that does anything on a Tacoma.
Big wrenches for removing tie rods - You don't need to remove the tie rods if you are putting new ones on the new rack. You do need them to tighten the OTREs and ITREs. It's a 27 and 32 if I remember right (Timmy's video shows what you need) Some people use a pipe wrench on the ITRE, and some crescent wrenches are thin enough to make it in the spot you need to be in.

Never said it was easy. If it were easy, they wouldn't charge 350 bucks to put it in.

It's time consuming, but it isn't really that difficult.

 

Fair point on the tie rods, certainly won't need those big wrenches if you've got a new rack and new tie rod ends.

On the 19mm I will say that I had a couple of 19mm wrenches, but I had to buy an extra long one that had just the right angle to get enough leverage to free that bolt. I think the frame tech torqued the crap out of a lot of my fasteners when I got my frame swap.

 

Guys this is all great information, however my hunch is OP might not want to make this her first foray into maintenance.

 

Nothing better than just diving in with both feet

 

I would be incredibly impressed. Keeping my fingers crossed OP rolls up the sleeves and hammers down

 

@Tacorunner94 Here's a link for a brand new one for just under $500.00 bucks. I'm pretty sure it comes with inner tie rods, so you'll only have to buy the outer tie rods. It's a Factory Toyota one, and should last you for years. If you don't have the "Special" wrenches for the flats on the tie rods, do Like I did and use a pipe wrench to hold one the inner one in place while you tighten down the outer. bend over that washer, and you'll be good to go.

https://toyotaparts.bochtoyotasouth...4425035042?c=bD0xJm49U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHMmaz0x

 

ive done some minor stuff on it, replaced the front bumper from youtube. The DIY tips are pretty motivating. But realizing i would probably need to buy some tools first id much rather do things myself or at least help work on it, instead of dropping it off at a random shop.

 

Well the OP has some tough decisions to make. I just think that quote received was just a little to high. Freaking shops are making a killing these days.

 

I could feel they were ripping me off. I just left and have been using my bike! Haha.

 

If you have some mechanics friends, you could buy the parts and pay them with beer and food to install the parts. If you have any such friends, I'd ask around for some help.

 

If there are any tacomaworld members around your area im sure they will help you if you need help after all we are all family

 

Aim on the same boat I found a shop near me that as one for 225 exchange as good reviews and good parts . Labor ima do myself