slop in new steering rack?

Since I bought my Tacoma, I've noticed the steering wheel has some slop (about 1" on the circumference with no resistance) at any speed. I've seen a few threads on how to fix steering wheel slop, however none can explain this.

Even after a new steering rack and bushings, I still have the same slop in the rack. Here's what I know...
-I can turn the wheel by about 1" on the circumference with basically no resistance (so it's not the bushings)
-When turning the wheel back and forth, the spline going into the steering rack rotates about the same without moving the tie rods (so it's not the column)
-Even with a new rack and bushings, it's as if the rack itself has too much slop.

Is it normal to have about 1" of slop on the circumference of the wheel?

 

its in the steering column itself not the rack.

there is a sleeve in there to make it collapse in an accident and it wears and gets sloppy so you take the steering column out to disassemble it and weld the shaft or drill it to put a bolt through it to make it solid again.

I cant remember the thread but there is one that explains how to do it, I think its in the Tacoma DIY mods section so look in that thread for it

 

Unfortunately, I don't think it's anything in the steering column. When you turn the steering wheel, the steering column still turns just as much. You can see the entire shaft rotate by about 10degrees all the way down to the spline going into the rack.

It really looks like the rack is just not tightly meshed with the pinion inside, even in the brand new one. Granted it was an aftermarket rack, but I got the impression aftermarket steering racks were still fairly usable

 

More than one OEM rack for that model.

 

If you have access to a welding machine, put a small tack where the slip/collapse joint is. If the problem goes away, then its obvious the joint is the problem. I still tend to agree its the typical problem all of us first gen-ers have. I just put a roll pin in mine, problem solved.i have been known to be wrong...read this threa. Beware it's long.

 

I did this and it made huge difference. If the above doesn't fix it....check your tie rod ends.

 

x3. Seriously do this. Worth the time/money

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like that weld on the shaft between the steering wheel and rack input?
The problem I'm having is there is play between the rack input and the tie rod outputs... can't really weld anything inside the steering rack.
Guess I should have gone OEM rack

 

There should be ZERO gear lash in the rack and no radial play in the rack shaft.
FWIW, the "new aftermarket" Chinese racks have quality/quality control problems. Several members on this and other forums have had problems "out of the box", some catastrophic.

 

if the play is internally to the rack, all I can think of is air in the system or just a bad rack. find a way to make 100% sure the rack is all fluid and no air bubbles in it.

perhaps it just needs time for all the air to work itself out.

 

Air in the system will have absolutely nothing to do with play in the rack.

 

good to know, I guess he just got a bad rack is all

 

FWIW, these guys make good stuff:

http://cvjaxles.com/

 

You picked up a reman rack from them?

How much?

 

I assume you have new rack bushings, so that should not be the case, right?

What about the 'rack guide'? I have heard that, not properly installed, it could cause play.

 

I'm not running their rack... yet. But when the time comes I will use them for sure. Price is $325, with core, and the rack comes with new ITREs.

That being said, I've got friends who have hundreds of rock crawling miles on their CVJ racks and they are still performing perfectly.