Steering Rack Bushings

Wow...pretty quick repair.

A shop quoted me four hours of labor, including the alignment.

 

I dont think an alignment is really required but your steering wheel may be off a little.

 

FWIW, two one-star reviews on that product. One sounds like what you experienced:

Does not fit
I couldn't get the center bushing to fit, it is about 1/8" too wide, even with a press I ended up just mangling the urethane bushing. Waste of an afternoon and now I need to return it and get another brand shipped while my 4Runner sits in an inoperable state. I'll never buy Dorman again.

The other guy wasn't happy either:

Passenger side bushing does not fit.
Summit Racing Verified Purchase

I tried to install the passenger side bushing. It is to big. I spent 3 hours trying to do everything I could to make it work. I could not line up the two bolts that fasten the bracket over the bushing. This is the biggest bushing out of the 3 bushings on thesteering rack. I have not tried the other two bushings as I am afraid they will not work either. I will never buy dorman products again. I am Very dissapointed. Waste of my money.

I will likely get genuine Toyota parts if they are available and not ridiculously expensive.

 

kit i used. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/180839448548?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

fitment was great.

 

I got my bushings from O'reilly Auto and they fit fine.

 

When I did mine last year I just jacked up the front and left the TRE intact. I replaced the sway bar bushings at the same time so it was out of the way while I did the rack. no alignment is necessary since nothing was changed on the ITR or OTR.

funny thing is my center and passenger side bushing were "ok" but the lower driver side one looked like pudding when I turned the wheel. guess that northern salt bath every year helps

 

For those that went urethane...any downside? Perhaps more road vibration in the steering wheel?

 

The picture of the OP's kit shows a washer. The Prothane does not, and a reviewer on Amazon said that this was an issue. Was it for you?

you will need an extra washer with this set, one of the factory long shaft washers was welded to the sleeve shaft.
i cut it off with a metal cutting wheel and used it. you need 2 washers on this bushing...

 

Didnt come with washer. Just reuse old one or buy one for 50 cents at hardware store. Probably isnt even needed as they are very stiff.

 

you can re-use the factory one if it's not rusted out. the ES kit comes with one that goes between the rack and frame and you re-use the outer factory one.

 

Good to know. Thanks.

 

Yes, do not forget the washer between the rack and the frame. I read somewhere that it is very important. My 1st set came with new washers, the second set years later did not, lucky I saved my old ones.

 

Just finished this job. I have to say it completely failed to live up to the hype. Everyone said it was a huge PITA, but mine didn't put up much fight at all. I used Energy Suspension poly bushings and they went right in. I suspect what is probably causing most people trouble is they don't clean out the holes in the rack where the bushings go. Mine were pretty nasty with corrosion and dirt that had fossilized into something like concrete. I cleaned and polished the holes with Scotch-brite (though for the driver's side one, I had to use a half round file to scrape off the concrete-like dirt before I could finish it with the Scotch-brite). Once they were smooth, I smeared some moly grease on the insides to inhibit corrosion and help the bushing slide in. Likewise, I greased the bushings and sleeves and was able to put them in by hand. No need for clamps, presses, or nuts and bolts.

Anyway, it did put up a weak struggle when I went to put the rack back in place, but I soon figured out it was the tires causing the issue (I didn't take the tie rods loose, though the tires were off the ground). They had toed out a bit when I had pried the rack away from the crossmember. I found that I could kick them back out and the rack sucked right back into place on the crossmember. I had no trouble getting the bolts back in at all.

All in all it was a pretty simple job. Thanks to the OP for this thread letting us know what to expect.

Tomorrow, I'll be changing my inner tie rods. I don't expect that to be too difficult so it's probably going to fight me tooth and nail, haha.

 

I think you just answered a question I had, which is, where does the rack want to go once you unbolt it? It sounds like it wants to go towards the rear of the vehicle.

It does not want to fall downward, correct? Also, is there at any time any strain on the P/S lines?

 

The rack won't go down unless you pull the stud on the passenger side like OP. I have had my tie rod ends off so many times that they are pretty easy to pull. Then you can slide the rack to the rear and off the stud without having to remove it.

Of course if you have a sway bar then that might require removal of the stud anyway since you will probably need to drop the rack downward rather than toward the rear.

I have the ES kit coming from LowRange so I will be doing this soon.

Nice writeup by OP.

 

Alphabravo is correct. Moving the rack anywhere takes some persuasion. I used a 2' pry bar too get it away from the crossmember (it actually move aft and down slightly) far enough that I could get the old bushings out. Also, I didn't have to take that stud the OP removed on the passenger side either. It's yet another side benefit to the sway bar delete. You pretty much get unrestricted access to the steering rack. BTW, you can take the D-shaped clamp off without moving the rack much. It just might take some patience to get it wiggled off the stud.

Again, I didn't disconnect my tie rods, but I could see where it would maybe give you a bit more wiggle to play with...and ironically in my case, I wasn't really saving anything (time or cotter pins) by not removing them since the next step, replacing the inner tie rod ends, will require my to pull them anyway.

Lastly, I didn't have any issues with the PS lines. The steering shaft and tie rods prevented the rack from moving far enough to really have to worry about them.

Oh, and also, I used a ball joint press to remove the center bushing. It came out pretty easy and a C-clamp with a large socket probably would have worked fine. My center bushing was pretty tore up though. The driver's side bushing I removed by sticking a short socket extension in it and driving it through with a BFH similar to how the OP did it only a little more hands free. Could do it with a bolt as well as long as the head fits through the bushing hole.

Good luck with yours. Hopefully it goes as smoothly as mine did.

 

I tried to do this today. Broke a Craftsman 19 mm 12-point socket trying to loosen the fastener for the center bushing. Thankfully, it was the first thing I did.

I just ordered a Tekton 6-point to replace it.

 

That one was pretty tough as I recall. I used a 1/2" drive shallow well Craftsman socket on my ratcheting breaker bar (a 1/2" ratchet head pinned to a 16 inch breaker bar handle) with an 18" cheater pipe over the end of that to get it broken loose. Also, remember, the acetone/ATF juice is your friend. Make sure you splooge all the bolts down with that beforehand. PB Blaster is like unto water compared to this stuff.

 

My oil leak made it so my bolts come off nice and easy ahaha

 

surprisingly enough you can break the welded nut from the bottom on the center

only takes a 22 or 23 mm IIRC