Mechanics in Austin TX

Howdy friends,

I'm looking for shop recommendations to take my 2001 Tacoma to. I'm having steering issues and suspension trouble. Most shops in my area won't work on vehicles older than 2012 and the ones that do, I've had bad experiences with. I'm located in South Austin and I'm willing to drive but would prefer as local as possible. Many thanks in advance!

 

@Mynameisbrandin
@Texoma

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...k-just-make-it-a-toyota-and-were-good.411172/

 

I looked up both shops, I'm an hour and twenty from both of them. It'd nice if they were a little closer but I'll definitely do some looking into them. Thanks !

 

The 01 Tacoma has a few steering issues that have fairly basic remedies.

1. The lower ball joints. Replace them ASAP if you haven’t already. This is a known failure point.

2. Steering rack bushings. When your engine leaks oil all over the rubber rack bushings, they degrade to almost nothing. Replace the bushings with Poly. Energy Suspension is a good brand for this.

3. The steering shaft has a bit of slip in it. The entire steering column has to be removed, then a couple of tack welds on the sloppy slip on the shaft, and steering is like a new car. It sounds harder than it really is.

4. Lower control arm bushings. Remember that oil that degraded the rack bushings? Well it did the same to the LCA bushings as well. Whiteline makes a great product replacement bushings, or just replace the entire LCA.

For a shop close to you. Everything Yota of Texas in Kyle/Buda is close. David Duarte is your contact there. Let him know Chris from Triple C sent you and he’ll take good care of you.

Brandin at 4Lo Fab in NB shop can also handle this job no problem, and he is def better qualified to do the steering shaft tack weld job than anyone around.

Report back what issues you have and how they were resolved.

 

Politely going to add : AJ's Yotas Up in Cedar Park, hes a land cruiser guy but will work on any toyota. he baselined an old coworker of mines 600k 92' Pickup 4x4.

and Hill Country Yota Works , New Braunfels, also neighbors to 4LoFab ... they do very good work, fast and are honest.

 

AJ is a solid dude and a bad ass with a wrench.

 

That is great advice, thanks! I had the rack and pinion bushings replaced when I got the truck along with an alignment which helped some but still got play in the steering. For the steering column welding, are you talking about what I seen on Timmy The Toolman's YouTube where they weld the steering column into one piece or is this process something different? I had heard that weld job in the steering column can make it into a javelin if you get into an accident.

Ultimately I want to get the repairs I mentioned done as well as spending some more cash to clean 'er up and do any other preventative maintenance work. After reading you guys' responses I'm no longer concerned with driving the distance to whichever shop. I'm leaning towards 4Lo Fab since I got a really good friend in San Marcos who can take me back to Austin afterwards.

 

If the shaft is tack welded in 2 spots, it still has the ability to break upon a fraction by end impact.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC03XbzALHl/?igsh=MTNnM3p5MWY0NXVueA==