power steering/ steering issue

recently the power steering on my taco has felt funny and is getting worse.

im not sure how to best describe this but here goes

when making a turn the steering wheel feels really tight, like the power steering is cutting off then back on, another way to describe it is it feels like the front tires are turning againt a curb while trying to parallel park, but the tightness goes away after passing the clock positions described below

the tightness only seems to be around the 10 oclock to the 1 oclock position and the 5 oclock to the 7 o clock position.

once i use some elbow grease and get the steering wheel past those points it feels fine until i reach the next trouble spot on the "clock".

I hope there is some simple solution to fix this

my taco is a 2005 dcsb trd sport, completly stock other than 265/70/17 tires, 115000 miles

 

and i forgot to add, i purchased it used about 16 months ago with 89000 miles...i have not wheeled it and there was no evidence the prior owner wheeled it

 

Lately I've been having a similar problem...I haven't made a note of the clock points at which the steering wheel "tightens" then "releases" (how I would describe it), but it sounds like the same issue. Checked the PS reservoir, it looked low so I topped it off while still warm, but I still have the problem. It's an 06 with 100K on the clock.

Any ideas?

Audi

 

Check the steering shaft from the steering wheel down to the rack. The joint may be sticking and need grease.

 

Will do, thanks.

Audi

 

Yup, that's all it was. A shot of grease at the u-joint, problem solved. Thanks!

Audi

 

Where is the grease point? How do I find this? I am having the same issue!

 

^^^ There is no grease point per se and it can't be serviced in any conventional way. Its the U-joint on the lower-most intermediate steering shaft (it's part of the shaft itself) and is located just a few inches above where it enters the steering rack.

What happens is the U-joint is in a very vulnerable position where road slosh and car washing allows water to enter the little seals on the end caps of the joint. A slow process of rusting the needle bearings in the joint then begins. Occasionally the joint just suddenly seizes and you can lose steering. The only true longer-term fix is to get a new lower intermediate shaft and devise something to protect the joint.

I replaced the lower shaft/joint and ordered something called Rakboot (Part No. RB002) out of Australia (www.ptwtools.com), packed the joint itself with thick silicone grease (don't use petroleum grease it will eat away at the boot) and slid the boot over the shaft and joint from the top of the intermediate shaft by first removing the upper yoke that connects both intermediate shafts). It is certainly not the perfect solution but goes a long way to keeping direct splash off the joint.

What these guys above are talking about is not replacing the joint but saturating it in place with various low viscosity spray lubes, rotating the joint, repeating, and hope enough lube seeps into the little seals on the end caps to help lube the needle bearings. Careful, as there is a dust seal just below the U-joint that may be adversely affected by repeated saturation of petroleum distillate sprays and it is not available as a separate part.

 

I am experiencing the same problem myself! Your explanation on solving this problem was very helpful, just wondering if you have a pic of the exact location to grease? I recently brought my truck to a local garage and they told me the shaft would need replacement.
Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

I started having the exact same issue on my truck. Would be interested to see what the solution is.

 

I did not grease mine in place but bought a new shaft and then packed a bunch of thick silicone grease around the new u-joint part, put on the Rakboot described and then installed it back in the truck. So I was not trying to fix a problem while the old one was installed but took out the old one and replaced the whole thing and tried to minimize future problems with the boot. I did not take pictures.

Open your hood and on the driver's side locate where the steering shaft comes through the firewall. The first thing you will see is the coupling yoke that holds the two intermediate shafts together (the yoke has two 12mm wrench size bolts).

Then follow the shaft downward toward to front where the steering rack is. The very next thing adjacent to the yoke that you come to is a hard, black, ribbed plastic part I'm guessing is about seven inches long. That is the top of the lower shaft. Continue to follow the shaft below that black plastic part and the next thing you come to is the problem u-joint. I use a flashlight and mirror to see it from above but if you take of the skid plate it is clearly visible from underneath the vehicle.

I'll let someone else jump in here and describe how they saturated that joint in place with lube. Personally, I'm uncertain how you could actually get enough lube in those needle bearings while it is in the vehicle to make a long term difference.

 

Here you go

 

^^ Good job tacoma4, you got it.

BTW, if that shaft is removed from the truck the rubber seals on the ends of the u-joint are pliable enough that you can inject grease through a syringe and needle into them by working around the very edges of the rubber and pushing it back a bit.

WARNING! I did not suggest removal of the shaft/joint to do this because both sides of the shaft are serrated with about 30 tiny serrations. Unless you precisely index the shaft with the serrations where it attaches to the rack and connecting yoke on the opposite end you will get a crooked steering wheel.

You must also hold the steering wheel horizontal (can you say seat belts?) to keep it from spinning and messing up the clock spring (spiral cable).

The technique I used to index the shaft was to use white fingernail polish on opposite matching sides for use as a background color base. I let it dry until hard and then used a very fine permanent red marking pen, very small straight edges, and a steady hand to draw a red line across the white polish in order to precisely match adjacent sides for reassembly.

On the steering rack side the rubber dust seal is in the way and it turns so it is a bit difficult to directly index it, but if you look very closely with a mirror there is an index mark that is cast in the aluminum housing. I indexed with this casting mark and slightly scribed the rubber dust seal so a match could be made with an index mark on the tightening yoke of the intermediate shaft.

Its doable but then you have to ask yourself the question if you go to all the work to remove it it why not just put in a new one (I think it is about ($170 through discounters now)?

 

Edit: at first it seemed the problem was solved, but then it came back a bit. I greased it again, and it helped again, but I think pretty shortly I will be replacing the part as described in the above posts...that really is the best/safest solution.

Audi

 

Thanks for the information!
I'm gonna give this a go over the weekend, any type of grease you recommend?

 

Wow it's just crazy how every time something goes wrong with my truck a post pops up about the exact problem i'm having. Went out to lunch today and thought the steering felt a little stiff. Log onto this site and shazam this thread is on the front page. I'm taking mine to the dealership as it's still covered by the warranty. Btw I'm at 92000 miles and just finally installed 5100s all the way around to level it after the rear leaf TSB done at about 36000 miles (also thanks to this site) and put a set of stock offroad wheels and the largest Duratracks (again due to hanging around in here) I could fit without trimming. So thanks again TW. What a great site! There's more but you get the picture.

 

I had nothing to do one time and started researching this until my eyes bled. There are not a lot of references to the problem but it seems that most of the accounts that appear were primarily in the "road slosh belt" in northern areas on vehicles around 90,000 to 100,000 miles.

I certainly would not want to categorically state that this is going to be a new common problem on the 2nd gens as that would be alarmist at this point IMHO. But keep your eye on this and if the symptoms described start to appear at least you know the prime suspect.

I also found a couple of references to this occurring on at least one other Toyota model previously and a TSB for it is occasionally referenced but I could never find a specific TSB so this can't be confirmed.

 

It's going in on Monday. I'll let you guys know what they find. I'm pretty sure it's the u joint but who knows.

 

Well it's the Steering Intermediate Shaft #2 that's getting replaced due to the stiff feeling every half turn of the steering wheel. Toyota had to order the part and it should be in Friday. And yea I live in the slosh belt.

 

My truck started doing this again, although i feel the priblem while moving as opposed to sitting still, i crawled under and lubed the u joint as described but it still acts up....does anybody have any suggestions