05+ V6 Tacoma Steering Rack Bushing replacement

So Karma just did it's thing to me after loftily asking what's the point of this fluid change....

Lost my power steering this Saturday. Totally gone which sucks with 285 tires!

It's probably because the rack end seals have given way and the fluid looks like it's about to permeate my inner tie rod boots. Not dripping yet but it will soon.

I won't have time in the next two months to replace the rack so here's my crazy question:

What if I use motor oil to top off the reservoir? It's thicker than transmission fluid so should slow down the leak, yes? I have a gallon of mobile 1 synthetic 0w20 in the garage which is so thin I would not run it in my engine.

Am I gonna grenade the PS pump with that?

 

Not sure how effective it is, but they do make power steering stop leak. You do plan on replacing the rack anyway so I'd give it a try.

 

Ah the snake oil.
Well plan to replace the rack but not the pump if I can avoid it.
Just need to get by for 2 months without running my pump dry And seized

 

It's pretty effective, it stopped my leaking rack.

 

What did you use and how much?

 

Pretty sure I posted the process in this thread,maybe my build thread, scroll back? Valvoline Maxlife ATF stopleak during a flush.

 

What's my best option for a replacement rack?

Found a brand new OEM on Fleabay for like $800. Ouch! Then again this one lasted nearly 200,000 miles with 285s and a lot of Baja driving. And the replacement is such a bitch I don't wanna have to do it again for at least another 150k miles

 

How bad was yours leaking? My reservoir is still on the minimum without ever refilling but I'm weirded out cuz I lost PS and the ITR boots are full of fluid

 

I found the post but I'm not sure I follow. Isn't the stop leak an additive that you mix into the ATF at a 1:10 ratio?
Or did you use PS fluid stop leak which doesn't need to be mixed or diluted?

 

I mixed Maxlife ATF stop leak according to the bottle with fresh Maxlife ATF

 

I followed the recommendations of this thread. And was successful, did not have to cut the bolt as others did as I was dealing with a 4 cylinder 2.7. Was able to roll the rack forward with the bolt still in the rack. No alignment issues on the steering shaft spines and no back tracking. Also did inner and outer tie rods at the same time.

 

Nice, I'm pretty sure the reason the FSM says to unbolt the transmission is so you can tilt the motor up and don't have to cut bolts.
Always more than one way to skin a cat

 

removing this rack is not as simple as it looks took me and another guy 4 hours to replace the rack

 

Glad to have ran into this thread! I just bought the black bushings (

$73 8.10106G Rack & Pinnion Bushing Set

8.10106G) and they came in the other day. I can't believe how long it has taken me to figure out what the issue was with my steering. Very happy that there is a fix that doesn't involve replacing the entire steering rack

The notes that I've taken away from this thread is to:

• Apply grease
• Lock down the steering wheel to avoid destroying the clock spring
• Use a pickle fork
• Torque bolts to 68 ft.lbs
• Be patient
• Get an alignment after install

Would any of you recommend that I do anything else maintenance wise while the steering rack is out? Am I missing anything?

 

Carefully check the intermediate steering shaft, now’s a good time to replace it if the u joint is sticky in either direction.

Just pulled my rack today, what a pain in the ass. Took me from 2pm-5:30pm just to get it out. Intermediate shaft bolts rusted on, main issue was the pressure line on the rack, just couldn’t get it to budge. Have new lines for it anyway so I just used a hacksaw blade to get half way through the line, then a sharp chisel to sheer it.

Apparently, the line seized to the nut. I turned it out by hand after that. Then had to wrestle the rack out, wasn’t as easy as “slide it to passenger side, then out the driver side”

Unbolted and slightly bent the AC line up, took the bolts out for the front differential to let it drop and get the nuts out of the way.

Anyway, my rack is trash, rusted out badly. Hope the new one goes in easier tomorrow. I replaced the new bushings in the reman rack with Energy Suspension bushings, was going to replace the u-joint in the steering shaft too but mine is fine, so it’ll get packed with grease and covered with a bike tube and zip ties.

This job SUCKS.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll check my int. steering shaft tomorrow! My steering rack looks pretty good tho (on the outside). No rust that I can see. Wish that this wasn't such a pain in the ass install =/ Thanks again

 

No problem, I wish it was easy as replacing the bushings on my first gen 2.7 truck. That took me 40 minutes including a beer break in the dead of summer heat.

I’ll post up a pic of my rack after I’m done with it today, I’m in the northeast, road salt is a killer up here. The rest of the truck is rust free (new frame, body is really nice because my brother washed it a lot before I bought it from him).

That said, he and I both wish that the dealer noticed the rack was rusty during the frame swap, would have saved me a headache now!

 

Just to follow up:

Not sure if I got the rack set just right or not, steering wheel is dead center, but turns a touch further one way than the other. 99% of the time it will be fine. Tie rods are set pretty much identically to each other as they were on the old rack, tires are dead straight but I’ll get an alignment anyway. Tracks straight down the road and wheel stays centered.

Went back together MUCH easier than it came apart. Had the new rack installed in about 20 minutes. Add another hour working slowly and to put in the new line set I bought, and fought with the driver side tie rod end to get it off the old rack.

Installed the lower intermediate shaft, my u-joint is still tight, no play at all. I packed it with grease and stuffed a bicycle inner tube over it, zip tied at both ends. No clue how long that’ll last, but it’s the best I could do for now.

Tightened up the differential bolts, added some Valvoline MaxLife Dexron, and worked the wheel back and forth with the truck OFF to pre-bleed the system. Fired it up when the fluid level stayed the same, topped it off one last time and rechecked all the nuts and bolts that I removed.

Steering feels amazing! It never felt so tight and precise, not sure whether it’s the rack, the poly rack bushings, or the combination of the two.

 

If anyone is wondering if these bushings fit for a 3rd gen steering rack, yes they do. Swapped mine out yesterday on my 2016.

 

That’s because most of the frame and the steering rack itself are the same, I believe.