I need some rack & pinion help

I need some help. Last year I had the Rack and bushing's replaced on my daughters 1999 Tacoma Pre Runner. I was told I needed to get an allignment wich we did about a 1000 miles after the rack was replaced.
I had new tires installed the other day and the company that did the job is different from the folks that did the rack. They told me that the bushing's, although the rubber looked new were already worn out and that there was play in the rack. They told me that the bolts holding the bushings were probably over-tightened.

It is still withinn the warranty time limit and mileage.

I now neeed to take it back to the original installer and I know they will give me a fight as I have learned they have a poor reputation since having my vehichle worked on there. I want to be as well informed as possible when I approach these guys.

Is it possible to overtighten the bolts so that the bushings can be over compressed or is that bad information?
Could they just have been poor quality replacements?
What would be the most reasonable reason for the bushing failure?

Thanks for the help.
Bones

 

Could have been poor quality bushings. You can replace the bushings yourself in about 3 hours if its your first time. I did mine. Bit of a PITA but doable for the home mechanic. Replace it with some quality energy suspension or similar. There are plenty of write ups online on how to do it. My bushings were bad due to wear and tear. Not sure how you could screw up that job, pretty straight forward.

 

Thanks for the reply. Do you beleive they could be overtightened? I have not looked at them my self but the parts look like they come with steel sleeves so I am wondering how they could be squished out with too much torque. I am just looking for the proper ammo when I go in to do battle with this shop. Thanks

 

If there are steel sleeves I don't see how they could be overtightened. They might have used some cheaper bushings, or the shop that did your tires is just trying to sell you some bushings.