05+ V6 Tacoma Steering Rack Bushing replacement

Relik, thanks for the feedback. With all that other stuff out of the way it just looked too easy to simply pull them in place. But when something initially looks that easy it is usually a great big red flag.

I just got done building some spare control arms. I took no chances on this one and even bought the factory SSTs and have a 20 ton press to make the job a piece of cake, right? Not. What a pain in the neck that turned out to be, and the control arms were off the truck to boot.

 

Great little write up hope it's still around by the time mine are due for replacement.

thanks fellow TACOMA member.

 

Anyone with 4wd done this? The front diff makes it a major pain in the ass. I ended up leaving the rack in and beating out the bushings with it in place. How did Toyota ever expect these things to be replaced?

 

^^ mylazybrain, how about a mini step-by-step on how you did this? It would help others with 4WD and the collective knowledge is always welcome and helps refine the steps to the absolute basics.

Mine is a 4WD and I had to do some major a/c work as described above. I had the front grill, condenser, radiator/clutch fan and a/c compressor off. These are all relatively easy to take off and leaves a boatload of room to grab the rack. The only thing that is a pain is the a/c will have to be recovered and refilled. Thoroughly plug all a/c lines and the condenser to prevent moisture in the air from entering.

Frankly, IDK if it would be an easier way or not. In the end I did not do the bushings because mine are still rock solid and I have very low miles.

 

To those who have done this what did you use to cut the driver side bolt down?

 

You can use a cut off disk or hack saw to cut the bolt, and u don't need to cut much if you choose to go that route. This was done on a 4wd, which is why I chose to remove the rack rather than beat them out in place, which is a lot easier to do on a 2wd. As for the clock spring issue and steering wheel alignment out, I'm sorry about your luck.

 

The specific reason I chose to cut the 1/4" off the bolt was because I did not want to go through the hastle of removing the a/c and whatever else. Yes it may seem hack job to cut the bolt but really it saves a PITA.

 

I did this over the weekend, anyone with a 4wd that isn't a drop bracket like OP's truck, you are going to have to cut the drivers side bolt out. Get a replacement from the dealer before you even start. Getting the rack out is a lot more difficult as well, but it is doable. Patience is key.

 

I just ordered some of these. How long did it take you?

 

probably 8 hours total. But I'm a slow meticulous type.

 

Damn, 8 hours. That's with cutting the DR side rack bolt to manuever the rack to get to the bushings......sounds like a weekend job.

Were your old bushings pretty ugly?

 

The bushings and everything to get to them had 7 years and 170k miles of ugly about them. This is including two skid plates and the sway bar that I had to take off and put and back on too. I took the rack all the way out, I wasn't going to screw around with it while it was still on the truck.

 

thanks for the feedback!!

 

Just got mine from Wheelers with candy.

 

ill be doing this shortly,
One question : my steering rack appears to have been leaking.
which seals do i need to replace for that ?

 

When i cut the bottom of the drivers side bolt i only cut a 1/4" off the bottom which allowed me to turn the rack enough to pull it past the a/c without pulling the compressor off.

 

Sub'd

 

So I did this today, kind of, Toyota dealer gave me the wrong bolts you need part number A0135 not A0137. But still staying positive, I took out my rack and have started to chisel and pickle fork out my bushing (whole crap this is not easy). All the edges on the bushing are up and that damn thing still won't come out. So after 6 hrs today I will start again tomorrow and submit an update. However, great write up and it was very helpful.

 

Mission complete: lessons learned. (My truck, 2011, DC TRD, 3" lift)

1. If u cut the bolts make sure u have the right bolts. Toyota could not see a second part number on their parts system 4 4x4s. It's also a special order so expect a few day turnaround.

2. You can un-bolt the AC and move it out of the way just far enough to get the stock bolts in and out.

3. Not all pickle forks are created equal. I now own two one large and small. To get them to work I used my grinder and slopped the forks on the larger one so it now has a sharper approach angle and after doing so the bushing took 2 mins to get out.

4. I could not wiggle my rack out so I replaced in place and with the mod of the pickle fork everything went great today.

I followed most of the guidance on this forum page (substituted candy for alcohol) and my truck now drives amazing. I hope this helps if u are planning to do this mod.

 

I am about to start this project myself this weekend and had a couple of questions for you guys :

1. How can you tell if all of the slop is just in your bushings vs issues with the rack itself ? Does Toyota not sell the bushings because the rack is a POS and needs to be raplaced entirely...or are they just greedy ?

2. Has anyone tried to burn the bushings out vs the hours of prying them out with a fork ? Is it possible or safe to burn them out with a torch if you have the rack out of the truck ?