1st gen tacoma loose steering

title pretty much says it all.
My steering is extremely loose, I have about 1/4" in each direction on the steering wheel till it locks up and will turn. Freeway speeds I wander all over the place cause of this.

I've replaced the rack and pinion, LBJs, new inner and outer tierod's, made sure my tire pressure was correct, did the roll pin mod, had an alignment done.. any ideas?
thanks!

 

Factory sway bar still in place?

 

Sway bar is still in place yes .

 

Slop in the steering column? Maybe you need the "tack weld mod".

I see from previous posts, @zero4 has done his, so maybe he can help you decide.

https://tinyurl.com/y6z4llob

 

Tack weld mod is just the same as roll pin? If I’m not mistaken.

 

Maybe, I wasn't familiar with that term. Tack weld seems to have 100% success from what I have read on here. Haven't needed to do mine yet.
I'd say just check for play based on the link I provided. Maybe I was off base.

 

Result is the same but a roll pin can get loose over time & is more work to install. A roll pin is probably stronger than tack welds if you care about the shaft still being able to collapse in a major collision. If you prefer to use the pin method, I would use a shear pin like brass.

 

I just did the job like a week ago and it didn’t make a difference the roll pin was tight enough I guess I could go and weld it if necessary sorry on mobile.

 

Take a look at the steering rack. May need new bushings or be replaced alltogether.

Edit: I'm an idiot.

 

OP stated he replaced that already.

 

Ah I see, I didn't even read the entire thread, just came here cause I was tagged. 2 things accounted for the slop in my steering, the column shaft & the guide for the steering rack. Those 2 things completely fixed my steering slop & I'm still running on my original R&P, inner & outer TRs.

Was your replacement R&P brand new or a reman? If the latter, check the guide. Don't know what yr your truck is but see if you have the old style roller guide. If yes replace it with the new style. I already had the new style & my original guide wasn't even worn. I could have gotten away with just retensioning it or replacing just the spring. I suspect they don't even check the guide for rebuilds. So if you do have the new style guide, try retensioning it. Other than that, I can't think of anything else unless for some odd reason you have worn/loose splines on the steering shaft.

 

Reman rack? OEM?

 

New oem rack. Lbjs are after market but I don’t know if that would cause that much of an issue

Edit: it’s a 2002 3.4L extended cab.
Manual if that makes a difference.

 

What about the steering gear? The thing that translates from the steering wheel to the rack and pinion. Rag joint?

 

You didn't explicitly say you replaced the rack bushings with the new rack. Did you?

I while back someone here took a video of their rack as they turned the wheel and the rack was sliding back and forth in the bushings. Sounds like you need to determine where the looseness is, in the rack & pinion or in the steering column.

 

I agree with DrZ, need to figure out where the slop is coming from.

I got under under my truck & turned the rag joint by hand. I didn't see or feel any slop in the joint. However I did feel slop in the steering rack when turning the rag joint back & forth by hand. After I replaced the steering rack guide & spring and tensioning to spec as per the fsm, that was fixed.

Much better but I still had slop in the steering wheel. I went under the dash & held the steering shaft at the spline joint & with my other hand I turned the steering wheel. I could feel slop so that told me my column shaft was loose. By eye I could not see the slop. Tack welds took care of that and as I mentioned all my slop was gone.

 

Anyone have a part # for this rag joint?
I’m unfamiliar with it, although that’s not really saying much.. I reused all the rubber bushings from the old rack and pinion. When off roading I do hear a clunk / slop feel in the steering wheel when the wheels catch a rock/rut

 

New outer and inner tie rods already.
I’ll check out energy suspension.
Thanks !

 

Just an FYI I've read and heard from creditable source poly bushings not being as firm as factory bushings. Polyurethane actually creating a little give and creating slack your trying to eliminate.

 

You have that backwards. Poly bushings flex less than the factory rubber ones