2001 front end popping sound

I’m not familiar with the site you are looking at. You can’t go wrong with OEM, but I personally like NAPA parts myself. That’s just my personal preference, and I have often ordered a Napa part, in a Napa box, and received an OEM part. (At least it had the name brand on it, Ford or Toyota or whatever). I try to steer clear of remanufactured parts where I can.
Yes, the tie rod ends should always be referring to the steering tie rod ends.
Yes, the boots are often called bellows boots.
A tie rod end boot could be referring to the small grease boot that is on the outer tie rod ends, between the tie rod end and steering knuckle.
Id maybe consider calling the dealer and getting a quote for the parts, then you know the part number, and could purchase from them or online.
With the mileage you have the steering rack may be on its way out as well. Mine started leaking at 230k, I rebuilt it with a seal kit at 250k miles. Overhauling a rack and pinion isn’t easy, and this was my first one.
It might not hurt to price a complete rack and pinion, they should come with inner and outer tie rod ends installed on them…under one part number. Make sure you sitting down when you get the price though…

 

They are from a digital copy of the factory service manual. There are some links floating around online for the 2003 one, but I'm not going to link it here.

As far as finding parts- I only use parts.toyota.com as the source of truth for part number look ups. I have found some inconsistency between the Toyota (company) parts catalog, and the dealership network / online warehouse catalogs. BUT I have always defaulted to the company part number and I haven't been shipped an incorrect part. Use your VIN number to select your vehicle, and then find your parts. The search is terrible, so I suggest you go through the categories/subcategories to find the diagram and part you're looking for.

I found the inner tie rods in the Brakes and Suspension / FRONT STEERING GEAR & LINK category.

For my 2001 Double Cab 3.4 AT 4WD the part number is

$102 45503-39075 Steering Tie Rod End Sub-Assembly

45503-39075 END SUB-ASSEMBLY, STEERING RACK. (I'd be willing to but it's the same part for any 1st gen 6lug truck) These are very pricy items, so be prepared.

Once you have the part number for your truck, you can shop it around to the various dealer and wholesale sites (ebay even, if you can confirm it's a dealer-associated vendor) and find a price you feel comfortable paying.

For what it's worth, the boot is 45535-35030 but you shouldn't need to replace yours unless they are damaged. Once you find the diagram, you can find the various camps and clips as well.

 

Thanks you did mention this, but there is no guarantee that this is the source of the play or the sound. For anyone reading this if I find the definitive source of this sound I will let you know.

 

Visited my local Toyota dealership today. They quoted me out some parts. At first they told me that they couldn't find just the inner tie rod. The parts list they had for this area had just the outer tie rods or the complete steering assembly which costs $750+ (By the way I think this is a fair price for the entire assembly considering its complexity, I'm not surprised.)

However I looked on Camelback Toyota's site and referenced the Toyota part number: 45503-39066 - which is an inner tie rod.




The parts rep looked into it and said this part would indeed fit my truck but that the mechanic would have to take apart my steering assembly to put this part in. That this wasn't a straight forward task like changing out a ball joint (Is that true). He cautioned that by the time they take it apart they may find that this either is not the cause of the play or I may need to replace the entire assembly after all.

Is it really that difficult for a competent mechanic to just switch out the driver side inner tie rod or is it really something that's going to take many hours and something someone may mess up?

Side point won't I need a new boot with repacked grease too?

I am a little concerned about throwing in a whole new assembly which would cost over 1K where the assembly I have seems ok. There is no loss of power steering fluid from the reservoir. Despite the play I am also not entirely convinced that the sound I am hearing is coming from a bad steering assembly or the inner tie rod. I just thought something was a little worn. The cost of $1k plus is not that big of a deal if I could be sure this was truly necessary but so far after many opinions no mechanic I've seen is really sure if this is the cause of the sound.

Toyota mentioned they could do an hour diagnosis for $175 and that they have master mechanics. I may have to do this because I'm still not convinced that it couldn't be something stupid like just a loose nut somewhere or maybe a boot that needs to be replaced and packed with grease.

I was hoping changing out the inner tie rod as per the visible play would rule this out as a cause for the pop sound and it would be a straight forward job for maybe $300-400 with parts and labor.

I really don't want my truck to become an endless money pit where I'm basically overhauling a 21 year old truck for more than the cost of just replacing the entire truck outright. Guess I'm still at square one with all of this.

***Update: Looking on Tacomaworld at this post. Looks like doing an inner tie rod isn't that hard. One person quoted it as being 45 mins

Glad I found this video:
The rep at Toyota didn’t read the illustration right.

Is this the same steps to change the inner tie rods on a 4x4 cuz this doesn’t look complex at all!

This actually looks easy enough for me to do. And while Im at it I might as well change the outers and def the bellows. The reason I wanted a Toyota is because it’s a simple yet solid design.

Would this be all it would take to remove the play out of the driver side tie rod area as referenced in the video I posted of my truck previously?





-prerunnersd

 

Dealers are always going to try to upsell. It's probably easier for the techs to pop off the rack and slap a new one in, rather than replace the inner tie rods.

The outer tierods are easy to do with minimal special tools... The inners, on the other hand, aren't difficult but require some special tools. @Timmah! has a great video that details things out:
https://youtu.be/--HcOQlv03U

 

I think most anyone can do it, especially after going to YouTube University for just a few minutes.
You can actually pull the bellows boot off of the rack and verify that the inner joint is loose. It should be dry on the inside of the boot, no grease packed in there or anything. If you have a lot of power steering fluid in there, the rack is leaking.

 

Just to confirm both inner tie rods on a 2001 - V6 4X4 are the same identical part correct? From the diagram I have this as Toyota part number

$102 45503-39075 Steering Tie Rod End Sub-Assembly

45503-39075 at a cost of $246.78 each! Speaking of a rack-et, a whole new rack and pinion set from Toyota which would include these components is $761.75

I pulled back the bellow, its hard to tell if its dry inside or not because even with the bellow all the way pulled back there's hardly any room to see inside. There is definitely no power steering fluid in there.

Yesterday the big tell was when I jacked up both sides again: I shook the driver side wheel at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions and there is a good amount of play and I can even hear the metal in the driver side inner tie rod component make some sound as I move the wheel back and forth. On the passenger side there is some play at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions but not nearly as bad. I plan on just replacing both sides at the same time & ASAP.

Side note when I shake both sides at the 12 and 6 o'clock its very tight, probably because I did my upper and lower ball joints in the last 2 years. Now I understand about shaking the tire for play.

I've called around and the OEM inner tie rods are quite expensive from Toyota. I might just get some from O'Reilly's that are Masterpro brand, they are a fraction of the price and at least have a lifetime warranty. Anyone have luck with these?

I'm also on Rockauto and pricing out parts there. They have a good price for Moog tie rods. I know this brand has mixed reviews on here but it might be better than an economy brand like Masterpro.

Overall I think its about time to look into selling her or maybe she'll keep on going and going and I'll forget I ever thought about selling her, lol. I LOVE the sound and feel of these Tacoma engines.

 

I think they are the same, both sides. The outer are shaped opposite.
I can go on and on about why selling your truck is a bad idea, but I’m not in your position, and I don’t know your situation. The bottom line is you’re going to pay, miles cost money. You’re either going to spend money on repairs and upkeep (what I do, but I do all of my work myself, except I don’t have an alignment machine) or your going to have a monthly payment, with probably higher insurance as well with a newer vehicle. The newer the vehicle you choose, the more complicated the systems are, and your ability to learn and fix things yourself are completely not an option due to the cost of a scan tool that can program modules. Everything on newer vehicles are module controlled, and most every module has to be programmed to the vehicle. Backyard mechanics will soon be a thing of the past, unless we can get the right to repair act in place and have the software and tools available to consumers at a reasonable price. Otherwise, it’s “take it to the dealer “!
A brand new $10k snap on scan tool does not even attempt to shed a light to the IDS computer that I was using at the Ford dealership 15 years ago, as far as programming capabilities and active command control of anything. It’s really ridiculous how they have everything on lockdown. It’s not just on Fords either, it’s the same thing with all makes, and heavy equipment. Older vehicles and equipment will only depreciate so much, due to the fact that ordinary people can do most all tasks on the given vehicle. The heavy equipment world is seeing a spike in the value of older equipment, because in the long run, in cost less to fix, as opposed to buying newer equipment.
My truck is currently down in my shop. I’m doing a 300k mile service to it. I try my best to bite the bullet and fix any problems that arise, as small as a rattle in the dash. If you stay on top of it and fix the “little” things when they give trouble, it pays off in the end and everything doesn’t end up compiling and overwhelming you all at once. I think that’s the reason lots of people choose to trade or upgrade. If you want the bells and whistles of a new truck, they offer most modifications in the aftermarket. I still find it more attractive to fix what I have. If I totaled my truck tomorrow I will truly be heartbroken, because of the fact that you can’t just go get another one like it without a lot of searching. Forget about walking onto any dealership lot and finding anything that compares.
Just my opinion and point of view.

 

When I say sell my truck and get a new one, I don't mean brand new. How about one that is LESS old lol. I do agree that newer cars are getting more complicated. You won't believe the extra tech they will legally require in all autos in the near future as per the proposed new US Congress multi-trillion dollar infrastructure bill.

I'm envious that you know how to fix things in your truck so readily, that gives you a huge advantage. For me however there is a the factor of the opportunity costs

Its been rewarding to locate the troubles with my truck and get it fixed, up to a point but the experience is getting frustrating. These past several months I've spent many hours and what seems like days of research, driving around for second, third and fourth opinions. It feels like I'm chasing ghosts and fixing things in the hopes that I locate problems. Like dominoes falling more things start to break and its a never ending hamster wheel.

The cost of these repairs is not simply the time and money I invested but also the loss of other opportunities or just relaxation I could have pursued instead. I think its important that this aspect is not overlooked. 1st world problems I suppose.

These 1st gen models are not hard to find in southern California, I would even switch to a similar style 4Runner that is basically the same truck.

I currently see two double cab 1st gen models for just under 10K on eBay

I could likely sell mine and roll that into one with less miles and possibly one that was better maintained. I wouldn't mind one of those early model Lexus RX SUVs, these are very well built. I'm flexible at this point. I just don't want to spend days and days fixing these problems.

I'm going to likely get the rack and pinion replaced if thats what I need to do and just keep an eye out and see if I can get a good deal on a newer truck. I def still love this truck but I don't need to keep her forever. We will see. Its good to have options and not be stuck.

 

You’ve got a good point! I often forget that other people have different hobbies and such. My hobby has always been wrenching on something, and I do it for a living as well. I often feel overwhelmed with my job and such because it’s a forever evolving profession. Nobody knows it all, and there’s something new coming out every day. The process that you are talking about “learning and researching” I actually do on a daily basis, depends on what I’m working on.
I can definitely relate to the way you feel as I took a week off of work and painted my truck a few years ago. I AM NOT a damn body man!!! Haha, it would have been well worth paying someone else to do that, it ended up being a nightmare that I will most likely have a body shop redo in the future. You can’t beat a man at his own game.