Goodbye reman steering rack, hello new

Last year I bought a remanufactured steering rack to replace my old steering rack because I had a bad rack guide and my inner tie rods seemed like they were loose; but they weren't at all, they were just like new. Instead of buying a new rack guide, I just bought a new rack with the same old-style rack guide with new tie-rods inner and outer, and the rack guide eventually came loose and made a popping noise with loose steering. At that time, my rack began leaking fluid out of the input shaft where the steering wheel shaft attaches.

I replaced the rack guide with the new style from a 99-04 style rack and it worked great. But my rack continues to leak. Instead of taking it in on warranty, I decided to buy a new one from Toyota Steering.

I have poly bushings in my current rack and I plan on replacing the rubber in the new rack with them. I have to do this within a week because nursing school begins on the 26th and I have to have it aligned and get new tires (open country HT instead of XTX sports)..

Oh yeah.... Last year I had to replace one of my poly bushings because it "squished out" because I forgot to replace the washer when I installed it and I took it to Les Schwab to have it realigned because it made my steering wheel crooked. The guy aligned it and my steering wheel was still crooked. I was so damn busy with school at the time that I just said f-it and I adjusted the toe using my laser with a slight toe-in. The truck drove fine.

I will let you all know how the new rack goes. Has anyone ever done business with Toyota Steering? I found their customer service to be very difficult to get a hold of.

I hate steering problems.

 

This should probably belong in the suspension forum.

 

Hmm. Sorry to hear your problems with the rack. They are bitch to replace/install. I bought a reman one from NAPA last year and it has been working great (~7k miles). Keep us posted.