Leaking Steering Rack at 50k miles?

Noticed some grease on my boots so I decided to poke a small hole in the bottom to see if any fluid would come out. I got a small little dribble, nothing major at all. Pulled the boot back to see if any would come out and none did.

This morning I noticed some leakage on the frame under the hole. From the pics below, do you guys think its time for a new steering rack? I just find it hard to believe that the seals would go out this early.

 

Sure appears a rack seal leak. Kind of strange unless the boot allowed dirt to get in. I had about 75k on my tundra before the same seals began leaking...when i pulled it apart the seal was covered with fine silt.

 

@zoo truck did you replace the entire rack?

 

Would that be covered under warranty with such low mile?

 

How big of lift do you have & how much high speed semi rough road have you been playing on? You'd be amazed how much load / deflection is placed on the bore of that cast aluminum housing your rack is made out of.

 

Bro what do you expect you’re #lifted

 

Tire/wheel size also have a big impact. Based on the pics, it looks like it's wheeled often,, which is fine, just gotta assume the risks involved.

 

Yeah, plus a couple steel lines that were nearly rotted through from the salt spray. Total cost of parts was around $1,400. The new rack was made of aluminum to replace the old steel one.

 

I think mud and silt/dust getting past those rubber boots has a lot to do eating those seals. I live off a 2 mile dirt road that gets very nasty in the spring. It can't be helped getting all sorts of mud/dirt, and fine sand in there. My rack began leaking after a few years of this....just year or so after the warranty expired. Funny though the newer style toyota aluminum rack never had a problem till the day i sold the truck some 13-14 years later.

 

Yeah I have an appointment with the dealership friday to see if warrenty will cover it but I feel like they'll want to blame the 35's lol

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/low-ps-fluid.679814/

Not unusual at all. It's a common problem on Taco's. If you search for it here, you will see.
Mine still leaks all the same, I still haven't addressed it.

 

Thats a big issue anytime you mod something. Dealers always use it for an excuse whether it is or not. Learned long ago you gotta take your lumps when you do this. At any rate good luck with your truck.

 

They absolutely won't cover it and they absolutely will blame your 35's lol. Sorry to say. These leak with stock tires easily enough, let alone 35's.

 

Look at his CV boots. Id say he has a lot of lift..

 

Yeah 6 inch lift. My CV's are actually almost flat because of the diff drop though.

 

I threw some of the lucus power steering leak stop, and seal conditioner in my tundras power steering reservoir. It slow the leak to nearly nothing for a few months, but then it got really bad where i had no choice but to change the rack.

 

So true.

 

I would absolutely positively recommend you not waste anytime with the dealer and mention the word warranty.

 

Yeah my PS fluid level hasn't changed one bit and its been like this for awhile now lol a local mechanic told me that the leak stop can actually clog up and dirty the system. Thoughts?

 

I have had to put PS fluid in my truck all of one time. I have either the worlds slowest leak, or the worlds best boot clamps. Once it starts eating fluid, or dripping on my driveway, I will change it out.