Loose steering 1998 Tacoma

Hey all,
I bought this Tacoma earlier this year with about 190k miles on it. I've noticed the steering has been getting looser and looser, to the point where if I hit a bump on a straight highway, the whole truck starts to wobble and oscillate with increasing frequency (terrifying).

Looking under the truck, I would assume my steering rack is shot. It has been moist with fluid since I bought the truck, and the arm has a lot of up and down movement. I'm no mechanic and I don't know what a functioning steering rack is supposed to look like, so I included a video of the movement if someone else wants to give me their 2 cents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJkcath0fp8

I've been looking online to potentially buy a rebuilt replacement, I had a few Concerns. Are the 2wd racks interchangeable with the 4wd racks? Can I use racks from another year (I'm 1998)? I've seen writeups on this forums and others for the replacement of a steering rack, how difficult would it be for someone with basic tools but no mechanical background? Any special tools required?

Thanks for the help

 

Bump.
Curious about this too

 

Stop driving it until it is fixed!!

That said, it's hard to tell in the vid, and even harder to tell w/o 'feeling it' what the root cause is, but it's for sure not safe.

Good chance it's the inner tie rod ends that are shot, and the rack is fine, just a weeping seal.

An alignment shop worth it's salt would not even try to align that (because it can't be done).

A quality shop would however tell you what needed to be replaced before they could do the alignment. Which you need after the work is accomplished anyway.

Thus, I recommend you ask around and find a good independent alignment shop (not a chain unless you personally know the tech), get an honest estimate of parts and their labor. Walk away and consider if you really want to tackle the list they give. It could actually be simple. Or not.

If you do want to try remember steering is a big time safety issue, and not something a self proclaimed novice mechanic should be messing with either alone or with internet guidance. You really need someone with some seasoning to at least look over your shoulder and walk you through things as you disassemble and replace. It's not rocket science, but it's not usually intuitive for a beginner either.

As far as parts interchange, when you look up your specific part on a site like Rock Auto, you can often click on the part number and find what else that part fits. That could answer your 'what years' question.

Let us know the end result.

And please. Stop driving it till you get that fixed.

Free tip. Find a local group of Tacoma owners and see if you can get some alignment shop references. Barring that, find a local group of Miata or other sports car owners and ask the same question. Sports car folks (who compete in autox and such, not just cruisers) tinker with alignment regularly, and they'll know the deal

 

From that video, it looks like the rack end itself has a lot of play, not the inner tie rod. Either the rack is bad, or the guide is shot. Hopefully the latter, because that can be replaced without removing the rack (a lot more work). This is not from personal experience, however. The following text is from someone else's post some time ago : .

"If you seem to have play on the driver side rack end and not the pass side you may have a worn "rack guide". Pull the driver side rack boot back and observe if the play is from the inner tie rod end or the rack shaft itself. If the rack shaft itself moves up and down then a worn guide is the likely culprit. If there are no leaks or other issues with the rack then just the guide can be replaced/upgraded. Search around for "rack guide" threads for all the poop on the "new style" guide. The part was upgraded by Toyota around 01-02. A 99 original rack will have the "old style roller" guide that can develop play in as little as 30K miles. The upgrade is a 1/2 hour job tops without pulling the rack. "

 

It doesn't look like its [only] the inner tie rods. Either way, when you purchase a rack& pinion I'm pretty sure they come with replacement inner tie rods. I would end up replacing inner & outer tie rods as well. The amount of movement in the steering rack arm (which isn't NEARLY as prominent on the passenger side) makes me think it's more than a weeping seal. Maybe some sort of ring shaped guide that inserts into the end of the steering rack to guide back and forth movement? Either way I know people on here have worked on this part, I'm just hoping one of them runs across this thread and drops some knowledge

This is a good idea. I'll wait and see if I get any other suggestions here, then I'll take it to a professional for a diagnosis.

Thanks, I understand the concern. I might have underplayed my abilities a little, I have done some basic work on the truck, removal of throttle body, egr valve, ps pump, and my roommates have experience with steering & suspension work on their trucks, so I am pretty confident in tackling this. Nonetheless it will be taken in for a professional alignment as soon as this is all done. I really appreciate the response to this thread

 

Search "rack and pinion", advanced search, titles only.

 

Wow thanks I just saw this. This seems to be the exact issue I have! Would it explain the leaking/ the fact that the whole driver side of my rack is covered in fluid? And assuming I replaced the guide and everything tightened up again, would a leaky rack really be problematic? I mean it's all power steering fluid right so as long as I keep the reservoir full, that'd be enough? Thanks

 

I don't know if this explains the leaking PS fluid. If the internal seals have gone, then you may need a new rack anyway, even if the new guide fixes the looseness.

Do some more research. Google "tacoma steering rack guide". You'll finds tons of stuff posted by guys with actual experience.

 

vvv This guy is probably the most knowledgeable guy on this site when it comes to steering racks. Look for his thread and read up.

I bought a brand new AAE/Safari rack that had the same play from basically new. Swapped it to a Rack Doctor remaned unit, it's been holding up great.