Steering Column Slop on 09 DC

Glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem.. That being said.. I still want it fixed.. Best thing to do is for all of us to get a hold of consumer affairs.. It will take a lot of calls for them to turn their heads.

 

BUMP! Every one of us should call consumer affairs!!!!!

 

how do we do this?

 

Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc.
Customer Experience Center
Department WC 11
19001 S. Western Ave.
Torrance, CA 90501
310-468-4000
Toll free: 1-800-331-4331
TTY: 1-800-443-4999
Fax: 310-468-7814
www.toyota.com

 

I was involved in an accident couple months back in June. Air bags deployed. Had truck fixed.... Now I have this sound. I know it is coming from something in the steering column. It may not be related. But i'm sitting in my truck right now with the dash pulled apart trying to figure something out! lol

 

Whenever I go over washboard or small bumps, I can feel this kind of loose vibration and noise under my feet. I installed a lift a few months ago, so I thought it was related. I've gone over and tightened everything on my lift twice, and its all nice and tight.

Today I did notice that when I grabbed the steering column shaft thats in the engine bay and move it around, its loose and makes that noise that I've been hearing. For the life of me I thought it was related to my lift, but I think I've finally concluded that its the steering column. Have we found a fix for this yet????

When hitting bumps slow speed, my truck does not sound or feel solid. Help!

 

I too have noticed the slop. Toyota needs to step their game up. All of it.

 

I have been looking at these. It is called a tolerance ring. Basically it is a radial spring that when pressed between the gap in the rag joint between the intermediate shaft and coupler should prevent vibration. However, in the event of an accident, the shaft would still slip as designed. Whese are commonly used now in similar applications. The problem is I havnt had time to size out what we would need.

 

Sounds like it could have potential....

 

It would be nice to figure this one out.

 

Well, the tolerance ring thing hasn't panned out. I cant find a catolog part that will work and I am not going to pay $5000 for custom tooling. I went back to the drawing board and aquired some o-rings that were about the right size to fit in the gap between the upper and lower shaft rag joint, maybe 1.5mm. I sliced the o-rings and ran them in lengthwise into the gap. This is the only way they stayed. It takes a little while. I used a 90deg bend pick to carefully push the o-rings into the gap. I pushed about 10 into one side. This was enough to bias the shaft to one side and remove any clearance. I tell you what, it's like a completely different truck. Just be careful when pushing them in, if you push out the rubber sleeve that is in there from the factory it is a bitch to get back in.

 

ok you know the next step!

some pics and how to. heh

did it take long /expsensive to do?

 

Well if I get time I will. Don't wait on it though since I am pretty busy lately. Anyone who has watched the videos I posted can see where the joint is. All you have to do next is slip the o-rings in, not excactly rocket science. The o-rings are only a few dollars at an hardware store. The rest is just prezeling yourself under the dach with a pick.

 

under the dash? so its done from inside the truck?
and what tool is that? a 90 degree bend pick?

 

Do you have the size required? I'm looking into this as well...

Thanks

 

Pull The shroud off under the the steering column under the dash. you should see what is shown in the video above. If you can replicate the video, estimate the side of o-ring you will need to take up the clearance. Cut it lengthwise and use any tool suitable of pushing it in the gap with. I used a 90deg pick. Size will be a function of how much clearance your perticular truck has. Mine happen to be about 1.5mm.

Edit: a 90deg pick is a pointy rod with a 90deg bent at the end....

 

So basically you took 10 rubber O-rings. Cut them, so now they are linear but naturally curl because they were originally made that way.

Then you inserted them into the gap, one by one, each O-ring reducing the clearance until you were happy with it?

I surmise that the natural O-ring curvature is what helps them stay put inside the gap (rubber sleeve)? The gap/sleeve is circular so it's like putting a circle inside a circle?

You reference picking a side to insert the O-rings, and I guess that's where I'm a little hung up.

Thanks for your explanation. Please tell me if I understand correctly.

 

Oh boy I really want to get this fixed on my truck