Steering Rack Issues!

Hey everyone. In need of some outside perspective and possibly more experience.

I just redid the entire front end of my truck. Suspension, rebuilt JBA UCA's, rebuilt OEM LCA's with Whiteline bushings and new BJ, CV axles, reinforced coil buckets, spindles, and LCA cam braces, steering rack bushings, inner and outer tie rods and steering rack boots, ECGS bushing and diff seals. Really the works.

Had an alignment done and everything was peachy, but the shop (reputable and not at fault) mentioned that they found the steering rack bolts had loosened a bit, probably due to the poly bushings just needing to be retorqued. Symptoms shown were when going to full lock one way or the other, the steering rack would shift slightly, putting the steering wheel off center. Retorqued the steering rack bolts and good to go.

A week later (yesterday) I took the truck in for my free retorque on everything. Also decided to go because I was experiencing similar issues. Steering wheel was cocked to the left with the truck driving straight. After a stop running errands, the wheel was straight again with the truck driving straight. Thought it was maybe needing its retorque.

After getting everything retorqued at the shop, they said they were still able to replicate the shifting happening, but the steering rack bolts were torqued down tight. Shop techs would steer one way to full lock, and back to center, wheel is off. Steer the other way full lock and back to center, wheel is off the other way.

We cannot figure out what is going on. Shop owner was under the truck while they were doing steering tests to see if anything is moving or shifting, but we cannot find anything. LCA cam bolts are staying put, rack is tight and staying put, suspension overall is not moving, steering column connections at intermediate coupling and steering rack input connection are solid.

Another thing to note is that prior to this work, when steering to full lock, I would actually hit the steering stop with a pretty defined clunk. Now, the steering feels quite spongy at full lock and doesn't feel like it's hitting the stop at all on either side.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? Is there something loose and shifting that I am forgetting about? Or could it potentially be something messed up internally in the steering rack that is not allowing it to go to full extension on either side? There is no oil leaking from the rack and no seals are blown. Also, inner tie rods installed correctly and tight and outer tie rods set evenly and to the same positions as when they were removed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The intermediate shaft is loose on the input shaft of the rack or you got something internal going on. The internal thing would be weird since it was fine before the replacement of all those parts

 

Still got PS fluid in the reservoir?

I see your truck is older (2008) so it might be worth checking the intermediate steering shaft u-joint (probably wouldnt cause symptoms you're seeing)
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...steering-shaft-replacement-and-review.544954/

 

Intermediate shaft and coupling have been checked. They are tight. I will check them again to make sure there is no play.

Yes there is still PS fluid in the reservoir. The steering shaft U-joint is an interesting point. I will look into that further, thank you.

Really just hoping to not have to replace the rack since it was working fine before. Not sure why it would be acting up now. And also, doing the bushings was already a PITA. I'd rather not have to do it again if not necessary. Rack replacement I think would be last resort. I still have options and things to check now, so replacing it now would feel like just throwing parts at a problem.

 

Is there any chance you forgot to put the steel inner sleeves in the polyurethane rack bushings?

 

I wish it could be that simple to diagnose. I struggled for a while getting the old bushings out. I made sure the new ones went in correctly with the steel sleeves

 

Another note is that the shop was able to clear up the issue initially by retorquing the steering rack bolts and the steering wheel shift from center went away, however the steering stops still were not hitting with a clunk. After about 100 miles though, I noticed the steering wheel shift happening again and the shop was not able to fix the issue this time

 

Your new LCAs do have steering stops right?

 

Yes, the steering stops were reinstalled in the correct orientation.

Wait, are you talking about on the LCA itself? The LCA's that were installed were an OEM take off set that I reinforced and rebuilt. I suppose the stop pads where the steering stop actually strikes could be shallower on the rebuilt set. Would there be that much variation between OEM parts?

 

Not sure about OEM.. I would hope not but maybe worth a check if you still have the old ones. I seem to remember reading there was a time when some aftermarket ones weren't coming with them for some reason

 

I do still have the old LCA's. The take off set I purchased did not come with them, so I reused the ones that came off my truck. Worth a look at least.

 

Inner tie rod connections tight?

 

They were tight when I installed them. This weekend I might be taking the boots off to check them as well as the intermediate shaft U-joint.

I also have two new steering rack mounting bolts on order. As many probably know, the driver's side bolt is too long to get out without removing the A/C compressor. I decided to cut the 1/4" off the bottom to get it out. When I put it back in, I put it back in the same way, top down with the nut on the bottom. I know that's the way it's supposed to go, but I'm going to cut the head off that bolt, remove it, and install a new OEM bolt and nut from the bottom instead. The nut was engaged and tight, but there were fewer threads than I would like. It could be that it wasn't able to stay properly torqued. Between that, checking inner tie rod tightness (and probably adding more Loctite), and checking the intermediate shaft U-joint, hopefully I can come up with a solution.

 

Okay, so after some road and parking lot testing today. It seemed like when I hit the point close to full lock where there was some resistance, I was able to push through with light force and get to full lock. Did this to both sides and did some hard turns around the parking lot back and forth. Seems a whole lot better now. Not sure if there was just some residual air in the system or what.

Got it in the garage and up on jack stands. Replaced the two steering rack mounting bolts with new. Threadlocker red and torqued down. On the driver's side I cut the head off the old bolt I had to cut 1/4" off the threads and let it drop out. Installed the new one from the bottom so that I can easily get it in and out in the future. I know it's probably not the best practice to do, but with the threadlocker, I think it will be okay.

Pulled the steering rack boots off to check inner tie rods, those are tight and should not be a problem. Before I mentioned the steering not full hitting the stops. I had a buddy of mine cycle the steering back and forth with wheels off while I was watching under the truck. Nothing appears to be moving at all. Steering stops are contacting the control arm. The only thing I can notice is that when the stop hits and the rack tries to push just a little further, the rack itself does flex up a little bit with the pressure. So yes, the poly bushings do flex slightly. But, the rack looks to be solidly back in place once the pressure is relieved. More evidence to prove that you shouldn't steer hard against the stop if at all possible.

I can't see anything else that might be shifting. The intermediate shaft U-joint is solid and has almost no play. Really not sure where else to check. Might just recheck the torque on the rack mounting bolts one more time and call it good.

Any more thoughts or anything I might have missed?

 

I am having this same issue after installing poly rack bushings. Ever figure it out? Looking for answers before I order a new rack, lines and and outer tie rods ends.

 

I may have some insight as I went through the same painstaking process after installing poly rack bushings. I replaced my rack bushings with poly units and got my truck aligned. All was good for a couple of weeks...until my 1st offroad wheeling excursion with the new bushings. I hit a deep pothole hard and my steering wheel was quite noticeably cocked to one side. I found a good location to pull my skid so I could check torque on all hardware just to make sure I was going to make it home. LCA bolts were tight but rack bolts were slightly under torqued. I torqued the rack bolts and resumed getting rad. When I returned home I rechecked the rack bolts and they were still tight, but steering wheel was still cocked. So, back to the alignment shop... All was good for a bit until I hit another deep hole and sure enough my steering wheel was cocked again. I rechecked rack bolts and they were tight, over-torqued really. I did finally fix the issue...more on that in a moment.

I ascertained what was causing the issue. Poly bushings are a much harder durometer than OEM rubber bushings. With OEM bushings, if one were to slam into a hole with one front wheel, the bushings are able to absorb some of the force before the force is transferred somewhere else in the system. I am sure there is some fancy equation to explain energy dispersion. Since poly bushings have less flex (harder durometer) than OEM rubber bushings the force transfers through the bushings to the next weakest point along the system; the rack bushing/frame interface. And since the rack is attached to the frame with a pass-through bolt system (not tapered or pressed) there is potential for movement. Hence, a hard hit with one wheel may shift the rack as the bushings are less able to absorb energy. Make sense?

Now onto a fix that has worked flawlessly for 2 years now. A little history of myself. I am a bicycle nerd, own a bike shop and I am a bicycle master mechanic and king problem solver. And there is a little saying in my small world, "Bicycle parts can fix anything". One issue we deal with in the bicycle world are slipping components, especially carbon interfaces. We used a waterproof gritty gel like substance to add friction between surfaces that have a difficult time achieving sufficient surface tension. This substance is formally know as "Carbon Paste".

https://www.parktool.com/product/supergrip-carbon-and-alloy-assembly-compound-sac-2

So, the following is how I fixed the rack shifting issue. I loosened the rack bolts so I could access the rack/frame interface. I then smeared "Carbon Paste" on the surface of the rack bushing inner metal sleeve/frame interface. Before torquing the rack bolts I snugged the bolts up a bit then rocked the steering wheel back an forth in order to center the rack, to ensure the rack bolts were perfectly vertical in the system. Once I was confident the rack bolts were in a good location I torqued rack bolts to spec. Back to alignment shop and I have had zero rack shifting since!

I hope all this is clear enough and I hope it helps!

 

Hey guys! I just wanted to contribute to this thread, because I was having the same problems. After installing the whiteline steering rack bushings my steering rack was shifting, causing my steering wheel to be off center. It was the strangest issue to track down, but I finally figured it out!

Factory torque spec for the bolts is 68ft/lbs. I torqued my bolts to that spec and the rack was moving a lot on normal street driving. I went back an torqued them to 89ft/lbs (tundra spec) and took it out for some light offroading. The steering wheel was crooked again, and after inspecting it at home the bolts actually loosened.

This is when I did some digging and searched for the maximum torque spec for those bolts. Based of the stamped number on the bolt heads, Toyota rates them at 116ft/lbs maximum torque. I loosened the bolts, added a good amount of blue loctite, and torqued them to 100 ft/lbs. Went out for some more light off roading and the steering hasn't moved at since. The only thing I need to adjust now is to get the steering wheel centered again.

Hope this helps!

 

Nice! I gotta get under there and do mine.

 

My bolts were pretty dang loose, centered the rack, put a shit ton of loctite on the threads, and put the mammer jammer on them bolts. Didn't torque, but got them damn tight. Seems to have fixed all my issues. Been living with weird steering etc after I installed the whiteline rack bushings a month ago. Think I'm good now.

 

Glad to hear! Driving with the steering issue was the worst!