Time for New Steering Rack on '97 Taco

Well, I just finished the annual brake job on the '97 Taco and noticed a little puddle of power steering fluid on the floor by the driver's side. When I checked the reservoir, it had nothing showing on the stick. That was not a good sign at all! So where was all that fluid? In the driver's side boot, of course. I pulled the boot loose with a catch pan underneath just to be sure. Bingo! This is the original OEM steering rack so it owes me nothing. A reman rack would probably be good enough. But I just don't want to run the risk of having to do it twice, especially in this summer heat. McGeorge has the new OEM Toyota 44250-35042 steering rack for $495 + shipping and tax. Unfortunately, the "FREESHIP" code does not appear to work any longer at McGeorge. Already put the ES poly bushings on the steering rack and the OTRs were recently replaced. One of our members has an excellent "How to" on a 1st Gen steering rack: Step-by-Step: Replacing the Steering Rack on a 1st Gen Tacoma (or 3rd Gen 4Runner) – ADVENTURETACO. Cudos to you bud! Any other pearls of wisdom would be appreciated. TIA!

 

Try this link :
https://toyotaonlineparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com/

This is the mcgeorge link with free shipping

 

Thanks! I appreciate it!

 

The "FREESHIP" code worked fine! Thanks again!

The old rack is out & all the old parts I need to install the new rack have been removed and cleaned. The hardest part of removing the rack was getting the fluid lines to break free. A gorilla must have put them on. I would guess they were torqued to 60 plus ft/lbs.

 

Nice! Now just have to make sure the new rack is perfectly centered before installing.

 

I witness marked everything before disassembly. Should be easy to center up especially if they have witness marks on the new steering rack. Will follow up with info on the new rack.

 

You will know it's correct by turning the wheel full lock to lock. You should get the exact amount of turns each way. From center I think your truck is 1 and 3/4 turns each way.

 

I will check it and report back. Turning the wheel lock to lock several times is exactly how you bleed the air out of the system anyway.

 

Awesome!
Glad to help a fellow TW member
The McGeorge site can be confusing at times, the site that offers FREESHIP is there Toyota and Scion Online parts store
I use them all the time as I’m one of those OEM parts junkies
Out of curiosity , the rack came with inner tie rods right?

 

The picture in the description shows it assembled with the inner tie rods (ITRs). It even looks like the OEM mounting bushings are installed in the new rack. If so, they will have to be removed to install the old ES poly bushings and sleeves which appear to still be very serviceable after over a decade of use. I replaced the ITRs and boots on the old rack a few years back. And IIRC, the ITRs were pricey. In hindsight, I probably should have simply replaced the entire steering rack at that time. Live and learn.

 

The new steering rack arrived from McGeorge in just 2 days via FEDEX. And McGeorge double boxed the new rack for protection against harsh handling which was an excellent idea. It did have the OEM bushings/inner tie rods installed and it does have witness marks painted on the steering shaft boot. But the boot can move around on the shaft very easily. With the witness marks aligned, my rack was not centered. You must verify that the rack is centered in order to index the witness marks correctly. It is actually very simple to do. As posted above, it is approx. 1 3/4 turns in each direction to center this particular rack. My particular rack may have been 1 spline past 1 3/4 to center it. Stop to stop, my rack takes just a bit past 3 1/2 turns. I replaced the OEM bushings with the ES poly bushings. And I drained the reservoir then pulled the return line off to flush most of the old fluid out of the system as I bleed it. Rack is installed, center is checked, and system is bled. Will wait for some touchup paint to dry before torquing everything to spec. And that will allow time for a final leak check.

 

All finished. Final leak check was good and everything is now torqued to specs. Just for clarity: The easiest method to get everything centered during assembly is to attach the entire rag joint/intermediate shaft assembly to the lower splined part of the steering wheel shaft and push it all the way up. Cleaning and greasing the splines makes this easy. Center both the steering wheel and the steering rack. Pull the rag joint down onto the steering rack shaft. Then install & tighten both the upper and lower bolts to 26 ft/lbs. I used blue Loctite on those 2 bolts to make sure they won't back out.

The match marks I put on the tie rods before initial disassembly kept the alignment pretty close. And it only took approx. 1 turn on each tie rod to recenter the steering wheel while tracking straight down the road. Will probably tweak the tie rod adjustments a bit after driving the Taco some more. And will get a full alignment at a reputable shop after I install new UCA & LCA bushings.

EDIT: Also, you can expect a new rack NOT to be centered when it arrives. The reason is shipping. As you would expect, the shipping box gets tossed around hard for a couple days on its way to you. And every time the rack moves inside the packaging, it will probably push on one of the inner tie rods which will move the steering shaft away from center. So be sure to center the rack and align the witness markings before installation. If I had to sum up replacing this steering rack, it was just nut & bolt wrench work. Easy-Peasy! HTH