Told ya so! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />

Never done it myself, but I don't think it's all that difficult. I think the most popular bushings are energy suspension. I'd go to the dealer for a new tie rod end. To fix that I think you just need a big wrench and a strong arm. And you will more than likely need an alignment afterwards.

Ok.. found a writeup on how to change these. However, that is for a 1996 Tacoma. On the writeup they reference the place to get parts. The parts place says it's the same parts all the way up until 2004. My question is, does my 2000 4runner have the same steering rack as the tacoma in those years?

My 2nd question, so basically you're saying to replace the bushings, and then tighten that big adjustment bolt a tad and i should be good to go?

thanks

Should be the same as the Tacoma.

No, don't tighten anything. Just replace the bushings and go from there. If that works, your done. If not, replace the tie rod(s). If that doesn't work, then MAYBE tighten that bolt. I'm not exactly sure what tightening that bolt does, so I wouldn't recomend it! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Unfortunately, kartek doesn't show everything they have in stock on their website, so you'll have to call to order them, just picked up a set from them a few weeks ago.

Replace the bushings and see if that cures your problem...
As for the big nut, there's a guide behind it that keeps the rack main shaft tight, there's not much adjustment there, unlike the older gearboxes, so you shouldn't need to touch it.

The rack can be rebuilt, but in most cases, it'll cost more in parts, than ordering another one. Example the seal kit cost $76.49, guide $76.01, inner tie rod $98.77....etc....

OK... so i went ahead and ordered the energy suspension parts for about $13. They should be here either the end of this week of Monday. Anyways...
Just to add to dealer horror stories. Since i did not have a socket or wrench big enough for the nuts on the rack, i figured with the dealer having a lift and the proper tools, iw ould take them 1 hour max to change 3 bushings. THey are just bolt on bolt off after all.
So i called up the dealer and ask "how much labor to change out steering rack bushings?" The service advisor says hold on and them 30 secs later says $825. IT would be cheaper to get a new steering rack. I was like "NO! The physical bushings that hold the steering rack to the frame!". He said "oh... that will cost about $325 for the labor". This whole time i'm thinking "WTF?" there's no way even if the stealer charges $100/ hour in labor, that it will take them over 3 hours with a lift and the proper tools to change out the rack bushings.

We put the energy suspension bushings for the steering rack on the kids 95 Tacoma this past weekend.

All of the rack bolts (5 of them) are pretty easy to get to, then the rack moves out a bit to get to the bushings. The tricky part was getting the old bushings out in the tight space and then also getting all the bolts lined up again with the new bushings. Took us about 1.5 hours total, we also needed to jack the front end up a little so you can move the rack around once its unbolted. Its one of those jobs that can frustrate you pretty quick since its all lying under the truck working in some pretty tight spaces.

Oh, I believe we only needed 19mm and 22mm sockets to do this job, as well as a gear puller used in a creative way to push out one of the old bushings.

$325 sure does seem a bit extreme for labor on this job. If one had access to a proper garage with lift and a good set of tools, I agree it could probably be done in an hour.

Greg

Just a general observation on the rack movement.

I checked my 2001 Tacoma, and 99 4Runner and both of them show quite a bit of rack movement while turning the steering wheel when stopped. Of course this puts more stress on the rack bushings than steering while the tires are rolling, but I was really surprised at how much movement there is with the standard rubber bushings, some of this must be normal.

After we installed the energy suspension poly bushings on the 95 Tacoma, there was no rack movement at all even when turning the steering wheel when stopped. So they do flex a lot less than the original rubber bushings.

Greg

Ok..
here's the writeup.
http://www.keystonekrawlers.com/Mods/Toyota/SteerBushing/TacomaSteeringBush.htm

Since the 4runner and the tacoma share a bunch of parts. I figured this would be worth a shot since the underside of both our trucks look almost identical.

I ordered from suspension restoration parts just as recommended from the write-up. Not to bash their sales dept. But i called their 1800# to order and the dude wasn't very friendly. The guy picked up and i said "i'd like to order a part and i've got a part #". I was waiting for him to say "ok, give me the part number" but he rudely said "well i need the part # if you want me to look up the #". So then he says the part is $13. Anyways... so then i ask him if he could give me a price quote on shipping. He says sure. But then once again... he's just quiet. A few seconds later i ask "do you need my zip code or something?" (again i was expecting him to ask me for the zip code). But he rudely replied "well that would sure help wouldn't it?".
I dont know if it was just me, or if he didn't like me because i have a little southern accent.

I was wondering what you guys' experience was with them was like.

After he took the order, suprisingly he did say "thanks for calling, we will get that out to you today". Then he even gave me my order # and his name.

Hmm... rudeness must have been caused by hime maybe having a bad day? Or a previous customer? He seemed fine after he got my info.

Yea... i guess some of it is normal. But the rack was moving quite a bit... oh well... i'm kinda desperate here... so i guess $13 on parts is worth a try. I imagine since the polyurethane bushings have less flex, it will keep the rack more steady on straighaways and will improve my overall stability on the highway.

Ok... finally got the parts in and i got a shop to install them for $85 bucks.
When the old bushings were taken out, they were mostly still good. I could start to see a little drying on the passenger side one and a few tiny cracks on the central one, but not much else. After the installation of the polyurethane bushings, there was NO movement at all of the steering rack. Not only that, the steering felt a little tighter. The only thing was since i had an alignment done 2 weeks ago, the steering wheel was actually centered at about 3 degrees to the right, since the slop in the bushings caused them to align the front end off center. Anyways... so all was well and i tried to go back to the dealer and tell them my alignment was funny so that i did not have to pay them for another one (since they told me it was normal for all that freeplay). Anyways.. The service advisor then accuses me of getting new tires and coming back for an alignment and that i wasn't supposed to do that. I was like wth????? I didn't get new tires. I didn't even know changing tires could change the alignment if the original alignment was done correctly.

Anyways... all in all, steering feels tighter and truck definately drives straighter on the highway. However, there is still a little bit of freeplay left in the wheel and sometimes if i run over bumps one wheel at a time slowly, i can still feel some metal hitting against metal in the steering wheel. Could it be the tierods?

I have included the link to the writeup installation and part #'s for the polyurethane bushings under the "late model parts" thread at the top.

thanks everyone for ALL your help!