Steering Question

[66 North]

A question regarding the steering on a stock 2003 Taco with about 40K miles: I am able to rotate the steering wheel left or right about an 1.5 inch distance before the truck responds. I was told by the dealership that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. I fell for it. Just picked up the truck and the movement is still there. I am assuming that the movement is not normal...

What else could cause the movement? Any input is appreciated!

 

[taco chaser]

you should be asking your local stealership that did not fix the issue they were supposed to fix, first thing. Doe's the cruise control and horn work? Is the air bag light on? I can't remember if the stock steering shaft has rag joints but bad ones could cause similar issues, or one of the small u joints could be defective in the steering shaft were it knuckles at the fire wall and shoots straight down, could also be alignment issues, loose crossmember or rack n pinion hardware........... Hard to say with out seeing it.

 

[BruceTS]

Usually the factory rack bushings cause this problem, the simple fix is to install urethane replacements.

Go back to the stealership and have them fix the problem, there shouldn't be that much play....

 

[66 North]

Yep...I am headed back to the "stealer" today. The cruise and horn work and the airbag light is not on. The old CJ-5 steering was easier to mess with...I need to get familiar with the Taco systems.

I will check into the urethane bushings for the rack. Maybe it is something I can do when I attempt to install the OME suspension.

Thanks for the info!

 

[taco chaser]

hope it gets fixed.:beer:

 

[66 North]

They are replacing a rubber coupler (rag joint?). The bushings were replaced with the rack. I will probably upgrade to polyurethane anyway. Pretty inexpensive and maybe easier to replace when the rubber ones are fresh.

On a positive note, they gave me an 07 Tacoma to drive until everything is resolved. Hmmm...where to go...:smiley_drive:

 

[BruceTS]

They better not be charging you a dime...... In fact I bet the old rack was still good, since the original problem wasn't fixed. I'd make them give you some sort of compensation beyond the lending of an 07'.

 

[taco chaser]

They are replacing a rubber coupler (rag joint?). The bushings were replaced with the rack. I will probably upgrade to polyurethane anyway. Pretty inexpensive and maybe easier to replace when the rubber ones are fresh.

On a positive note, they gave me an 07 Tacoma to drive until everything is resolved. Hmmm...where to go...:smiley_drive:

Did they find it our did you have to suggest they look for it?

 

[RHINO]

They better not be charging you a dime...... In fact I bet the old rack was still good, since the original problem wasn't fixed. I'd make them give you some sort of compensation beyond the lending of an 07'.

my thoughts too, unless it was warranted i would see the manager or someone about getting a full refund on the rack and labor to install.

 

[taco chaser]

So was it the dirty little rag joint?

 

[66 North]

No charge for the rag joint/install. I actually gave them a list of other things to check based on all of your collective input. The service manuals posted in Toyota forum also helped me understand the guts...very good resource.

I will be speaking to the service manager about the "misdiagnosis". With all of those rubber parts on a 5 year old truck, the rack should have been the last thing to check.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Sadly the rack is one of the first things they do check, as it is very common for them to fail anywhere from 50k to 100k. I've got a re-man Toyota unit waiting to go in my 04' w/65k... its got a sloppy right inner. There was a thread here on ExPo about the mileage of those that have replaced their racks, amazingly many get their first rack replacement in the 60-80k range. Sounds like it was not the case in your instance and realistically it should have been the last thing they replaced as it is the highest $$$ (~$600 for the rack & $350 for the install labor)