yaqui

4runner gurus,

A little background,
I went to have the allignment on my 94 runner taken care of, and the tech told me I needed to replace the Pitman arm, idle arm and inner and out tie rods. He said the allignment would not hold, and suggested I have it done. He did not want to the shop to do it, so there was no upselling going on there, and he did not suggest a shop. All these parts do look and seem loose to me, and my runner has been shaking when I drive over 60mph. So that is why I thought it was the allignment. And you can look at the truck head on and tell the drivers side wheel is angled out.

Here is my question.
Can I just tighten the bolts that hold all these parts toghter? Or should I go ahead and put the new parts on. It is a job I can handle, but I am trying to figure the least expensive way to do it. I picked up the parts already, I just want to be sure I am not throwing cash away.

Thanks as always.

y

my-4x4

Well as far as your drivers side tire angled out that means you have either bad toe or camber...look into the T-bars if its toe. Not sure how to fix the camber (correct me if I have these bass ackwards) Also you should have the front end lifted, have a friend turn the steering wheel in both directions, when he does look at the pitman arm (comes off the steering shaft thing) and when he switches directions, if it has any play or movement I would suggest haveing the pitman arm replaced. It is a fairly simple task to complete (this coming from a novice mechanic like myself) and I would say it would take you an hour. I would also do more research to find out torque specs on nuts to ensure your back to factory. Also you may need a puller or something of the sort to seperate the two.

Honestly I would use the search at the top and type in some keywords your looking for her, Idler arm, pitman arm, torque specs, etc.

Hope I helped you at least alittle.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

No, you cannot simply tighten them down. They are tapered, so no amount of overtightening will magically fix them. The steering system is not something you want to play around with, if it fails, you are in trouble. Get new parts, and install them. They are very easy to install, and then get it aligned.

My-4x4: What would the torsion bars have to do with toe? Toe is set by adjusting the inner and outer tie rods, and the adjusting sleeve there in.

yaqui

Thanks guys,
Pretty much what I expected. I am going to give it a go this morning. Really appreciate the input. Hope it doesn't take too long.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

I forget the link but you can get a whole steering replacement package, including all of those components you listed, for under $250.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Wabbit: I believe you may be thinking of Toyotapartsales.com

As follows:


Pitman arm - Power steering 92-95: $79.18
Idler arm - Power steering 92-95: $143.11
Outer tie rod - Power steering 90-95: $33.58 (two needed)
Inner tie rod - Power steering 90-95: $35.92 (two needed)

If you order from Toyotapartsales.com, your order total would be $361. Not quite $250, but damn cheap for factory Toyota parts. I just replaced all these parts in the front of Tim's (taikowaza) 94 4Runner, using factory parts. Easiest install I have ever done for anyone.

mt_goat

Instead of getting inner and outer tie rod ends, just get the whole tie rod assembly, its about the same price plus you get new adjustment sleeves and lock-down hardware.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

good call. I never even thought of that. Cost shows to be $81.53. Very reasonable for the entire assembly.

Jay351

why not rebuild the idler arm? Only costs $10 and an hour or so...

Matt16

I suggest you buy a pitman arm puller and a "pickle fork" and do it yourself. It's not complicated. If you take that path, I'd buy the whole tie rod assembly- chances are those adjuster sleeves are seized bad, mine were. I am using TREs made by 555 (or "Three-Five"), I've heard good things about them. They are cheap too- $15/ outer TRE.

Use the pitman arm puller for separating the tie rods as well, its much, much easier than using a pickle fork. None of the tie rod or ball joint pullers I had were big enough to fit around the steering on my 4Runner, the tie rod puller worked perfect. Tighten up the puller on the tie rods, then give the joint a hit with the pickle fork- should pop right out.

You'll find some useful infor here I think:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ite-up-163432/

darksoldier313

torsion bars would effect toe as it changes ride height which changes camber which changes toe just a lil heads up

yaqui

hey guys,

guess most of you posted while I was working on it. Wish I would have known about the Pitman puller. I figured it out on my own. There is a smaller pitman puller I used for the inner and outer and idler. The right tools make it go so much faster. If I had them to begin with, I could have been done in a couple of two or three hours. Also went back to get new sleeves. Autozone here in Dallas has a part loaner program. But I did break one Pitman Puller. Drives much smoother and quieter. No shimmies no shakes. Test drove 140 miles today. Thanks for all your help.

aviator

There is also a recall out for the centre link on the steering here's the link.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...8-t100s-66901/