Uisge Beathe

I'm having a problem getting the steering rack to free itself from the central mount with the vertical 19mm bolt and 22mm nut.



I have all the hardware out and from all of the write ups I have seen they all mention comments of "LOOK OUT!!! You're steering rack will dangle" or advise to secure it with straps before removing the hardware. Hell...mine won't budge!!!

I tried turning the wheel back and forth to see if that would break it free (after all the hardware was removed, duh!) and nothing. I tried to pry it out with a block of wood and a pry bar and nothing. I tried yanking on it as hard as I felt comfortable and nothing. My luck it will come loose while yanking on it, hit myself in the face and break the hydraulic lines.

I was able to replace the D bushing on the passenger side by just sliding the old one out and the new one in and I definitely have all of the mounting hardware removed but it won't come loose from that central mounting tab. In the pictures of all the write ups I have seen it looks like that central mount just sits on top of that tab but mine, best I can ascertain by reaching around and feeling, feels like it has two tabs. One on top where the bolt goes down and one on the bottom where the bolt protrudes and the central mount fits in between the two tabs.

Maybe there isn't a tab on the top at all but that's how tight it seems to be fitting together and the refusal of the steering rack to break free and dangle as described in all the other write ups clearly leads me to believe I'm missing something. But nobody seems to have had the pain in the rear that I am having.

The directions from Energy indicate to loosen the driverside tie rod and I could see how that might give me the clearance / leverage I need because the tension from the tie rods seem to be what's preventing it from moving freely but everyone seems to say it isn't necessary. I initially tried doing the job on rhino ramps and then remembered all the write ups seem to say jack up the front and get the wheels off the ground. I tried that the next day thinking with the droop would allow it to break free and no such luck...didn't make a difference.

Ideas???

RandyÄ

You did disconnect the rack from the intermediate shaft (from steering wheel shaft) didn't you? You mentioned moving the wheel back and forth -- make me think that the steering shaft is still attached. Some the online 'how to' writeups don't mention this step.

Gerdo

True, mark the steering shaft so You can reassemble the way it came out.

DON'T SPIN OR ALLOW THE STEERING WHEEL TO SPIN OR YOU WILL DESTROY THE WIRES TO EVERYTHING IN THE STEERING COLUMN (CLOCK SPRING).

The rack will not come out until you do this. Most replacement sets come with two different size metal collars (you only use one or the other) that goes inside that vertical mount. I have always used the Toyota one that you take out. It is knurled and will bite into the mount.

You may need to use some bolts, washers and nuts to "Press" the old out or the new in.

habanero

I didn't disconnect mine from the intermediate shaft and it came loose alright. I loosened the sway links as directed and removed the 4 bolts after loosely wrapping a bungee around the passenger side. Took a bit of wiggle but weren't too bad. Huh. Might've done it wrong, eh?
I vaguely used the 4x4wire instructions.

Uisge Beathe

I did NOT disconnect the intermediate shaft...out of the 3 or 4 different write ups that I compared none of them mentioned this. I did however look at it and considered it but didn't know what I was getting into if I did. That and it was about time to put everything back together and clean up the garage for the day. I also did NOT loosen my sway bar at all, it is only referenced to loosen it for clearance issues and I didn't have a problem getting to the hardware on the steering rack.

TheDurk

I also did not mess with steering shaft, tie rod or sway bar. Rack came loose on its own once the hardware was removed although the wire I had strung to support it never engaged. It wasn't THAT loose. The only thing I can think of is that your tie rod linkage is seized with respect to vertical movement. Or perhaps you hit a rock on that central mount and it is clinched in somehow. Good luck.

Did you have observable side-to-side movement of the rack when you decided to change the bushings or were you doing this as preventive maintenance?

LINY4Runner

I just recently did this, and I removed both tie rod ends and the steering shaft at the flange.

Another note: that long stud with the 22mm nut is actually a long bolt...tap it out with a hammer and a punch (or screwdriver you don't care about) and you can see it pop out from the other side

habanero

I did have the steering wheel locked and the wheels off the ground, truck on jack stands....

Uisge Beathe

I had just recently snapped a leaf spring.





I guess it was just it's time (look at the pic and you can tell I'm using sarcasm) because I hadn't even been offroad or anything. In fact the only reason I even caught it was doing a pre camping/offroading weekend inspection, oddly the truck wasn't even leaning or anything. Thankfully my buddy kept his old set with an add a leaf in the pack after he upgraded to Deavers. Seeing as how my shocks were looking pretty pathetic



I installed new Bilsteins while I was at it and took it in for an alignment. After the weekend of camping / wheelin' I noticed my steering wheel was just slightly off center and I took it back to the shop. They recentered it but said it was because the steering rack bushings were shot. The D bushing that I managed to swap out was warped.

techno

I replaced my steering rack bushes yesterday. It was fairly easy, although getting the center bolt/bushing lined up during reassembly took some time and muscle.
I did not disconnect the swaybars.
I did not disconnect the intermediate shaft.
I did not disconnect the tie rods.
Like LINY4Runner said, if you did not punch out the big long bolt on the drivers side, then you must do this or it wont move. If you have a diff drop then you must remove that so there is room to pull the bolt out.

BajaRunner

If it doesn't budge with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem!

No but seriously have you tried whacking it with a rubber or plastic mallet? Its probably seized on there, depending on where you live.

Uisge Beathe

I'm guessing more than likely it's just seized in there. As previously stated I had no problems getting all of the hardware out, including the long bolt, and I had also tried whacking on it a little bit with a plastic lead filled dead blow hammer and tried to wedge it out with a block of wood and a pry bar. I was just checking to make sure there wasn't something else that I had missed such as pull the tie rods or the steering intermediary shaft. Those seem to be un-necessary steps for EVERYONE else so I will try blasting all affected areas with some Kroil (The Oil That Creeps) and see if that gets some lubrication to where ever it needs to get to and try again with my dead blow "persuader".