i have a 2003 prerunner with a steering issue. i've read a LOT of complaints about this online, but haven't come across the way to fix it. when i drive on rough dirt road there's a klunking sound from the steering and when i drive on the freeway and hit a rough patch at speed the steering gets kinda squirley, which can really freak you out.

when stopped there's about .500 of play in the steering wheel. what i read in other forums is that somewhere close to the steering wheel there's a "slip joint" that wears and gives it the slop. appearently (sp) this is a known problem to toyota, and they have recalled some of the newer trucks, but not as far back as '03.

has anyone fixed this problem themselves? and what did you do? since there is an air bag, i'm guessing that pulling the steering wheel is a big job.

my truck has 116K miles and has not been abused. so far i've replaced the steering rack twice, once at about 65K and again at 100K. also i have the problem of the "break" light on the dash staying on for about the first 10 miles. this is also a known problem that toyota won't fix.

i've been a toyota guy since 1982 when i bought my first new truck, a 4x4 hilux. i put 114K miles on it with no problems. i have a 1995 4runner and have had other 4x4 toyota trucks. this pre runner is definately a dissapointment . you can spend days reading all the owner complaints on these trucks.

any help would be greatly appreciated, i'm unemployed and really need to fix this myself, if at all possible. i'm about to buy new tires and with this slop in the steering they are sure to wear out faster than they should.

 

for the brake light

if you push the parking brake lever in a bit does it go out? if so then you need to check the adjustment of the rear brakes. if thats good then you need to adjust your parking brake cable. I have to do this once a year to keep the light off, it is a poor design

as for the sloppy steering, idk. I have the same issue but i haven't had time to look into it. I did put urethane steering rack bushings in which did help

 

nope, i've messed with the switch, adjusted the brakes, and it stays on. if you GOOGLE "tacoma parking brake problem" you'll see this is a known problem, lots of people have this.

i also used poly bushings both times that i changed the steering rack. to be fair, i used a rebuilt unit, so it could be that.

as for the steering, i looked at the FSM and it looks easy to take the whole thing apart, so i'll start there. but not until i rebuild the front diff on my runner. today i replaced a U joint on it. man everything needs fixin' at the same time. good thing i'm unemployed, i'd never have time to do this stuff otherwise.

if anyone has done the fix on the steering column. let me know what you did.

 

Could be the slip joint in the steering shaft. Some have tack welded that.
There was a GREAT writeup on TTORA recently about that process..
Search for it over there. I think I posted in it..

 

Heres what scuba was talking about-
http://ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=161689

Im going to do this to my Tacoma after work tomorrow

 

I just came and found this thread.. so I could post this link
http://ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=161689

 

i never even thought of the slip joint being the problem, i'm gonna have to check mine soon

 

AWESOME guys, thanks for the help. i had already figured out how to test the steering shaft, just like he says. and the problem i have is exactly the way he describes it. what an easy fix! last night i was searching around looking for places to buy a rebuilt steering column, this will be FREE!

my 4runner also has lots of slop, i just figured it was because of the 215K miles. maybe i'll get lucky on that one too. it's my off road truck and all the klunking is really annoying.

 

welp. today i did the fix and it completly took care of the slop problem. my truck has 116K miles on it and probably about half of that was spent not at all enjoying driving this truck, because of it sounded like something was going to fall off while driving on dirt and wandering all over the highway. i may even wash it soon.

my new thing to worry about now will be, since the slip joint is a safety feature, which may not function now that there's tack welds. if i sell the truck, do i take it apart and grind the welds off. i'm thinking if a new owner has a front end colision and gets injured because of this mod, i could get sued. unfortunatly that would also bring the slop back, making it harder to sell. a veritable catch 22.

 

Honestly.. I wouldn't worry about that. That's why you only tack welded it, so it can still give if the vehicle needs to. That's gonna be one hell of a crash for a couple small tack welds not to give under the force of that 4500# truck coming to a sudden stop.


Since I'm about to do inner tres, I need to check my shaft for play..

 

GREAT link! Thank you guys!

 

yeah but, i didn't realize the slip joint was for safety. so i put 3 tack welds, a little larger than the ones in the article. then i put it all back together, and after that i read the "discalimer" in the posting about the safety feature. i'm kind of thinking i might take it all back apart and weaken the welds. this kind of stuff always happens to me, because of thinking i know more than i do!

but that link was great, the only thing the author forgot to mention in the tool list is that you'll need a TORX wrench to remove the air bag, on my truck anyway. otherwise that's one of the easyest tech articles to follow i've read.