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02’ Tundra ac sr 4.7 with 71,000 miles
So I changed out my steering rack bushing this week (while still on vehicle) and thought Id post my experience. I won’t bother with the obvious (jack up the truck, use blocks) because that has already been covered in other post.
The first mistake I made was the middle bolt (vertical) is removed from the top of the rack and not the bottom. That bottom nut is welded to the frame. Sorta hard to see this with all the dirt. I stripped it trying to remove it. Opps! I think I moved the truck trying to turn it.
After loosening all the bolts I cut the old rubber bushing end off the drivers side bushing (horizontal) (bushing side facing the rear of truck) and stuck a small screw driver (small ice pick would work good too) between the bushing and housing and wd40 it up really good. I then grabbed the washer that is attached to this bushing metal insert with a pair of channel locks and wiggled it out inch by inch ( this washer is facing the front of the truck between the rack and the truck frame).
I then cut the top of the middle (vertical) rubber bushing off at the top and ran a small screw driver between the housing and bushing and sprayed with wd40. I then put a vise grip on the metal insert and wiggled it out. Clean up was easy with brake cleaner. The passenger end bushing is a breeze to remove and reinstall just be sure to clean rack up before reinstalling.
After cleaning the rack up I installed (grease these new bushings up good so you don’t have any squeaks) the drivers side bushing first by hand then with a glue clamp. I then installed (pressed) the metal bushing into the poly with the glue clamp. I repeated this process for the middle one also. Everything went together pretty easy from here on out. I loosely bolted the drivers side first then the passenger side. I lined the middle up and tightened the drivers bolt which lined the middle bolt up perfect. Tightened everything down then tested it out.
The passenger rack still moves a little but nothing like before. The drivers side is rock solid. I had the truck aligned a week ago (before the install) and only had 1,000 miles on the alignment. I took it back to the shop after my install and was told the right front wheel was out 30 degrees and the left 10 degrees. I’m not sure why this was considering I didn’t break the tie rods up. Guess moving the rack around can mess the alignment up. While at the alignment shop there was a 02’ tdr ac with 170,000 miles on it and that trucks rack was rock solid. I talked to the owner and he states he has never had trouble with the rack. His truck clearly was used and abused more than mine so go figure.
The steering is tight now with no slop at all. However the drivers side D bushing does have some movement. This concerns me a bit and I will contact Energy Suspension and ask about this. They have a forum and product support here that seems to be manned.
Sorry no picture I couldnt figure out how to post them.
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