Before starting I want to say personal "thank you" to 73sport for his steering rack replacement writeup:
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t108185.html
That was big help!
One snowy day I found a red stain on white snow under the car, driver's side. I have gen3.5 V6 Camry 1996, 141 Kmiles. First thought – transmission or differential! Thanks God, this was just (well, yeah right – “just”!) leaking steering rack. Leak was from the driver’s side boot. Fortunately, it wasn’t that bad: I could top off steering fluid once in three weeks, especially if I turn my wheels all the way right during parking (in this case, it didn’t leak).
Anyway, time to replace the original 14 y.o steering rack. Plus (well, honestly it is “minus”), I already knew that my original P/S high pressure hose is slowly leaking (it leaked from the place, where metal pipe is connected to a rubber hose).
It has been leaking for a year already, but since it was very slow I hadn’t replaced it yet. But the part was bought (the aftermarket one: the OE part costs $400 at dealers, even online!).
I shopped for reman steering rack. I had several options. One: dealer reman rack, $300 + $150 core + tax (local MD dealer). Later I found out that several online part shops sell the same unit. OEM reman racks has brand "Maval" and you can find these units on
importec.com and
autohausaz.com. Partznet.com (actually this is a dealership in PA) does not ship racks at all, 1sttoyota wanted $100 for shipping (since they are in WA and me is in MD). As an alternative -
rockauto.com that sells aftermarket remans. I chose Beck Arnley for $218 + $111 core with very cheap shipping - just about $9. Hopefully, it will last at least several years. At least they give 3 years/50K miles warranty on this rack, which is pretty good (better than 12 mo / 12 Kmiles AC Delco warranty or 12 mo / 18K miles A1 Cardone warranty).
Another parts I decided to replace: OEM stabilizer bar bushings – 2 pcs (OEM part# 48815-06021), OEM tie rod ends – 2 pcs (45046-29255), OEM stabilizer links (48820-33010), OEM P/S pump union bolt (90401-16008) and P/S pump –to-high pressure hose gasket (44327-12010). All OEM parts were bought at
partznet.com. I also bought a set of metric nitrile O-rings in the nearest "Harbor Freight Tools", since I knew that I would need to replace some O-rings.
A side note. Don't use aftermarket parts that includes ball joint parts, such as tie rod ends, stabilizer links or ball joints. 6 mo ago I replaced original 13 y.o. stabilizer links with aftermarket ones. Look, what happened with them now (in just 6 months!) (low row - aftermarket, up row - original 13 y.o.):
Compare with original old ones. Old ones are in better shape! So, use OEM here, or you would replace them each year. It is not a big deal with stabilizer links, but for tie rod ends you would need to do alignment every time.
Before raising your car put your wheels straight and secure the steering wheel by the seat belt or rope. I used the seat belt. It is not really necessary to secure it very firmly, just enough to avoid significant movements of the steering wheel.
Removing O2 sensor from the rear side of the engine is also a good idea to do before raising the car. Disconnect connector and using 22 mm wrench unscrew and remove it.
Lift the car. Note, you need to lift your car as high as you can - this will simplify your job. My jack is crappy and lifts maximum to 14". I ordered a new jack that lifts up to 20" but at the moment of work I hadn't got it yet. However, I found a way to increase lifting height even with my old jack. Just put your jack under the sub-frame instead of dedicated place for jack. This gave me additional couple inches of clearance. Don't forget to put jack stands! Don't leave the car lifted by the jack only!
Disconnect battery (a negative wire) before starting work to avoid any unpleasant surprises from SRS
So, I lifted the car and put it on jack stands. First of all inspection.Amazingly, but original tie rod ends and stabilizer bar bushings were in pretty good shape. Tie rod ends showed a little bit of oil oozing out of rubber boot if you press on it, but boot was not destroyed.
Bushings were soft and technically I could leave them on place, but since I already had bought new ones I replaced them anyway. I also inspected ball joints and lower control arm bushings - ball of them are original and still in great shape.
Remove both wheels and plastic protection (fender apron, 2 pcs 10 mm bolts).
I removed the stabilizer links (since I needed to replace them, if otherwise it is enough just to disconnect them from the sway bar). For original links it is necessary to use hex (allen) wrench to put it in the center of each link's axis and to use wrench on the nut preventing the axis from rotation by holding that hex wrench firmly. For my aftermarket crap this wasn't really necessary and I disconnected them by using deep 14 mm socket.
Disconnected tie rod ends. Needed to remove a cotter pin first and then unscrew a castle nut (17 mm). I used tie rod end puller and I would recommend this way to everybody instead of using a hammer. Tie rod ends went out with loud "bang" sound.
Now needed to unscrew 4 bolts holding the sway bar. First of all, using some paint, mark location of bushings on the sway bar. I didn't lower the engine cradle as 73sport did. I just used 12 mm wrench with a foot pipe extension to break the bolts. There is not much space there especially for the bolts close to firewall. You can rotate wrench from 6 o'clock to 5 o'clock only (counter clockwise).
For opposite bolt there is more space (let say from 11 o'clock to 7 o'clock).
So, this takes some time. Need to remove all 4 bolts (2 on each side), remove the clamps and bushings (since I was going to replace bushings).
From the passenger side, unscrewed the 12 mm bolt that holds returning pipe on top of racks mounting bracket.
From the driver's side detached from frame a charcoal canister's rubber pipe and just put the end of it onto differential housing to clear the way.
Now the fun part - unscrewing 2 big 19 mm bolts holding rack in place. The nut is in front and the head of the bolt is in back, behind the sway bar. Since sway bar is unscrewed it was easy to lift it up to get access to the bolt's head. Started from the driver's side's nut. Put 19 mm socket, 10" 3/8" breaker bar and extended it by 6' pipe from Home Depot. With loud "crack" I loosened it. Now put 19 mm wrench on the nut and a ratchet with 19 mm socket on bolt's head from opposite side. As I said needed to lift the sway bar to clear access to the bolt's head. Unscrewed and removed the bolt and nut.
Passenger's side nut was much more "fun" to remove. Because of engine mount there is not place to put socket with breaker bar on the nut.
I tried to use gear wrench instead, with pipe extension. It slipped. I almost rounded the nut, at least seriously damaged it. It took me some time to put wrench back on the nut (since it was damaged). I decided to go another way - to loose it from bolt's head side. Put a 19 mm socket with 10" breaker bar + pipe extension on the bar's handle. This was the moment of time when I needed bigger clearance: I'd be able to use longer extension pipe. This took me some time as well, since it was very inconvenient to pull the breaker bar with a pipe from underneath the car. But finally I made it.
The nut was almost destroyed and I went to ACE Hardware to buy a replacement. Home Depot do not have much metric bolts and nuts and even ones it carries are crappy (grade 2). ACE Hardware has big assortment of high quality (grade 8) metric nuts.
(here, on photo there is another broken bolt; I broke it removing P/S fluid reservoir)
Unscrewed bolt connected steering shaft with pinion. I definitely recommend to use wobble extension bar. It gives about 20 degrees of additional freedom in tight space.
Disconnected in-out tubes from the rack, using 17 mm wrench. First disconnect the lower one and this will give you more space for the upper one. Be ready for mess, put oil pan under the car to catch all P/S fluid.
Removed the old rack by twisting, pulling and pushing it in all directions.
So, now I switched to replacing pressure hose, since it is much easier to perform when rack is out of the car.
Disconnected lower end of high pressure hose from a metal tube that goes into the rack. Did it from underneath the car. By 22 mm wrench I held the end of the pressure hose and by 17 mm (or 19 mm?) wrench unscrewed the connector on metal tube. A little bit more mess possible here, so be ready.
Disconnected the upper end from P/S pump. Need to unbolt union bolt using 22 mm wrench. It is good idea to hold pressure port union (which is the place where union bolt is bolted in) by 24 mm wrench, since it might be loosened instead of union bolt itself. Be careful not to destroy steering pump pulley: it is pricey.
Detached upper part of pressure hose from the engine by unscrewing a nut on the top of the rear engine's side.
Detached middle part of pressure hose from the engine.
Detached rubber vacuum hoses coming from pressure hose to engine. Mark them first!
Removed the hose.
New hose requires transfer of some parts from old hose (OEM hose includes everything; maybe that is why it is so expensive):
Transfer mounting brackets from old to the new hose, as well as vacuum stuff and shield of lower hose's part.
Put new hose in place, attach to the engine, connect rubber vacuum hoses back. Rplace O-ring, attach to gear-side pipe using 22 mm wrench and 17 or 19 mm wrench (forgot which one exactly).
Connected high pressure hose to P/S pipe. Use new gasket and I used new union bolt.
Installed new tie rod ends on new rack. I used a piece of carton where I put the old rack and marked where tie rod ends are. I also counted how many threads are between jam nut and end of the thread. I also counted how much turns old tie rod end should do before come out. Finally, I measured the distance between jam nut and end of the inner tie rod. And still I am not sure that my wheels are aligned properly, so, planning to visit alignment shop anyway.
As to the centering rack - my rack was perfectly centered out of the box.
Now time to install a new rack. Make sure the passenger's side mounting bracket (with steering rack bushing) is at the same distance from driver's side mounting hole as on the old rack, otherwise it could be hard to put that bolt back (if it is easily movable then it is not a big deal; my was pretty much unmovable).
Start pushing new rack from the driver's side. Be careful to not destroy thin pipes on the top of the rack. It would be necessary to turn and twist the rack. Could be helpful to have someone at opposite side of the car to track and direct rack's movement. Do not pull by tie rods!
Once the rack at the place, shift it a little be toward the passenger side and connect the sliding yoke back to the rack. Move the rack back to its place. Put bolts and nuts back. To do so it is necessary again to raise the stabilizer bar to clear access to the bolt holes. I applied anti-seize paste on the bolts before tighten them.
Connect in and out tubes (pressure and return ones). Before this, I replaced both 10 mm O-rings at the ends of the tubes. DO NOT miss the port! Even though ports have different diameters, it is possible to put smaller nut from one tube to a bigger port and even tighten it! I almost did this and couldn't understand why I can't connect another tube! Figured out by looking at photo I made before disassembly (one more reason to take pictures during the process).
Finally, put back 12mm bolt supporting the return line on top of the passenger side rack's mounting bracket.
Put stabilizer bar bushings with mounting brackets back and bolt them. Again, will take some time since there is no much space there especially for the bolt close to firewall. Again I applied anti-seize paste on every bolt.
Connect tie rod ends to knuckles, put stabilizer links back.
At this point I also put the removed O2 sensor back, since I was going to start the engine soon. Don't forget to apply anti-seize paste on O2-sensor's thread.
New rack is in place:
Well. Almost done. Time to bleed to system. Disconnect return-to-reservoir hose and using vinyl hose connect it to the metal part of return-to-reservoir tube. Direct another end into a bottle or oil pan. Fill the reservoir, put someone behind the wheel and tell her to start engine for several seconds. Once tank is almost empty stop the engine, fill again and now tell the helper to slowly turn steering wheel from one side to another. Make sure she is ready to stop engine at any time and don't leave reservoir empty. I used a couple 1 quart bottles of Dexron from Walmart and then reconnected the return hose to the reservoir.
That is it. Attach rubber hose from charcoal canister back to the frame. Put aprons back, put wheels back, lower the car, get a test drive and do alignment. Send or bring the old rack back to get core charge back.
Total time was 2 full days from morning to midnight, but everything I did w/o help (besides flushing). Next time could be faster (hopefully, this won't be soon!)
Good luck!
PS. BTW, I needed to buy some additional tools. First of all I bought a tie rod puller on ebay and it worked perfectly for me:
I also found out that I don't have 19 mm and 24 mm wrenches and 3/8" 10" breaker bar. Plus, I always wanted to have a good set of screwdrivers. I had a bunch of Sears gift cards and gladly spent them on Craftsman tools.
DIY: GEN3 1MZ Replacing Steering Rack and P/S Pressure Hose (w/pics)
acquired 05/25/2007 at 129K miles
I4 5-Speed Manual 115,500 miles acquired 01/21/2011 at 109,XXX miles
I wrote about this in my DIY
great write-up!
Linear Mode
