daveskates

iTrader: (1)

Noticed the wheel shakes quite a bit. I know it needs an alignment but the wheels wiggle a bit when it's in the air or on the ground so that lets me know the inner tie rods are bad. Is it easy to replace the inner and just re-align the car OR is it better to replace the whole steering rack? I know it's easier to replace the rack on some cars and some easier to just do the tie rods. Just making sure before I go and order parts, thanks in advance

LScowboyLS

on this car, it is much easier and cheaper to do the inner (and outer) tie rod ends, rather than the whole rack - Toyota calls the inners "rack ends" - I would do both inner and outer and use all Toyota parts, and definitely not Moog, which has gone down hill. - If I was strapped for money, I might go with Raybestos or someone on the expensive inner ones.

I would do the strut bar bushings first though, since they can contribute to this same symptom and are known to go bad after as little as 80K miles, and are a very frequent issue on LS400, and make sure to use the real Toyota part on this also (it's not expensive)

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Whole rack is cake, 2 mounts, the high pressure lines, the u-joint, and the solenoid connector, boom done.

verify play is in the inners and not outers first. most racks don't include outers.

LScowboyLS

yeah, the labor is cake, but not the price of the rack!

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

fully rebuilt rack with core fees= $180 at my local rack rebuilder. $150 if you return your core.