Cander

So I went to do an alignment and was told that my rack & pinion was leaking(bushings torn), and my front lower ball joints have play.

So i have priced out napa auto parts which they do have lower ball joints, and the rack & pinion which would have to be ordered.

Couple questions i have:

Now I have not yet been able to jack the car up and take a look yet(will be doing that on sunday), but for replacing the lower ball joints would the upper ball joints need replacing also? Shop didnt say anything about upper ball joints only the lower.

For the rack & pinion leak napa has the complete kit, and also boots seperate. But im wondering is it possible to replace just the bushings and if so what is a good place to get them? Steering wheel does have slop but does return to somewhat the center(has coilvers and needs alignment).

I've read on another forum although it was for i believe a sienna, that a person did have rack & pinion problems, but just replaced the bushings and everything steering was good as new.

Car has around 110k miles

dicer

Rock auto will have the better prices. Some may say go only oem. I think the upper control arm pivots go before the lower ball joints or maybe all close to the same time, so you may want to do them too. Just remember not to turn the steering wheel too much with it disconnected from the rack.

LsG86

I replace my rack and pinion myself. Also its good time to replace your front o2 sensors, rack bushings, motor mounts, and tie rod ends. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-1st-and-2nd-gen-1990-2000/772790-ucf20-complete-diy-rack-n-pinion-tutorial.html

Cander

Alright thanks for the replies, there's been a storm passing through here to the point some areas been flooded so it's been hard to really get under the car to do anything.

I got my ball joints, and I was hoping I could just change my rack bushings but sadly that's not the case. I'm having a big leak so a new one is needed.

Does anyone happen to know of a place that sells the rack and pinion with inner and outer tie rods?

If not I don't mind buying the outer tie rods seperate but where's a decent place? Napas price is a little more steep then I've seen online but not sure which sites are legit for quality

Cander

Thanks for the link, it'll definitely help with the install

LsG86

If buy a remanufactured rack, it should come with new inner tie rods. The outers tie rods are sold separately.

Kingsoup

This is pretty easy to check yourself. You can easily tell if the rack is leaking by removing the inner boots, they usually have just one clamp on the inside, you will then be able to see where the inner tire rod attaches to the Rack. There are seals on the end of each side of the rack that will leak if they're worn out, you'll see goop or fluid coming out of the rack on the ends if this is true. However, if your boots are just worn and you can't see fluid coming out (test this by turning the car on and see if fluid comes out) you're fine, you can replace the boots, its really not the difficult.

The Steering play is most likely from worn tie rod ends, or the super worn out ball joints.
Most racks don't come with Tie rod ends, but you can move them over easily enough from your old rack to the new, they just screw on and off (check for the SC400 rack rebuild thread for a full show of how they go on and off)

New Ball joints, check that rack before you replace it, boots are cheap, rack, not as much.