2rx rack and pinion replacement - what else to do 'while I'm in there'
 

About to start my water pump replacement and noticed my steering rack is leaking pretty bad and figured it's time to replace it. Been watching videos to try to figure out what else to replace while I remove the rack and pinion.

So far I have sway bar bushings as they have to be removed and are cheap.
I've read that oem toyota outer tie rods hardly ever have to be replaced. I'll observe them once I remove the parts before putting in new. Same with sway bar end links. Anything else im missing?
I'll probably go with a MAVAL brand reman steering rack from rock auto with all other oem components. $300 vs $800 is tough to swallow on an old 07 with 150k miles and verdict seems that reman units tend to last a long time. I do intend to keep it forever though and can be convinced otherwise.

One of my decisions to finally just replace my steering rack was im observing more loose steering and I'm hoping this fixes it. It's been leaking for years.

Update: see below post for updates i ended up going with OEM everything....

I went with a 2001-2003 Highlander steering rack on mine they're cheaper than the 2004-2009 RX ones and have a more tighter/sportier feel due to a 2mm smaller pinion and more restrictive flow valve. Everything else like the ratio, turns-to-lock, rack stroke and steering shaft diameter (16:1, 3, 5.71", 19mm) are the same otherwise. Good time to replace the front sway bar bushings if they're worn as bar has to come up and out of the way to slip the rack out. If not going with OEM front bushings, the Mevotech ones are made by Ramcoa and US-made, very durable and OEM-like. The rest of the brands (Moog, FVP, etc) are all just China/India crap bushings that are far too soft and will crack soon. Other than that, there's not really much else in there.

Make sure to use a lot of heat from below when removing those front sway bar bushing 12mm bolts, as I've heard and seen them breaking before on a lot newer cars on our platform than our RXs.

@mattrx, saw your other posts re the highlander rack and pinion but they are the same price as 2nd gen rx from what I saw.


https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/...)&location=pd:,

Definitely giving the highlander one consideration as well due to what you've said regarding handling.

Yeah Toyota OEM price isn't too different 01-03 one is almost as expensive, on RA the reman 01-03 HL one seems to be same price now. There's also the 2002-2006 Camry steering rack on clearance from Cardone which looks like it fits (it also has same 16:1 ratio, 3 TTL, 5.71" stroke and 19mm shaft) after driving a few of those they feel like the stock 2004-2009 RX rack instead of the sportier Highlander one (they also have same bigger pinion size of the RX), but they seem likely to fit - although no one has confirmed fitment on these.

While I was draining the water pump slowly i slid intothe middle of the vehicle to assess my steeringrack. There is definitely dried up oil stains all along the bottom of the steering rack but still no signs of active leaking anywhere. passenger boot is shredded and i think all of the debris is just from the shredded rubber of the boot.I didn't necessarily see too much PS fluid actively leaking or at least i couldnt find it.. As i've stated before I've had this tear for at least 7-8 years and I've done nothing except drain and refill the PS resevoir every other year. never any noticable loss of fluid.

But I still think i'm going to do this job on my own while the car is apart. Watching car care nut's video, i saw that the hardest part was getting the 17mm hoses loose from the rack itself. Being in a rust belt state, i have no tolerance for rusted stuff. if i find that it's rusted and i can't crack it open i'll throw in the towel. I was able to get one loose with a box wrench but i was unable to access the upper hose with this wrench. so i ordered a set of crow foot wrenches to attach to a 3/8 bar. Once i crack those two open I think i'll be in the clear and start ordering parts for this job. I'm leaning with just getting the OEM Lexus 04-09 rack at this point since i'm doing the job on my own. Two indie shops wanted to charge me $2200 to do this job with a reman'ed maval or cardone unit. wtf!.I would have just bit the bullet with having someone else do it if they landed around the $1200 mark.

my end links move side to side but aren't loose when i pull them. however they do have tears in their boots. Might as well replace them. my outer tie rods visually look fine but haven't popped them out of the knuckle yet.

I'd also swap out the high pressure hose as well as the return hose.

I inspected the low pressure (return? hose) as it snakes thru the passenger side motor mount area, and right around there i can see the line is corroded. I ordered an aftermarket line - sunsong, from rockauto and planning to replace that one. I havent had a chance to inspect the high pressure line thoroughly but from what i see so far, it looks okay. I still also think that this steering rack is fine, even though the boot is torn, i don't see any leaking inside the boot, all of the dried up stuff on my subframe im pretty sure is the pulverized boot. I do see some dried stains on the PS rack itself along the center shaft. but nothing active leaking. I'm still going to do it anyway since I don't want to think about it anymore and it's literally been a watch item for me for about 8 years.

I ended up splurging and buying all new, OEM Lexus steering rack for $850, along with outer tie rods and sway bar end links, along with many new bolts. I feel like it's easy to justify the cost of OEM since i am DIYing it. so far i had one seized bolt, the exposed small bolt holding the sway bar bushing bracket. I purchased a induction heating tool and let me tell you that is also the best $200 i spent. i wish i had that when i was working on my tsx suspension.

I am just happy I have the luxury of taking my time doing this job along with the water pump. Nothing seems too hard so far, but I have not removed the rack yet.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...727b8a1068.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...15aa6d8407.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...8075f22464.jpg


$1300 later..... my parts arrived. I ordered from a dealership near me thru parts.lexus.com. the diagrams on the lexus website are TERRIBLE. I had to use a mix of other websites such as lexusparts now and amayama to get half functional web pages that showed part numbers.

I know I could have went aftermarket and got all these parts for about $500 total but I really wanted that sweet sweet genuine toyota cardboard box!

In all seriousness this is essentially a single owner vehicle and i'm planning on keeping it for at least another 5 years till my kids are part way thru grade school before i splurge on an IS500 or Integra Type S. I and even then it's probably gonna stay with the family. it's treated us well so far so I have no issues spending extra on this reliable machine. also just keep seeing mixed results with rebuilt rack and pinions and i never want to do this again, even though its not that bad so far. . I got outer tie rods even though mine looked in pretty decent shape. my sway bar end links felt solid with no play but the rubber was ripped on both ends very bad somehow so just a matter of time before i had to rip them out anyways.

As you can see in the picture, like mattrx said, the OEM rack and pinion is made by JTEKT. and you can see my busted water pump in the background that i just replaced.

Good stuff! Seeing the new OE rack is a thing of beauty! What brand of induction heater did you get? Thinking of picking up one myself

I got the Solary Hot Rod from amazon...

That’s the same one I was looking at! Carguy75 (He’s on here too) on the Highlander forum used that same heater to get the front sway bar bolts off on his Highlander.

Thanks!