evident

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.

MattRX

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.

evident

@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.

MattRX

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.