Early 88 4WD rack removal hope

[Jbbishop2]

My power steering rack leaks fluid out both ends, and after reading some of the posts about the difficulty of trying to rebuild one without SSTs and extra good fortune, I bought a remanufactured unit.

According to the factory service manual the first step in removing the 4WD rack is "Remove front differential assembly (see page FA-73)." It's not what I wanted to read, right off the bat.

Looking around under there it looks like it might be possible to get the rack undone without removing the differential. Has anybody done this, or can anyone say it for sure can't be done (or is tremendously more difficult than just following the instructions)?

Thanks,
John

[Jbbishop2]

Never mind...you apparently do have to remove the front differential; the two front differential supports block the rack from coming out. The manual wins.

[joegri]

i,ve been watching this thread to see how this worked out? i ve sprung a leak on the left front and dont know how to approach this? but was freaked out if i had to remove the frt diff. gonna bring the van to my friends shop and see what the fix is. hope its just a leaky seal and is a simple job. anybody here have to replace a seal? jus wondering cuz in all the years i,ve had these vans i,ve never had one leak till last week.

[timsrv]

Yeah, I've had 16 vans & never had one leak here (knock on wood). I do believe Burnboot went through this though.

[Jbbishop2]

As it turned out, the removal of the front differential was pretty straightforward. The only step that I might not do next time was drain the differential before removing it; there didn't seem to be any reason to do that. But there's fresh gear oil in there, now.

As Tim says, Burntboot has reported some experience (http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/showthread.php?658-Steering-rack-options&highlight=burntboot+rack) with rebuilding a rack (though in post #23 of that thread, shanbot talks about it being challenging and requiring special tools). In my case I replaced the old leaking rack with a remanufactured one from carsteering.com and for the first several hundred miles it seems to be good. I've read some negative comments about dealing with that vendor but they were fine for me, responsive to questions and prompt about refunding the core charge after they got the old rack back.

Another good thing was that while I had the van up on jack stands (on my sloped gravel driveway) for a week and a half, I finally got it back together enough to set it back down on its wheels late one Saturday night, about six hours before the Napa earthquake rattled the house. It probably would have stayed up on the stands...probably...but I was glad they weren't put to that test.

[joegri]

thanx tim and bishop for yer reply. i just went back and read burnboots sage and now i,m really scat! monday i,m getting it up on a lift. lucky for me i have a spare rack in stock. i just hate to disable the parts van. so when it does have to go to the crusher it,ll a pain to push it around. so its lookin like a rack swap. this should be interesting lol.

[Jbbishop2]

Good luck, Joe. One thing to check is whether the spare rack is the right one for your van. There was a break in July '88 where the part numbers changed on the 4WD vans.

[joegri]

well i stuck my head under the van and found that yes there is a drip coming from the boot. so i guess that means a seal is blown out. at this time i cant afford to take the van off the road...i need it to make money. so i,m just gonna have to dump ps fluid this season till i get a plan together for the swap. the old man used to say "fail to plan...plan to fail". i hate leaks makes the cool vans look ghetto.

[Jbbishop2]

I know what you mean. My leaks (both ends of the rack and from the pump) made it really messy, bad enough at home but also dripping everywhere, on friends' driveways, etc. Embarrassing, and after topping off it only took one 60 mile round trip to town before it was low enough to starve the pump, so it kind of forced me to address it.

[joegri]

i havnt checked to see if the rack from the donor van is the same and not so sure i have the tools n the time to do this repair...i,m kinda jammed-up for the time being. i have this thought that if i take the belt off the pump and let all the ps fluid leak out and just use it as manual steering i was wondering if it would make the van run funny and would i be able to steer it when it gets real cold? any thoughts? i just hate being in limbo. i also looked around this afternoon for the process of this task but came up with nothing. i,ll find it somewhere.

[Jbbishop2]

I haven't removed the belt like that before, only loosened it to take off the steering pump to replace the seals, so I don't know what else you'd have to take off to get it completely out of the way. I assume the fluid leak at the rack end would be way slower without the pump pressurized the system, but then, mine was happy to slowly drip when the van was sitting, too.

In this thread (http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/showthread.php?2115-A-C-Power-steering-pump&highlight=Bevel+gear+steering) Tim says " Many of us have run without power steering for short periods of time, and I'm sure some have driven long term without. Personally I find the van much more fun to drive with PS, so I keep mine in good repair. Another reason to fix the power steering is the bevel gear. The steering on these vans passes through a bevel gear. These aren't the strongest and have been known to fail (there was actually a recall on these). Running without power assist greatly increases the load on the bevel gear & could lead to early failure." So you wouldn't be the first to do that for the time being.

[joegri]

hey fellas i think there might be a lil hope for this task. i just was lookin at rock auto and they have a complete rebuilt rack with tie rod ends for $ 221.00 and a $100 core charge. that sounds like a pretty good deal? in my case i can only have the van down for a short while cuz it,s now the heating season round here. i guess in the mean time i could use my honda wagon to carry my junk in till its finished lol. i know i,ll be layin in bed tonite hashing out all the different scenarios.

[Jbbishop2]

My rebuilt rack from carsteering.com was $230 without tie rod ends and the core was $150, so your deal sounds pretty good. Oddly enough, the online prices on new tie rod ends were from $40 to $60+ each, some with very long delays, and I ended up getting them from a local independent auto parts store for $15 each, overnight.

[joegri]

news flash.. just my dumb luck. turns out that the rack is no longer available from rock auto. guess i,m gonna go with what jbishop did and use carsteering .com. i was able today to get it up on a friends lift today and really get a look at the job ahead. looks to be a good size job lucky for me i,m gonna be able to use one of his lifts (he has 3 ) and payment is i have to service his home heating system and the shop heating system and some cash. once i have all the parts needed in hand this baby is comming out and end this situation! i will take some pics and post,em but i did have a hard time posting pics in the past. anyway i hope none of you guys have to go through this. ive done 2 head gaskets and i,ve installed a new clutch on these vans but this repair really scares me the most. :silvervan: the van spinning simulates whats going on in my head. but there really isnt another van i want and ive been using these for 10 or more years. " the devil you know is better than the devil you dont know". man i was so close to buying some paint and really freshening her up. guess this will wait till spring.

[Jbbishop2]

If you've done those other jobs you can certainly do the rack replacement. Heck, even I could do it, and I'm no whiz. As I said earlier, the Toyota manual instructions are pretty good. I just followed them and it worked out. An impact wrench is handy. To break the axle flange bolts loose I used a box end of a combination on each side with a breaker bar to pry between the wrenches. And you'll need a ball joint separator. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F5LJ3M/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944579842&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0002SRGTI&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0X2AKE0WTT03BT9C6MFD)

[joegri]

hi van ratz i wanted to give an update to my rack replacement. and the good news it is in and working fine. but mostly i wanted to let others know that you /i didnt have to remove the front diff ! i found that if i cut the lil upper stud just a half inch or so on the driver side and removed/dropped the cross member it allowed me enough room to slid the leaky rack through the engine compartment. this repair was done without a manual too. just kinda stared at it for a bit and thought about it and followed with my plan and it worked! i dont know if the manual said anything about removing the radiator but this gave me lots of room. the best thing i had the use of a lift and an impact wrench(cordless milwaukee) these 2 items made the job alot easier. i,m not so sure that i would have tried it on my back on a dirt driveway. another note make sure that you mark which bracket that holds the rack in place meaning leftside/rightside. and use plenty of pb blaster and neversieze for instalation. this made it go together pretty good. the worst part was i had a small window to use the lift and dont ya know i came down with a flue...sick as hell while doing it. i hope that other van owners with this situation read this and have hope it,s a big job but it can be done.:dance2:thanx for the input for bishop and others and best of luck to anybody who attempts this repair.

[JDM VANMAN]

So how long did it take to do this job? By the way what was the part number for that rack? I have a 87' 4x4 5 speed that doesn't need a rack yet but would maybe consider ordering one up and put it on the shelf. Thank you and a job well done:thmbup:

[joegri]

jdm considering the way i was feeling it took me maybe 12 hours or so. however i dont rush anything and prolly could be done in say 8...jus guessing. as for a part # i talk with the sales rep at car steering.com. its all there for ya. i believe in having parts on hand also but this one i wouldnt cuz they dont fail often. i,d spend the ching on starters, alts, and 4wd radiators if you can find one!

[JDM VANMAN]

Thank you for the reply I'll need to check this out. Thx!!!

[JDM VANMAN]

Jbbishop2

How is your rack holding up and how many miles have you put on since the replacement?

Thank you

JDM

[Jbbishop2]

Hi, JDM,

>How is your rack holding up and how many miles have you put on since the replacement?

The rack has been no trouble so far, haven't touched it since. With the rack replaced and new seals in the power steering pump, I very rarely need to top up the PS fluid. Maybe a half dozen times in three years, though more often this year so a weep could be developing somewhere.

I don't know how many miles since the rack installation; the speedometer cable in my van has been broken since I got it (if any of you has a source for the speedo cable for an '88 4WD van with manual trans, let me know...just need the inner cable, not the sheath). I've been running with a used Garmin GPS to see how fast I'm going and to know how many miles per tank since the fuel gauge is inconsistent. I only started keeping track of the total miles in the last ten months and I have about 12,600 in that time, so guesstimating maybe 40k-45k miles on the rack?

John

[JDM VANMAN]

Thank you for the update and folllowing up, it good to hear it working like it supposed to, I had picked up a rack as well but haven’t had it installed as of yet.

As for the Speedo Cable I don’t have any info at this time on where to get one.

JDM

[Jbbishop2]

Thank you for the update and folllowing up, it good to hear it working like it supposed to, I had picked up a rack as well but haven’t had it installed as of yet.

JDM

As it turns out...I took the van to Big O for an alignment (after I got new tires elsewhere), and not only did I not get the alignment, because the wheel bearings have too much play, they pointed out that my rack was leaking. I hadn't noticed a lot of fluid use but the left end is getting the area around there wet a bit. There's some leakage from the right end, too.