sloppy steering, steering wheel vibration, etc

[Bob98SR5]

...which is to say, my 4runner might not be making it to Pismo :shake: but I'll make it nonetheless.

i got ready to work on replacing my 1/2 shaft on the driver's side tonight and perform an inspection on my steering components (long overdue). typical crappy symptoms: loose "kermit the frog" style steering sloppiness, vibration/harsh feel in steering wheel when hitting any type of pothole, bump, etc, creaking, etc.

i first wanted to check the bolt tightness on the steering rack. i replaced those steering rack bushings about 1.5 yrs ago in the hopes that the steering response would tighten up. i'd say it was minimal. so tonight i took a look underneath and saw that the driver's side lower BJ has some brownish grease coming out of it. Can anyone confirm that that is the color of the lower BJ grease?

i did not do the shake the tire test to check it out tonight. but i may have to enlist the help of the mrs. to do so tomorrow. so if the tires show some wiggle, that's a good test to determine a worn BJ, right? but how do you know whether or not the upper or the lower (or both) BJ is worn?

same too with the inner and outer tie rod: how do you know which one is truly worn?

As these parts are about $500 - $600 bucks, i dont want to incorrectly identify the wrong part.

I'll be asking more "how to" questions after a little more searching and responses from above.

thanks gents,
Bob

[YotaFun]

Bob,
iirc the grease from the ball joints should be a greyish brown.
At least that's what I remember seeing in othe threads and what was spewing out of mine when I was putting the lift on.

As far as the steering rack and tie rod ends, mine was bent bad on the outters and thou could tell be the angle, when a friend and I did it on his taco his drivers side was shot to the point you could grab it and move it a good inch plus.
I changed my steering rack and he did his and we haven't had issues since well he hasn't, I think I am ready for my second rack.

Also how many miles do you have on your truck?
How much off roading have have you done since you got it?

Might be a wise idea to change the bj's anyway, to try to avoid what happen to ric...

[Seanz0rz]

lower bj's are about 80 from the dealer, uppers are about 30, each. the upper bj is a pain to get out of the steering knuckle, i made my own tool to press the new one in, and made my own tool to adapt a 3 jaw puller to get it out. lower bj's are fairly easy.

yes, the grease in them when mine were spewing was the color you described. shaking the tire should be a fairly good indication of the condition of the bj's. but a bad wheel bearing may also cause tire play in this test. to check the tie rod ends, its easy enough to pop them off and give the stud a good wiggle by hand. good ones will have some resistance, bad ones will have no resistance or play in any/all of the 3 directions. tie rod ends are easy to replace.

if you are serious about doing the balljoints, i can offer my assistance and tools to you on wednesday afternoon. i will be in walnut moving in in the morning, but give me a heads up and ill bring my press and other special tools.

[Robinhood4x4]

If one of the BJ's is bad, then the rest aren't far behind. You might as well do it all at once.

[Bob98SR5]

sean,

wow, you get way better pricing than i got on the ball joints, esp the lowers. i got quoted $100 or so. where did you get yours? also, did they sell you just the ball joint or the whole assembly with the metal bracket?

i'm more interested in doing the lower ball joints at this point and doing the uppers another time. can you briefly describe how to change the lower bjs and any special tools needed to get them off?

thanks,
bob

[Scuba]

Bob, Here's a good writeup to give you an idea.
Good Luck and cheers

http://ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53032&highlight=Ball+Joint

[Seanz0rz]

lowers come as a complete piece with the bracket including 4 bolt holes for the steering knuckle, and the hole for the tie rod end.

removal: remove 4 bolts that attach knuckle to bj, support the knuckle. pull cotter pin, remove castle nut. using a puller (2 or 3 jaw puller, you can rent from autozone. i believe a tie rod end remover may work i cant recall for sure), pop the tapered stud out of the lower control arm.

installation is reverse, you must torque the bolts correctly, etc.

i purchased mine from northridge toyota. i believe that is the price i paid, id have to dig up my invoice. napa wants 84 a piece for lower.

i owe ya one, so let me know if you need help.

[Bob98SR5]

sean,

that doesnt sound too bad for the lower bj removal, though popping off anything like that will probably be challenging to get right the first time.

i'm gonna give it a go but i'll have to pony up some more bucks to get some parts. sheesh!

bob

[Bob98SR5]

ok after some serious research, this is probably the best pictorial with words that describe the exact procedure I could find:

http://ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53032&highlight=Ball+Joint

looks like you need the right pullers and some kind of adapter for the uppers. but i'm only doing the lowers, so looks like 2 pullers (one big, one small) will be needed.

[MillerPKA]

i'd say replace all, its going to be a pain if you do one and a month later have to repeat the process. yes it may cost more money but ric's story scared the piss outta me. i'm taking my rig when i go snowboarding in a couple months and i'm redoing a lot of things. 214k i can't really afford for something to go wrong up there, might as well get the preventive maintenance out of the way. haha i just paid off my credit card i'm about to nearly max it out again with this stuff

[CYi5]

I read that the test for the lower ball joint was as follows:

Jack the truck up by the lower UCA so that the tire is off the ground. Then put a crowbar between the tire and the ground. Lift the crowbar and see if there is forward/backward movement. Basically checking for slop as you pull up slightly.

I still need to try this too...

[Seanz0rz]

bob, id really go ahead and replace the uppers as well. if you have it apart its easy.

however, if you choose not to do the uppers at this time, its not too terribly difficult to remove the 4 bolts from the lower ball joint (you wont have to press out the lower joint from the tapered hole, it will just stay in the LCA)

the uppers really do require a press to put back in. i have one. you are more than welcome to stop by one weekend when convenient and ill press em in for you.

[Bob98SR5]

alright guys, i just had some time to do some additional reading about the cv axle replacement and the LBJ replacement (i will need to remove the cv axle). so just for the sake of getting things rolling, i went outside to remove the tire and remove the grease cap off the hub. good lord, whoever put that on in japan put it on with a vengeance. i cannot get this thing off with a screwdriver. i even sacrificed an old knife to try to at least open up a seam. anyone have a tip/trick to this?

...this is so fargin' embarassing.

Bob

[Seanz0rz]

pry bar. you just really have to beat on it. my first ones i had to crush to get off. the ones i have now are slightly dented and dont seal completely, but ohwell. they are very difficult to get off.

if you have a flat knife (putty knife), that might work to get it pried up a bit. PB blaster the heck out of it too!

[Bob98SR5]

sean,

once again, thanks. ill soak them in pb tonight and give it a go tomorrow. neighbors won't like the metal to metal beating im sure :p

did you bash at the crown of the cap? or try to work the seam between the lip and the rotor?

[Seanz0rz]

work on the seam, you will eventually cave it in.

ive thought about welding rings to the outside so i can just pull them off when i need to.

[Bob98SR5]

now there's a thought! i thought something along those lines too, but my welder is in its home and my passenger side of my truck is only 5 inches from it so i can't take it out now. f'g small garage >:|

[Bob98SR5]

ok, f#k that old lady neighbor of mine. i got a hardened chisel and gave it a few good whacks and eventually a little lip formed. i proceeded to go around the cap and finally flipped it off. thanks for the tip, sean.

getting off the large thirty-whatever mm nut was easy too, but took some effort with a cheater bar. thanks for the socket, lance.

the rest i will do tomorrow. i think it'll get easier from here, according to what i read.

bob

[4x4mike]

Bob you sound too nice. At least once a month I run an air hammer, impact, die grinder and angle grinder. I don't go all out and don't use them too long but I make some noise (along with occasional loud cussing-typical when I'm working in the garage). We've got a kid, the neighbors have a kid and another neighbor is pregnant and has a kid and we also have some old folks. I try to keep their needs in mind (I know all about a childs/preggo lady mid day nap and the need for quiet) but can't guess right all the time, that's why I keep it to a minimum. Hell I'll probably die early because of all the cutting, grinding, painting and welding I do in my garage with the door closed in an effort to not be "that guy."

[Bob98SR5]

oh trust me, i'm not nice. i have gone to war w/ this old c##t even to the point of getting into her face and telling her i own her and you better not f##k with me, you old b###h. if you met her, you'd understand. she ain't a nice little old lady. she even walked into a neighbor's backyard uninvited, got caught by 3 neighbors, and then at the board meeting (to which she is a member of), lied about being caught that day.

anyways, its not worth fighting anymore, 2 yrs of that headache. but yeah, i understand what youre saying :D

[4x4mike]

I remember you posting up about that neighbor, sucks. Since I pay a good amount of money for my little piece of land I try to make the ones around me not hate me (I have to stop burning wet wood in my fire pit. I think some of the neighbors think I'm going to burn the neighborhood down). Makes the days a wee bit more enjoyable. If I had to go to war with a neighbor I would unleash hell and enjoy every moment of it.

[Bob98SR5]

ok i got the driver's side half shaft and ball joints in about 1:15 hrs. getting the axle shaft to pop in and out were the most difficult parts of the task, but in retrospect, not that difficult.

getting in the ball joints were much, much easier than i thought. no way i'd do this mod without that puller tool.

so i took it for a little drive and i could tell right away that the steering has improved. i am going to do the right side lower BJ tomorrow. i am confident that this is a good fix for now.

one question: when i removed the tie end that comes off of the steering rack, it just flopped down like a limp fish. is it supposed to have some tension on it that keeps it semi horizonal with the steering rack?

thanks,
bob

[Seanz0rz]

mine didnt stay up or have any tension , but that would be a symptom of warn inner joints (toyota calls them rack ends). i have no in-out play in the joints so i called them fine.

[Bob98SR5]

damnit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I popped the tie rod bulb (term?) and the juice just ooozed out. i used the ball joint tool. i can't believe this happened. great. on that note, how do you guys or waht do you guys use to *not* pop the bulb?

anyways, the ball joints are on both sizes. i am now taking the time to change out all the fluids. the front is brand spanking new...considering i have not taken my truck out in a very, very long time!

[Seanz0rz]

by bulb you mean boot? if you popped it, it was probably brittle and ready to go anyway. tie rod ends are not too expensive, but you shouldnt have to replace it right away.

i just use the regular puller and make sure the jaws stay away from the boot as much as possible when i break em loose. i do have new TRE's though.

[Bob98SR5]

yeah the boot :) bulb, haha, im such a tard. i thought i was careful but it gdid get pinched. thanks for all the help in my thread. now i gotta change out all the fluids. man my trans fluid was filthy.

[Seanz0rz]

haha no problem. i should have done an oil change, but i just simply ran out of time.

[magikbean562]

my runner is having the same syptoms and the jackholes at they toyo stealership said it was the damn tires. i dont have the space nor the tools to do such a job, but thank god i have one of those extended warranties. next weekend im taking the truck to the tire shop and havong them rebalanced. when that doesnt work ( cause im sure it wont) im taking it back to those guys and making sure they fix the damn problem. is there a link for this so called "ric" and his horror story? thanks and good luck!