Power steering return and pressure line replacement

[Bob98SR5]

Gents,

I have only this weekend to finish all this work. Unfortunately one of my best friends from 3rd grade time passed away last week. His funeral is next Thurs and I'm planning to attend the funeral. Got to get the 4runner running.

I've read a lot of threads and the one consistent thing I've read is the lack of hand and wrench space to remove the nuts on both lines that run to the steering rack. I would agree that the best way to do this job is to loosen the steering rack from the mounts, sway it as far away from the mount (without breaking anything of course), and then loosening the lines.

Now some people have gone so far as just saying F-it and taking a sawzall to the lines right above the nut and using a long 17mm socket with a combination of u-joint adapters, long extensions, and a breaker bar (threading this all through the engine bay). That's probably what I'll do too since I bought new replacement lines.

The easy part so far was to unbolt the 3 nuts that secure the brackets that secure the hoses. The hoses have a rubber split sleeve encasing them between the lines and the brackets. One is located near and below the steering pump itself, one is dead center on the vehicle, and the hardest one to access is the one thats kinda buried in the engine bay. Just follow the lines w/ your hands and eventually you'll hit it. All take a 10mm socket or wrench.

Unbolting the large bolt w/ the holes (forget what its called) on the bottom of the power steering pump that releases the return line took a breaker bar. Notice a theme here? Yes. A breaker bar is needed for this work. Once the large nut w/ holes was undone, the bolt was easy to remove. Note though there are two copper washers, which one of them fell on the garage floor but fortunately my old failing eyes saw it fast enough and so I had to search for it and found it.

Removing the return hose that runs vertically from the pump to the top of the return line was simple enough. I used 90 degree pliers to clamp and move the clamps towards the center of the hose. Pushing the hose off took a little effort, but got it done. I'll have to remind myself again (forgotten twice now) to buy some of that rubber hose grease on the hose nipple ends. I drained the hose, cleaned it out, and let things drain. That included the metal return line too.

So there I stopped. Sorry no pics, I have to rush to get this done. Maybe when things are looking promising I'll take some pics, but this is an extremely dirty job esp since the hoses are leaking everywhere along w/ the oil.

[Bob98SR5]

Good god that was a bizatch. But in the end, the hardest part many people say turned out easier than I expected.

So as you can see/read, I've been taking my time working subtasks of the larger project. This morning I got an early start thanks to our smoke alarm chirping because of a low battery (yeah that annoying sound). After eating a light breakfast w/ the missus, I went to work on removing the lines. The hardest part of doing this job is definitely removing the banjo bolts in that hilariously tight confined space. But there's a bit of pre-work that needed to be done. First if you don't have a pair of 6 ton jack stands, get some. You'll thank me for it and finally I had a job that absolutely required it. So I got the 4Runner jacked up as high as possible and started to explore the best ways to get my hands ad tools in that little confined space. Oh, lighting is crucial too. I had one of those cheap lights from Harbor Freight and used that to illuminate the area from the top. I also had my headlamp which made this job possible.

Now there's three ways most people have followed to remove both banjo bolts. The most tedious method seems to be to loosen the steering rack and then use a combination of flare nut sockets, a union joint, and a combo of extensions and a 17mm flare nut socket (yes, socket) to remove them both.

The other method is to do the same but use flare nut wrenches only. I cannot imagine how in the hell that could even be possible. The angle is just too weird.

Now the best method I've read is sort of the "F-it, git 'er done" method. Most people who've gone this route have used a sawzall to cut off the lines as close to the top of the banjo bolts and then use a combo of extensions, socket u-joint, and the same 17mm deep socket flare nut socket. Believe it or not, I was able to use my dremel tool to cut off both lines perfectly off the top. One did require a 2nd pass though. There's absolutely no room to turn the switch on and off so I hooked up the dremel to an extension power strip and used the switch on it to turn it on and off. Worked like a charm. Korean ingenuity

One guy from T4R had described it really well and I decided to follow his method. His extensions took him nearly to the radiator, but I recognized that as long as you got the racket wrench just past the CV, then there would be enough room to turn the wrench. To get the socket there though requires medium hands or smaller. From the front of the vehicle, maneuver the combo of socket, u-joint, and extensions up and over the top of the CV and towards either one of the banjo bolts. I used a regular 17mm deep socket as I didn't have a flare nut socket. As described above, this combo allowed me to turn the wrench from about 8" out. AAAAND the banjo bolts came out with some effort, but not to the degree others have described (e.g. 10,000 lbs). Be ready with some shop towels because you'll definitely get some leakage.

There will be a lot of gunk sitting on top of those banjo bolt threaded ports off the steering rack, so be careful not to get any sludgy dirt up and in the threaded female banjo bolt ports.

Pictures attached of the Bob98SR5 Banjo Bolt Magic Wand. Sorry no "live action" pics. It's just way too dirty to take pics and work.

[Bob98SR5]

Started off the day early and got right to it. I referenced Timmy the Toolman on YT to do the line work. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoRP5ogrK0

So after looking into it a little more and his vid, it seemed the lesser of two time consuming evils to just undo the steering rack, sway bar, and stabilizer bars to swing it back and fasten the p/s banjo bolts from the side. Following TTT's advice, I removed both tires and also to create more extra space, I removed the front fender flares (I have the SR5 Sport style). This was really good advice. From there I unfastened the sway bar and moved it out of the way. This made it really easy to remove the steering rack hardware. One thing I didn't do is unhook the steering shaft (I think its called the intermediate half shaft?). I was able to swing the steering rack away from the frame. One thing I did do that he didn't do was on the passenger side, I placed a jack stand underneath the rack and the secured the rack's passenger side bottom nut a few threads in case if I swung the rack too far, it wouldn't come crashing down.

One of the tools I bought for this and a future upper ball joint job is shown as an attachment. It's made by Gear Wrench and it's hands down the best ball joint tool I've ever used. Model # is 3916D. I was afraid that I'd destroy yet another set of ball joints (lower), but they both survived with flying colors.

There was plenty of hand and tool space now to work the p/s banjo nuts (at least for this M hand). The inner most line is the high pressure line and that banjo nut is significantly larger than the non-pressurized return line. Both nuts are 17mm.

One of the hardest parts of the job which took waaaaay too much tie (thanks to my non OEM purchase) was the lines not fitting perfectly. Man it took forever for me to align the lines and into the middle bracket. Yes, that middle bracket was a mother. The bottom (non-pressure) line fit really well, but the high pressure line just kept jumping out. It took some finagling for over 1.5 hours to get it right. In the end I used some zip ties to secure the lines to the body to hold the lines in place while I was maneuvering both hands and securing the bracket. The other thing I learned by trial and error to more easily align both lines was to secure both banjo nuts at the steering rack, then push in and tighten the steering rack, the stabilizer bars, and then the sway bar. Make sure you thread the stabilizer bar ends through the sway bar before tightening down the sway bar. I forgot to do it on one side by error and had to loosen those unusually long bolts and do it all over again. After tightening down the sway bar and stabilizer ends, secure the steering rack. Then from there loosely secure the lines at the pump, then the non-pressure line bracket on the passenger frame rail, and then the middle line brackets at the front cross member and finally that crazy difficult to access middle bracket. Had I done it this way from the start, it would've been infinitely easier.

Wow, that was a pain in the ass. I plan to manually bleed out as much of the dye in the system tomorrow and take it for a test drive.

EDIT: description 2nd to last paragraph

[4x4mike]

Thanks for taking all the time to document this Bob.

[Bob98SR5]

Ok so today I had a work from home day due to a doc's appointment, so I saved an hour of BART hell commute home and used it towards doing the final checks and flushing out the power steering system. Using a Mityvac fluid extractor 7201, I sucked out all the oil stuff out the system quite easily. The process goes as follows: use the MV's main thick hose to suck out the fluid out of the reservoir. Be careful not to jam it through the screen at the bottom. Run it along the sides until you feel the screen. That should all but minimize the amount of fluid in the reservoir. Next remove the top return line from the nipple. You'll want to prepare a little catch cup to catch any run off (or a ton of rags) and a rubber 3/8" hose w/ a hose clamped bolt at one end. Replace the return hose with your custom hose w/ the bolt you made to plug off any fluid from escaping. Next take the thicker MV hose and stick it into the return hose you just removed. The hose will perfectly fit into a 3/8th hose. It may be a tiny bit loose with the stock 11mm hose (which is very close to 7/16"). Have your ATF Dex III (yes, its ATF Dex III) ready and pump the MV. Make sure you fill the reservoir at a similar rate as the fluid evacuation rate.

Having used the dye to detect the leak, there was a lot left. Clearly (no pun intended) I used WAY too much. It took nearly 3 quarts of the cheaper ATF Dex III I bought to get a nice clear red ATF color through the system. I then supplanted the cheaper ATF with the Toyota OEM ATF Dex III.

This method at least assured me that I had clean fluid, but contrary to the claims of a guy on YT, it doesn't completely burp out all the air. EDIT: link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV_xRWCaY2U&t=135s

BURPING
The best method I found was to raise the front end to where the tires are off the ground and turn the steering wheel lock to lock about 10 times each side. It's about 6 turns to each side. Make sure you hold it tight for about 3 seconds before going the other way. This method fills and forces out the ATF and air out of the system. After doing this, go take it for a spin. In my case it was groaning like a wounded bear on turns. I turned around after a few blocks to make sure the pump got adequate time to run the fluid through the system. When I looked at the reservoir level, it was almost to the bottom. So I topped it off, repeated the steering wheel burping method and voila, it no longer groaned on the turns. I did a few u-turns in the intersection of my street to see if there was any groaning, but none whatsoever.

Now the 4Runner is in the garage and after eating my cold pizza dinner, I'll check on it by examining for any leaks below. It sounded like I missed tightening one of the sway bar bolts as I heard a distinctive "cha chunk" on quick turns.

[Bob98SR5]

Guys,

I must have a leaky steering rack. After a freeway drive I noticed a few drips of green tinted power steering fluid on the crossmember. Perhaps I didn't tighten down the new banjo nuts very well, but right now I'm thinking it's the rack. This may be the last act towards my patience for the 4Runner :\

[YotaFun]

Bob,

The good news is the rack is super easy to do, especially if you live someplace that has not rust.
Unlike me, where Rust is a pain in my but 24/7...

[Seanz0rz]

I'd check connections first and make sure it's not coming from somewhere else.

Both my racks leak (100 and 4runner), but they leak into the boots. If your boots are dry, I'd be looking elsewhere.

[Bob98SR5]

Title this story "The Day Luck and Lance Saved my Ass"

So having a little faith in my work, the wife and I drove down to LA a day before the funeral to settle in, have dinner w/ my best man from my wedding, and see if we had enough energy to eat our hearts out in the beautiful San Gabriel Valley. One of the things my wife likes is Hainan chicken. So our dining destination and Air BnB is very close to each other, so we set it for the restaurant as by the time we got to LA, it would be a 2pm lunch. And yes, we were starved.

As we approached LA traffic, I heard this unearthly groaning that increased with throttle. Oh shit. So I had a feeling it was the p/s pump. I thought "Crap, that NAPA new pump went out already???" Well as we were getting off the off ramp (shaped like a U), the steering wheel was harder than a beotch to turn. FLUID LOSS. DAMNIT!!!!!!

Fortunately we were only 3.2 miles from the restaurant. So we drove there gingerly and parked. I got out and could see a steady, slow drip. So I topped it off (I brought 1.5 qts thank god) and said "Let's eat". In the time we were walking to the restaurant door, I called Lance. I asked him if I could drive my 4Runner to his warehouse and he said "Take it to my Toyota mechanic and you can borrow my car". By the grace of some deity of your choosing, I chose the 1 restaurant that was within 15 mins of Lance, his Toy mechanics, AND my AirBnB.

So we ate and we came back to an even bigger puddle. Oh shizzle. The drip frequency was greater than before. So I topped it off yet again and then drove to his mechanic. Literally it was groaning like a wounded cat. I had to top off 8 mins into the drive there. By the time we got to the shop, it was hard to turn and groaning like a dying cat now.

So thanks to Lance, I have zero stress at this point. We ended up having plenty of time to meet my best man and his wife 30 mins from the shop. And a car to drive to the funeral and back.

Lance, THANK YOU SO MUCH. I take back all those things I said about you j/k. You saved my ass today. Really appreciate it.

And tomorrow I'll find out if my hack install job was it or if it's the rack as I suspected last night. My guess it could be 3 things: 1) the rack seal(s) is/are toast, 2) I didn't tighten down the non-pressure side line correctly, or 3) I didn't tighten the banjos tight enough.

[Bob98SR5]

So here's what happened and hopefully you can learn from my mistake:

When I installed the non-pressure hose, I didn't trim the hose where it connect to the barb on the rack end. I sorta felt the hose bend a little bit when I was aligning and mounting the brackets onto the hose lines, but thought nothing of it because I didn't see any drastic bends in the hose. I didn't see any of the hose even near the CV half shaft, so I thought I was fine.

Not sure if it was because of articulation of the suspension while turning or what, but apparently the rotation of the half shaft was cutting the line. As you can see from the pic, it was pretty uniform.

Ironically I did trim the non-pressure hose on the pump end by about 1.5". Go figure.

So here's the lesson learned: measure out the hose pieces on the non-pressure lines of the original OEM lines and cut the new ones to the same length or a little (meaning little) extra to compensate for any design differences for a non-OEM parts like I bought.

Of note, I was able to safely salvage the OEM non-pressure metal lines. I will re-use them next time, if there is a next time.