Rack and pinion replacement on a RWD 08' Tundra

Looks like my 08' 4.7 girl needs the ole pinion. Anyone know of a video/guide for doing a replacement on a RWD.

Gonna attempt myself, dont want to give toyota my life savings.

 

Replaced the one on my 07 4x4 with the 5.7 last summer. The price for the OEM unit was actually cheaper than for some aftermarket stuff, so don’t discount the dealer pricing outright. I’m in the Ottawa area, so we’re comparing apples to apples as I see you are Canadian.

 

@Canman hey not so far, just down in Hamilton here. What was the km on your crewmax when you did the rack, did the dealer do it or was it DIY?

 

My daughter bought the truck in Jan 2023, with 250,000 kms. It now has 285,000 kms, and is now mine as she just picked up a 2011. I figure it was around 275,000 kms when I changed it. I did it myself outside on my gravel driveway. Lol! Was a PITA of a job, but I also did a lot of other work on it at the same time like upper and lower ball joints, new brake dust shields, new PS line, and new tierods. The Toyota manual calls for you to lift the engine, but clever folks figured out it was easier and faster to remove the front diff, and slide it out through the PS wheel well which is what I did. Toyota had 20 hrs to do the job, but doing it the other way is about 6 hrs. I would say a 5/5 DIY banana job.

 

No TSB?? our years should fall under it no?

 

Wasn’t aware of one. Would’ve have been good to know, but I doubt it would have applied so long after being new, and being possibly the 3rd or 4th owners.

 

I mean, I got TSB stuff done like 6 years ago for free99 with over 150k miles...

 

Well, just watched a Scotty Kilmer vid yesterday, and he went on and on about how Toyota should have changed the frame on a client’s 02 Tundra that is rusting out, and said he won’t stop making vids until they do. They gave the owner some BS about it being past 15 yrs, and yet Scotty says that they have replaced frames older than that. Probably comes down to who you know, and how loud you become. I’ll look in to it though as I have a friend at the dealer I get parts from.

 

My 08' is just shy of 400k km. The garage I trust quoted at 17 hours (give or take) and about $2600. They say it calls for pulling the engine. It is RWD.... I think it is doable without at an engine move for sure, at first glance the garage said yeah we can do that, then later got spooked by what the book calls. Will have to bring it back to them and have a better look when things arent so rushed.

 

I never got a notice on it anyway.

 

Do you know if they pulled the engine when they replaced it?

 

There are some very good YT vids on how to pull the rack without lifting the motor. IIRC, the rack was about CAN$950 less tax at the dealer, but I get a 15% discount through our Land Cruiser club.

 

For sure, watched a few already. It looks like I can get an OEM for $1200 plus tax. will have to call around more.

 

If you get the OEM rack, order new o-rings as well if you don’t order a new low-pressure hose assy as you will have to disconnect the lines going into the rack before you can pull it. I think one of the lines has a short steel fitting with just a hose clamp. Can’t remember if I left that short line on the rack when I pulled it or not, but the other line for sure had to come off as it connects to a mess of hoses/tubes that connect to the pump. The steel portions of the hose assy were pretty rusty, so I decided to replace it. I ordered the hose assy (likely Chinese but of decent quality) off of Amazon for about $100 where the one from the dealer was I think close to $300. For sure you need metric pipe nut wrenches for the fittings and MAPP gas to heat up things. Getting at the nuts that sit on top of the rack which secure it with thru bolts to the front crossmember were a major pain. You really need to remove that low pressure line that sits in front of the rack to have decent access to those nuts. Mind you, I’m 6’-6” and have sasquash mitts, so it doesn’t help in tight spaces. I also used a bunch of 8”x8” wooden blocks to support the truck while I was working on it. I wouldn’t trust my 1.5T Chineseium jack stands to support the truck as I was working on it for 3 weeks almost straight.

 

Appreciate the info @Canman . You speak as if you fought a war. I would probably get the hose assembly. I will have to take a better look at her and see what it is going on, all i had is a rushed visit at my mechanics and a glance underneath. Currently dripping a little, still have time to decide what to do.

 

If you weren't the original owner, you're probably not going to get it in the mail. You can get it online if you look up the NTSB, or the Canadian's counterpart, or any recall website.

 

No they didn't. Would've been longer than an overnight.

 

I checked the Toyota Canada site, and entered my VIN, and it says there are no active campaigns for it. Next time I’m at the dealer, I will ask them what is going on.