1992 LS400 Steering Rack Replacement

[Johnny LS400]

Hello,

First time blogger. I have a 1992 LS 400 inherited from a close friend. Its got about 140k miles and purrs down the road.

Lately, I've been having a light gritty feeling in my steering, like gears are binding very lightly. When I looked at the rack, I could not see any visible issues, maybe a little oil sweating but no serious leaks. Oil is good and doesn't need to be topped off. When I had somebody move the steering wheel, I could see some play coming from the rod that connects to driver-side inner tie rod. The play appears to be inside the rack. My best guess is to replace the rack for now to resolve both the binding feel as well as the internal play.

I've replaced a rack once before on a different car without removing major components but does anyone have replacement advice?

Assume a rebuilt unit from Advance Auto will suffice. They make a direct fit that has the ESC module as part of the unit.

Any advice on this topic is much appreciated.

Thanks,

John

[billydpowell]

when you swap the tierod ends, count the threads so you can get it real close

[Johnny LS400]

Thanks Billy, I saw a generic video about that as well. Anybody out there change one? I'm looking for any advice on the actual replacement process. Thanks again, John

[billydpowell]

jack it up, put it on jack stands, get under it and look, it is right  out in the open.... 

disconnect hose, TRE's,  and unbolt it, and reverse procedure.. just  takes time, not much skill.. 

fill it up with Dextron VI tranny fluid, and bleed, bleed, bleed, to get ALL the air out. 

come back and tell us how easy it was.. 

[sha4000]

On 10/26/2017 at 12:45 PM, Johnny LS400 said:

Thanks Billy, I saw a generic video about that as well. Anybody out there change one? I'm looking for any advice on the actual replacement process. Thanks again, John

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-1st-and-2nd-gen-1990-2000/772790-ucf20-complete-diy-rack-n-pinion-tutorial.html

This might help.

[Johnny LS400]

Hello Fellow Lexus Fans,

Here is my update on the steering rack replacement and thanks again for all your support.

The replacement was fairly straight forward. The trouble spots were:

1. A frozen bolt on passenger tie rod end (didn't matter because I was replacing the TREs anyway).

2. Once I had the rack fully disconnected and clamps removed, there wasn't enough room to slide the rack out so I had to jack up the tranny housing an inch or two to widen the gap between the rack supports and the tranny housing.

3. I didn't like the look of the ESC part and wires from the rebuilt rack so I swapped it out from my old one which looked in better shape and had OEM wires/connector which saved me some solder time as well.

4. Those hydraulic bolts were very difficult to remove and even harder to reinstall (with old washers which worked well....Thanks Lexus!!!). That area was very tight and hand cramped often as I tried to get the bolts to thread back onto new rack while wrestling with the hydraulic lines that didn't want to sit in their proper position.

After about three hours and too many exclamation points to count, the job was done and rack was refilled and bled with Dextron VI (about 3/4 or a quart was all it took).

Thanks again for all your support.

Look forward to sharing my next challenge with the team,

John

[sha4000]

Glad you got it fixed before it got really cold. A true DIYer.