Parts compatibility ... And sloppy steering..

[Husker6.5]

Until the two different U-Joint fixes came to be, I had considered taking the correct diameter hole saw to a shot LT245/75-16E tire and cutting a new rag joint from steel belted-reinforced tire tread carcass and drilling mounting holes in it and using that to take out all the play in my failing rag joint - after replacing every moving part in the steering/suspension at 220K miles

Then it was never like the steering on my wife's 4Runner, even at 270K miles

4Runner is a suburbanites excuse for a real, pre-89 Blazer/Jimmy. Cushy ride/handling for mom and the soccer kids in the car pool with grocery room behind the back seat. Not talking manual rack and pinion steering tightness and feel like off a two-seater sports car.

 

[Big T]

Until the two different U-Joint fixes came to be, I had considered taking the correct diameter hole saw to a shot LT245/75-16E tire and cutting a new rag joint from steel belted-reinforced tire tread carcass and drilling mounting holes in it and using that to take out all the play in my failing rag joint - after replacing every moving part in the steering/suspension at 220K miles

4Runner is a suburbanites excuse for a real, pre-89 Blazer/Jimmy. Cushy ride/handling for mom and the soccer kids in the car pool with grocery room behind the back seat. Not talking manual rack and pinion steering tightness and feel like off a two-seater sports car.

The 4Runner is a damn fine 4WD vehicle. Puts those Blazers/Jimmy to shame. Sorry, but no real repairs in 270K miles and the steering is still tighter than an 18 year old’s box.

 

[Husker6.5]

The tank trails at Ft. Reily, Ft. Hood, Ft. Lewis or Ft. Knox would eat a 4Runner for lunch and poop it out by dinner. Our CUCV's had no problems handling them. Not saying that the Toyotas aren't mechanically dependable, that they're not built as a serious off-road vehicle. They're no different than today's Jeep Comanches, a 4WD suburbanite all-weather mom hauler car pool vehicle. We thrashed our CUCVs and they just came back for more. Hell, we took them places and did things with them we never dared do with the M151s (¼T Jeep) out in the field.

 

[Big T]

The tank trails at Ft. Reily, Ft. Hood, Ft. Lewis or Ft. Knox would eat a 4Runner for lunch and poop it out by dinner. Our CUCV's had no problems handling them. Not saying that the Toyotas aren't mechanically dependable, that they're not built as a serious off-road vehicle. They're no different than today's Jeep Comanches, a 4WD suburbanite all-weather mom hauler car pool vehicle. We thrashed our CUCVs and they just came back for more. Hell, we took them places and did things with them we never dared do with the M151s (¼T Jeep) out in the field.

I bought 4Runner for my wife who does occasional off-roading by herself. Not tank trails. Remember, she has estrogen, not let’s see what we can F up next testosterone. Unreliable vehicles curl the hair on my neck as she’ll come back complaining/asking me to fix.

 

[MrMarty51]

all this talk about steering and slop had gotten me curious.... I pulled my old core gear box out and started tinkering... I decided to follow Ferm's thread on taking the slop out but before I did, I got it up on the bench and started checking the slack.

I turned the input shaft left and right. seems it has 1-1/2 turns from center to stop both ways. what hit me as interesting is when I hit the right side stop, the input shaft (spline shaft to the steering wheel) has this springyness to it. you can almost get an 1/8th of a turn and the shaft will go inward towards the box and spring back like a screw. turning to the left stop and it's solid. I don't think this is normal.

I went ahead and followed Ferm's thread and cinched up all the slack in the box. before you could use a pair of pliers on the output shaft and feel the clunkyness of the gears meshing back n fourth. now it has no slack but still has the springyness when turning to the right stop.

this 1/8th of play in the input shaft can account for quite a bit in the steering wheel. I did rotate it back to center and try holding the output shaft and force the input shaft to the right and the springyness play is still there! Maybe someone can elaborate on what this is and what causes it. this can be an unseen issue causing play in our steering wheels.

I seem to have the itch to try my hand at rebuilding this box while I'm stuck at home on quarenteen! it's one of those "do it just to see if I can" things!! if I do, I will try to post a write-up thread on what I find.

I have done a rebuild on the bigger gear boxes, always had to book to follow. Not all that much to it.