DIY repair of the steering rack Toyota Rav 4 2007

Consider the design of the Toyota steering rack, the signs and causes of its malfunction, as well as the repair of the RAV4 steering rack.

The design of the Toyota RAV4 rack does not differ significantly from the racks of other vehicles equipped with hydraulic power steering. This node has similar problems with its counterparts, but individual weaknesses could not be avoided. To understand the device and learn how to identify the first signs of breakdowns of this mechanism, consider what parts the steering rack consists of:

1. The body of the rail is made of aluminum; movable mechanisms are attached inside it.
2. Drive gear and toothed bar - provide shaft travel in the required direction.
3. Bearings - essential for easy and quiet operation of the gear.
4. Springs - do not allow gaps and backlash between the bar and the gear.
5. Limiters - ensure the travel of the rack mechanisms in the required range.

The steering rack RAV 4 of 2007 for the entire period of operation did not cause any particular complaints from the owners. With reasonable operation of the car, problems with this unit do not begin before the run of 100 thousand kilometers. Yes, there have been cases of complete replacement of the rack with a much lower mileage, but these cases are isolated. This is due to the ruthless operation of the car, or a factory defect (it should be noted that the latter rarely happens).

Therefore, every owner should be able to recognize the first signs of a rail breakage in order to contact the service station in time. Let's look at these symptoms:

1. One of the common breakdowns is a power steering fluid leak, this is due to a violation of the tightness or integrity of the O-rings. You can find this problem when checking the level in the tank, or noticing a puddle under the car when parking.
2. When driving on uneven roads, a knock is heard from under the hood, and the steering wheel vibrates noticeably.
3. When driving on a flat road, the car "floats", and there is a backlash in the steering wheel.
4. After turning the steering wheel, it does not return to its original position, or returns with effort.

RAV4 steering rack repair is quite expensive. In order not to have to deal with it ahead of time, you should know and avoid factors that negatively affect the "health" of this node:

1. If you like to turn around sharply, then know that when the wheels are twisted all the way, there is a strong load on the steering mechanisms.
2. If the front wheels hit deep holes at speed, it is fraught with deformation of the housing or rack shaft.
3. Collisions with obstacles such as curbs and speed bumps.
4. The oil seals were not replaced in time, due to which water and dirt got into the unit.

Repair of the RAV4 rail is carried out only after diagnostics in a car service, by the hands of qualified craftsmen. It is strongly discouraged to do this on your own, without experience and the necessary tools. Diagnostics is carried out using special equipment that simulates the operation of the steering mechanisms and the hydraulic system of a car. This procedure is necessary to identify defective parts, with their subsequent replacement or repair.

But most often the problem lies in the wear or mechanical damage of parts that require repair of the RAV4 steering rack or a complete replacement of the rack, in which case a whole range of restoration work is carried out:

1. Damaged parts are repaired, those that cannot be restored are replaced with original ones.
2. Rubber seals and seals are replaced with new ones, regardless of the condition.
3. The shaft is cleaned of corrosion and checked for runout.
4. The hydraulic system is flushed, new fluid is poured, pumping is performed.
5. If necessary, change the tie rods and tips.
6. Wheel alignment is regulated.

If the RAV4 rail cannot be repaired, it is completely replaced with a new or rebuilt one.

All machines have their weak points. If we talk about the RAV4, then the problem with the steering rack is in the bushings and the needle bearing, inside the steering shaft well. In 99% of the removed rails, these parts are replaced. It should be noted that they are inexpensive.

Summing up the story, we note that the overhaul of the Toyota RAV4 steering rack will take you a lot of time and money. In order not to force these events or avoid them altogether, we recommend that you adhere to a few simple rules for operating your car:

1. Drive deep and high obstacles at minimum speed with straight wheels.
2. Do not keep the steering wheel in the extreme position for a long time, accelerate sharply only with a straight steering wheel.
3. Check the condition of the seals and oil seals on the rail to prevent dirt from getting inside the mechanisms.
4. In cold weather, first turn the steering wheel slightly in place to warm up the power steering fluid.

Keep track of the technical condition of your car, do not allow operation with malfunctions! We hope our tips will help you extend the life of your vehicle. We wish you smooth roads!

In this article, we will show you how to repair the steering rack with your own hands in a Toyota Rav 4 (3rd generation) car, which has been produced since 2007 and is equipped with an EUR (electric power steering). Before starting work, disconnect the negative terminal with the battery.

To carry out self-repairs, we need to make a fluoroplastic bushing with a diameter of 26.8 mm. and 34. mm., the accuracy should be maximum with minimum roughness. You only need to change one bushing, it is on the right side.

We put the wheels straight and start to remove the cardan in the salon:

The steering wheel must be locked in this position, we do this with the seat belts:

This is done in order not to break the airbag snail in the cabin. We hang the stretcher and remove the steering rack:

Clean the surface where the manufacturer's marking is stamped, it should be NSK, like we have in the red circle:

This is how it looks up close:

We dismantle the right steering rod assembly with a tip:

We disassemble the adjusting unit, unscrew the large nut with a 36 key, the smaller one with a 27 key:

In the photo, you can observe under the nuts the stop of the rack with washers in the form of plates, be very careful with them, it is very important to put them also, without confusing them with each other.

The next step is to unscrew the nut that secures the gear. You can use a special tool or, in our case, use a blunt beard and a hammer:

Our self-made bushing needs to be slightly modified before installation, here is one of these options:

In the picture below you can see the so-called "air" cut, this is done so that the anthers of the steering rods do not create a vacuum when making turns. Let me remind you that our sleeve is made of fluoroplastic, it can be easily cut with a sharp knife (you can even use a clerical one). As practice has shown, it is imperative to make this air cut, otherwise the boot will break, lose its tightness

Looking at a close-up, you can see that in 3 petals out of 6, a collar was cut off, this was done so that the sleeve could be placed as easily as possible:

To make it as easy as possible for you to put the bushing in its place, I recommend chamfering the sharp shoulder of the rail body. In the photo you can see it marked with a red arrow and a circle. I did everything with a penknife, which had a curved blade at the end.

An ordinary plastic bottle can be used to make a mandrel for installing the sleeve:

The bushing is in place, use a screwdriver to open the petals, do not apply excessive force. We clamp the shaft in a vice, with the help of the grinder we remove the chamfer, then be sure to sand it with sandpaper:

Now we lubricate the bushing and shaft with a small layer of grease and, most importantly, carefully screw the shaft into the bushing, as in the picture below.This is done in order to put the bushing in place, thereby greatly simplifying the subsequent assembly of the rail:

There is nothing particularly difficult in the subsequent assembly operations. I highly do not recommend using abundant lubricant, apply in a small thin layer to the contact area. Some individuals squeeze out a whole package, as a result of which, in subzero temperatures, the grease begins to thicken and interferes with the correct operation of the rack.

After assembly, tighten the adjusting nut until it stops and release it by 70-80 degrees. The rack shaft can then be turned using only hand force. The lock nut should not be tightened too much, it should be possible to loosen it on the machine and adjust the rack.

When installing the rack, check that the number of turns of the steering wheel to the right and left are identical. After carrying out this repair, it is worth checking the alignment disorder, if necessary, correct it a little.

Possible reasons performing this repair: knocking, play of the steering rack, clicks when turning the steering wheel.

Symptoms: knocks in the steering rack, manifested when driving through small irregularities (disease of all korollopodobnye with electric power steering).
Diagnosis of servicemen - replacing the rail (in practice, it does not help out for long and costs a lot).
Solution: replacing anything in the rail that can knock. And there are only two places knocking in such rails - the adjusting unit and in the area of ​​the bushing located at the opposite end of the rail (in the case of right-hand drive cars - the left side of the rail). And since nothing needs to be changed in the adjusting unit, all repairs are reduced to replacing the factory bushing with a custom-made one.

Patients: Will VS 2002 1.5 L (electric power steering!)

We climb into the pedal assembly and remove the protection from the steering shaft, unscrew it by hand, and remove it easily:

We completely unscrew the bolt securing the intermediate shaft to the crosspiece:

IMPORTANT! Put the wheels straight, remove the key from the ignition, lock the steering wheel. This is done in order to prevent, after removing the rack, turning the steering wheel by a number of revolutions more than it should be. Otherwise, a break in the wires of the "snail" of the airbag and the resulting malfunction of the latter are inevitable.

We hang out in front of the car and throw off the wheels (front enough).

Next is the removal of the steering rack. It has been proven from our own experience that it is possible to unscrew the rail fasteners without additional disassembly, but pulling out the rail is very time consuming. Do not waste time, twist the stretcher - you will save a lot of time and effort.

But first - the steering tips: take out the cotter pin, unscrew the nut, hit the place indicated below with a sharp, biting hammer blow, and the finger falls out by itself (we do it with both sides

We unscrew the subframe, 4 bolts to the body, 3 bolts in the area of ​​the rear engine mount and 3 nuts in the same place.

After that, the subframe, together with the rack, gently (if you planned to unscrew the last bolt correctly) lowers and hangs on the levers and the anti-roll bar. Everything - the rail at a glance: unscrew:

We remove and carry to the workbench

Let's start disassembling it:
1) Remove the rubber boot.

2) Take the 12 key and unscrew the bolt shown in the photo.

3) Remove the intermediate shaft.

4) Unscrew the lock nut (used a gas wrench)

5) Unscrew the clamping cup of the rack shaft.

6) Then we put on and fix the intermediate shaft again, then take out the entire shaft with the bearing with a light blow with a copper hammer on it.

7) Turning the rail over, disassemble the adjusting unit: unscrew the lock nut with a 41 key

8) Then we unscrew the adjusting cup using any flat object, take out the spring and the pressure piston.

9) Remove the left anther, very carefully so as not to break (we draw inside along the circumference of the anther with a non-sharp object)

10) Unscrew the left rod from the rail using keys 29 and 22.

11) On the back side, we loosen the large clamp and detach the boot.

12) Take the rolling pin out of the rail, put it aside.

13) We look at the rail from the left end - we see an aluminum hold-down washer, behind it is the notorious bushing.

14) We hook the washer with a hook and knock it out, then take out the sleeve.

Here it is - the sleeve, because of which all the ailments. )

For left hand drive

Modifying a pre-made PTFE bushing according to the attached drawing.

15) On the new sleeve, we make a longitudinal cut necessary for its compression and setting in place. We orient the cut in the direction of the car's movement - in this direction the rail experiences the least stress.

16) Lubricate the sleeve and gently straighten the sleeve, check the fit of the sleeve with the free end of the rolling pin.

17) Press in the aluminum washer with a suitable head. Insert the rolling pin into place. We insert the shaft into place, for this, with a 22 key, we swing the rolling pin around its axis and at the same time push the shaft - at a certain moment the gears are aligned and the shaft falls through. We tighten the clamping sleeve of the shaft until it stops, we counter it with a lock nut. We assemble the adjusting unit, tighten the adjusting cup until it stops and release it by 90 degrees, counter nut with a counter nut. Subsequently, the tightening torque can be adjusted on the machine after a test drive with a certain skill, the mechanism must be tightened until the steering wheel returns to the straight position when exiting the turn. Pull into place, anthers into place, tighten. Rail for stretcher, stretcher for cars. Near the rear (in relation to the rear of the car) fastenings of the subframe to the body there are holes on the body and on the subframe, the combination of which excludes the removal of the caster. (holes in the photo)

Tips to the levers, set the wheels straight, the steering wheel is straight from the very beginning. We pull everything in and climb into the salon. There we loosen the upper crosspiece, move the shaft between the crosspieces up and put the lower crosspiece on the intermediate shaft. We are tightening everything. Subsequently, you can similarly align the steering wheel if, when driving straight, the steering wheel looks slightly to the side.

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Registration: 24.5.2010
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Has thanked: 43 times

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19 $ did not want to go to another city. How will the rake be led, of course, I will unsubscribe, only sense, the material from which the bushings were made most likely has a Martian origin.

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I changed my rail, greased the cardan. no crunch now.
The only question arose. After the collapse, the car pulled to the right. The flarers said that most likely the rail was not installed correctly. that you need to "divide the rail" or after installation teach the electric amplifier. They advised me to swap the wheels (the tires are new, it could have eaten up while driving to the collapse) and lo and behold - it helped (although the wear is not visible). the steering wheel stands straight, does not pull anywhere, turns in all directions.

I connected the scanner and saw that when the wheels were positioned correctly, the EUR motor angle sensor did not show 0, although the steering wheel was level. so a question arose in my mind. whether 0 EUR and the forward direction of the wheels are somehow connected. and was it possible to mess up somewhere?

by the way, at 0 EUR, the steering wheel is slightly turned to the right as in this topic link

Toyota RAV4 alone today

from the sales leaders in the European market, in Russia the sales of this car are not so high. But in the Russian secondary market, this car is in the lead by a wide margin. Our compatriots appreciated the high resource and performance of this car and are not afraid to buy RAV4 even with impressive mileage.

This compact crossover was originally positioned as a youth car (hence, by the way, its name - the abbreviation RAV stands for recreation active vehicle, that is, a car for outdoor activities). But either because of its rather high cost, or for some other reason, the main buyers of this car were people of the middle generation.

Initially, the RAV4 was not without its drawbacks. So, for example, many owners of its first version complained about leaks of hydraulic booster fluid through the upper oil seal - it was worn out by the beginning of the second hundred thousand km. mileage. And although this problem is small - replacing the oil seal can hardly be called an operation that causes complexity - already the second generation of the RAV4 was devoid of this drawback. Which, however, does not mean that owners of RAV4s produced after 2000 can not monitor the condition of the rail oil seals. The tightness of all elements of the car's steering is the main guarantee of their high resource and precise operation.

It is impossible to underestimate the significance of the car's rail: it is this mechanism that is responsible for the ease of control of the car and its "obedient" behavior on the road. The rack device is quite simple, which to a large extent provides both its high (relative to other, more complex car systems) resource, and maintainability. The rack and pinion mechanism replaced the worm gear at the beginning of the last century, and most cars produced today are equipped with this type of steering mechanism.

By turning the steering wheel in one direction or another, the driver thereby turns the steering shaft, at the end of which the control gear is fixed. By means of a gear transmission, the gear moves left-right (depending on which side the driver rotates the steering wheel) the rack. The same affects the tie rods attached to its ends, which ultimately make the wheels turn. The precision of this entire structure is determined by the accuracy of its adjustment and the reliability of all movable joints.

From here you can do two

withdrawal. First: the occurrence of even a slight backlash in any of the rail nodes can greatly degrade the efficiency of the entire mechanism. And the second conclusion: after even the smallest repair of the rail, it makes sense to check its adjustment - this is a guarantee that the car will continue to perfectly obey the steering wheel.

There are several reasons why the rail can become loose and backlash can form in its various nodes. It is impossible to completely and permanently protect your car from the need to repair the Toyota RAV4 steering rack, but it is very possible to extend the service life of this device for the longest possible period, thereby saving time, money, and nerves.

The main reason for the wear of the rack parts lies in its insufficient lubrication or a large content of foreign impurities in the oil used for this. To prevent this trouble, regularly check the oil level in the car and replace it in a timely manner.

The second reason why backlash can form in the rail is the ingress of foreign objects into its mechanism - sand, small stones from the road, as well as fragments of worn out oil seals. If you monitor the tightness of the rail cover, you can reduce the risk of such breakage to a minimum.

Rail breakage - deformation

one or another of its components, for example, one of the teeth of the rack, or any gear, requires the immediate intervention of a specialist. This trouble can be recognized by a sudden knock in the area of ​​the front axle of the car or a crunch and rattle when turning the steering wheel while driving. Sometimes even the steering wheel can jam. But even if this did not happen, then the further operation of the car with faulty steering becomes dangerous.It is only a car service technician who will be able to determine exactly in which of the rail nodes the breakdown occurred, and how to fix it, after diagnosing the entire mechanism.

To do this, so that nothing interferes with the free rotation of the wheels of the car, it is installed on a lift. The master, rotating the steering wheel from one extreme position to another, observes the uniformity of their turn. Thus, it determines the presence of backlash in the rack mechanism. If you hear a knocking or grinding sound, then most likely these are signs of a gear failure. In this case, all deformed and

worn parts must be replaced.

If the malfunction lies only in the resulting backlash, then at an early stage of its occurrence, you can get rid of it by tightening the loose nodes. If the backlash is caused by worn-out parts, then you cannot do without replacing them. The master will be able to accurately determine the amount of repair work and, accordingly, the cost of repairing the RAV4 steering rack only after disassembling it and visually inspecting the components.

At the end of the repair, the rack is adjusted: first on the test bench, and then on the car itself. Only after making sure that the repaired mechanism is functioning properly does the master return the car to the owner.