Toyota – Prado (4/96 – 12/02)

Toyota Prado (4/96 – 12/02.) – Steering Rack

One of the most common issues with the Power Steering Rack in this range of Toyota vehicles is a build-up of rust on the main rack shaft, inside the rack boots.

This rust on the main shaft can significantly reduce the life of the Power Steering Rack. The build-up of rust on the shaft damages the main rack shaft seals. This will make the steering rack prematurely leak power steering fluid.

Rust is common on the Power Steering Rack shaft on these series of vehicles. This is due to 2 reasons, the first being a lack of lubrication inside the rack boots when the steering rack is manufactured. The second reason is that the rack boots are made out of a hard plastic. This plastic boot can allow a built-up of moisture inside the boot and this moisture will make the shaft rust prematurely. If the vehicle is used off-road this can also increase the risk of rust due to salty or muddy conditions.

The good news is that if you do a bit of preventive maintenance before the rust damages the shaft, this will increase the life of the Power Steering Rack considerably.

At Ultimate Power Steering we have developed a rack boot kit consisting of 2 new Rubber Rack Boots, 4 new Rack Boot Clamps and grease for lubrication. This kit when fitted to the Power Steering Rack reduces the risk of rust and this will increase the life of the Power Steering Rack.

New Power Steering Rack Assembles.

If your Toyota Prado power steering rack is badly rusted then it may have to be replaced. The other good news is that Ultimate Power Steering has sourced a new power steering rack assembly. This new steering rack is a copy of the original Toyota steering rack but it is only approx 1/3 the cost of the original assembly.