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Hey guys,so,last winter I changed the power steering fluid which made a nice difference in steering feel.The other day my wife said the steering felt hard at times.Fluid level is ok and the belt is good.Did some surfing on the net,and saw that various people on various forums had the same issue where they said the steering u-joint needed lubrication.Today.I went under the truck and the u-joint is very,very rusty.Some have sprayed WD-40 and noted the problem went away,however,I do not want to use WD-40.Can someone tell me the correct lubricant to use on this.There are 176,000 miles on the car and I doubt this was ever lubricated.We bought it at 52,000 miles. Heck,I do not know if this will solve the problem,but,I want to start here and do it anyway.
Those are sealed bearings - they don't get serviced. I doubt a shop will press them out and replace them on a steering linkage (just too much liability) so you're probably looking at replacing the entire shaft.
But based on the amount of rust I see .. your GX doesn't have much life left in it. I would go for the penetrating oil/WD-40 as it's the cheap option. If it gets worse and you want to keep driving it, consider replacing the shaft at that time.
Lol,you guys make it sound like its going to fall apart in 6 months. Thats what salt and the winters do to a car here in the northeast which has been bad over the last several years. You are right though,I should have sprayed something for the undercarriage every spring.So,I sprayed power blaster on everything including the u-joints. It worked,no more stiffness.
Whoa...I’m here in he north east too and there’s nothing that looks like that under my truck....the picture may not tell the whole story but that is ugly..glad the power blaster thing worked...
Whoa...I’m here in he north east too and there’s nothing that looks like that under my truck....the picture may not tell the whole story but that is ugly..glad the power blaster thing worked...
What do you mean by that?
Originally Posted by vwynn
looks like cancer.
I agree.I am going to coat underneath the truck just before winter and again in the Spring.The plan now is to go to the RX in three years.With over 176,000 miles on the clock(122k miles by us),the truck runs great and gets better mpg than when we bought it in 2009.We were averaging 17 mpg which is mostly around town,but,after going to a tire with a more aggressive tread last year,mpg was knocked down to 16.4. The Amsoil fluids used in the transfer case, differentials,the engine and transmission,no doubt play a role in that.
Since using Power Blaster on the U-joint,no more stiffish wheel feel and the undercarriage at least looks better.In treating the undercarriage going forward,this is what I will be using going forward.
Northeast SUCKS for vehicles, glad I don't live in NY anymore. That joint can be replaced with the "intermediate shaft, lower" lexus pn 45203-60120 but I'm not sure why it's very much so more expensive than it's Toyota counterparts where we only pay ~$50-60 for aftermarket joints.
In the past couple years, I rinse the undercarriage of all my cars with garden hose in the spring time. It seems like a great help to minimize the rusting under the car.
Northeast SUCKS for vehicles, glad I don't live in NY anymore. That joint can be replaced with the "intermediate shaft, lower" lexus pn 45203-60120 but I'm not sure why it's very much so more expensive than it's Toyota counterparts where we only pay ~$50-60 for aftermarket joints.
Originally Posted by JLee50
my god...
I would fluid film that - should at least give it some pause.
Originally Posted by tz693
In the past couple years, I rinse the undercarriage of all my cars with garden hose in the spring time. It seems like a great help to minimize the rusting under the car.
Off to an early start with our first significant snow.Yay,more salt....
Off to an early start with our first significant snow.Yay,more salt....
I saw at least one truck but couldn't tell if they were salting - I'm hoping it was warm enough that they didn't bother, because I'm doing fluid film this weekend....was really bummed that we got a major storm two days prior.
10-27-18, 03:52 PM
2004 GX470 Steering U-joint
