should I swap the steering rack or not

[Gottolovem]

Hello all I'm in the middle of a tranny swap in my 85 wagon and my steering rack is starting to leak seems to be an easy job with tranny out there are 4 wagons at my local pick&pull one has 175k far less than mine. Can it be done with the tranny in The car.

[Petros]

Welcome to the list!

Yes, I have removed the steering rack out of several cars without removing the trans. You pull the mount caps and than you can wiggle it out from under the engine my moving it sideways. Not sure if having the trans out actually helps if I remember correctly, the problem is the proximity to the bottom of the oil pan on the engine.

I have not tried to install one yet, but I have pulled two from cars at wrecking yards without removing the engine or trans. if the engine was out it would save some effort to replace the rack, but that is not a good enough reason to pull the engine by itself.

[Gottolovem]

Petros thanks for the reply

The tranny job is done w/o rack replacement so nice to be back in my manual. I have ben driving my auto for a few months while looking for the right tranny(4.1) the auto is such a pig I feel like i'm in a sports car now.The whole job was around 300 bucks with new cluch. Anyway I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all the invalueable imformation 3 years and 5 Tercel4wd's later you just GOTTOLOVEM.
One more question on my 85 the front brakes seem to run hot not dragging or pulling just hot is this a common problem

[Petros]

yes, the brakes tend to run hot. The brakes are too small for this car, they used the same 11 mm unvented rotors as the 2 door hatch back version of this car. This is a 5 seat 4x4 station wagon, Toyota should have known better. on long down hill runs you MUST treat your brakes very carefully, use the engine to slow as much as possible.

You can check to see if any of the brakes are draging by jacking the car up, trans in neutral, apply the brakes hard and than release, and see if the front wheels turn freely. if they are locked up or heavy drag, the caliper and likely the flex hose needs to be replaced. A small amount of drag is normal, not too much however. the pads should be just touching the rotor.

There is a thread I created about upgrading the brakes with junk yard parts from other model toyotas, it is easy to do and well worth it (if you need brakes anyway, might as well put on better ones):

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4998

[Gottolovem]

Petros

Thank's for the link on the upgrade I will check for drag tomorrow when I swap an old ball joint. If I find a problem I'll do the upgrade everything WILL fit inside stock 13" aluminum rims right. I noticed on another post someone was going to have a bunch of spacers made up did that ever come to pass. I would rather buy spacers than make them. I think I will buy new packed calipers and rotors for 1986 mr2 (had bad luck with used calipers from pick&pull). Do the 91-94 tercel slotted rotors and calipers still need a spacer.

Thank's again

[Petros]

yes, you need the 1/8" spacers with the later Tercel vented rotors, other rotors (including the mr2 rotors) you need larger spacers. All of it fits within the 13" steel wheel. The later MR2 brakes will work as well but are larger and require 14" wheels, I have not tried the larger brakes, it will likely affect the front/rear braking ratio balance, the smaller dia ones keep the front to rear balance the same.

You may also use the calipers off the 91-94 Tercel, which are almost identical. Buying new is a good way to go, but more costly than using junk yard parts of course.

[Gottolovem]

Thanks
New 91-94 tercel rotors & calipers with 1/8 spacers. Does sythdegin still have spacers.