QuestionQUESTION: Hi Mike,
The Toyota guy is not taking more question, and this is really a very basic question that you'll probably be able to answer.
I'm replacing timing chain and found plastic tensioner broken, so I have to clear oil pan of pieces. I've got the timing chain cover ready to take off now except I'd prefer to get the oil pan off beforehand since the oil pan abuts against the bottom of the timing cover, and it would be that much harder to knock the cover loose with the oil pan in the way. My Haynes manual says to remove the oil pan, I need to remove pitman and idler arms to get the relay rod out of the way, and to remove the crossmember. I've just removed the crossmember before noticing that the manual says to remove this stuff with truck on jacks. I already had truck on ramps, and now the engine is torn down. I'm ignorant about suspension, and am unsure of the safety of removing the steering linkage while weight is on wheels, rather than jacks. Is it OK to remove the relay rod/pitman arm/idler arm along with the crossmember with the truck on ramps and weight on wheels?
Thanks,
Scotty
ANSWER: I am not a big fan of ramps. That said, you can do this without a whole lot of drama. The only danger in leaving the car on the ramps while you disconnect the steering is that there will no longer be any thing keeping the wheels from turning. If they were to turn while they were on the ramp the truck might roll sideways off the ramp. If you can clamp at least one of them in place you would be good to go. The simplest thing to do would be to get a couple of pieces of shelving board (1X12 or something close) and put one on either side of the wheel so that they hang down over the edges of the ramp. Then clamp the whole thing together with a couple of furniture clamps. Or you could make sure that you leave all of the steering linkage connected to the pitman and idler arms and just drop the whole thing down without unhooking it. There should be quite a bit of slack in the thing once it's unhooked from the body. And make sure that both rear wheels are chocked front and back so that the truck can't move. But, if you have a pair of jack stands, you really ought to use them instead of the ramps. And make sure that they are on something solid. And don't forget the chocks.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks. I'm unsure what you mean by "dropping" the linkage down without disconnecting the pitman and idler arms. The relay rod is what I need to get out of the way. It appears that on the driver's side, I have to disconnect the pitman arm from the steering gearbox, and disconnect the tie rod as well. Then, I'd have to disconnect something on the passenger side. How do I drop down the relay rod with everything attached?
Answer Maybe I was misunderstood. Leave the centerlink attached to the pitman and idler arms. Just remove them from the frame and steering box. That way the whole steering linkage remains connected. Now, getting the pitman arm off of the steering box is difficult, you'll probably need a special puller. Still, I think it would be the safest way to do this.
