Persistent bump steer / wandering with 2" lift

That doesn't work for me. Driving in the left lane on the highway has the opposite slope as a country road so that difference in caster only exacerbates the lane drifting, it doesn't help it. Wrestling my truck for 30 miles everyday is not my idea of a good time.

 

Im not sure whats going on then. The difference in caster has no affect what so ever on how mine drives, but as we have heard before, every truck is different. I actually went almost a half a mile without touching the steering wheel last night, lol so its straight.

 

Sorry, didn't see this when you typed it. They're Cooper ATPs @ 255/75/17. I'm coming from "Bigfoot" 265/70/17s, both are P rated tires. I had the tire specs in the original post but didn't think the brand would matter.

I can't really compare what the ride is like because the UCAs were backwards for the last 6mos of the 265s life (thanks Cottmans).

If I took regular roads with the usual crown instead of the heavily sloped highway everyday it would probably be way less noticeable. I didn't even catch that it was actually pulling left until I had to drive on a regular road for more than a mile to get somewhere, I thought it was just extremely sensitive to the slope of the road.

 

I was 1.6 apart on my caster after installing new bushings before getting alignment and the wheel was straight and truck tracked straight as an arrow, so the caster being off isn't so much the issue. Only problem I had was it was toed out and had "bump steer" really bad before getting on alignment rack. ANY vehicle will follow the contour of the road when letting go of the steering wheel, kinda stupid to think it will magically steer itself straight all the time? Adding positive caster might amplify it a little, but I don't see where it takes any more effort to steer. You got a shitty lift, tall tires, and using crappy spacers, you are outside the limits of the suspension. Best you'll get is to sacrifice some camber to get better caster numbers. You never mentioned wether you are running the sway bar or not? Leaving it off on the road will make it a little squirrly on the road when hitting bumps.

 

I have a 2" Ironman full suspension lift all around, 3/4 aluminum leveling spacers on the front and an LR UCA to correct for the geometry changes. What part of that seems "shitty" and "outside the limits of the suspension" to you?

Sway bar is still attached.

Let me be clear. I don't expect my truck to drive like my wife's sedan, but I do expect to not have to fight to keep it from changing changing lanes every 30ft.

 

A decent lift WOULD NOT need spacers to level, as it would be made up for with the proper spring/shock combo. It was a cheaper kit that was discontinued, probably for a reason. I'm guessing you aren't really experiencing "bump steer", but rather just a bouncy/stiff ride when hitting bumps due to the suspension being compressed to get the lift, which is what shitty lifts do. Could be lots of things, also. Like loose tie rod ends, wore bushings, how is the tech trying to get "correct" numbers, by adjusting control arms or by adjusting tie rods with the LCA's way outta wack? Just taking wild guesses trying to diagnose something by word?

 

You're also running running 255's which are several inches taller than what the kit was made for, most likely the 265/70 you had before. That would also put the geometry off from what the range the kit was made for.

 

OP has a 2006 rig, so lots of factors come into play with age and mileage. There are many variables to consider. What condition are the ball joints in? LCA bushings? etc.

 

The kit gives 2" of lift and keeps the stock rake intact, that's what it was (and still is) designed to do. Australia doesn't allow more than 2" of lift for "safety reasons" and this kit is meant to work within that law. From the way you keep bashing it I assume you don't recognize the brand and keep calling it "shit" because you think it's a no-name bought cheap from eBay. If so, I invite you to do a little research. They're pretty well respected for their quality on this forum and even more so where the company is based out of, Australia.

The ride is stiffer, but there are no significant bumps on the smooth, sloped highway to cause the issues I'm having. I have the UCAs set to neutral (+2) and the tech is adjusting via the eccentrics only. Loose tie rod ends and worn bushings could be an issue, but like I said, I don't feel any play.

The tires are 1.5" taller than stock and .5" larger than the 265s. Hardly "several inches". The kit purchased by me and put on specifically with tires like these in mind. The spacer lift that came when I bought the truck and the 265s were a holdover from the previous owner.


If you're not going to do even a little reading or fact checking before you start giving "advice", I would invite you to take it somewhere else. To the rest of you, I appreciate your well thought out input.

 

some people think rough country is a good lift. the numbers don't look that bad, so must be something else

 

I dont know where everyone gets the idea that an alignment is so difficult to acheive. I brought my Tacoma to my nephews shop at Midas. A tech put the truck on the rack and set up the equipment and let me go to town. First time ive done my own alignment and I dialed it in 2.7 caster, 0 toe and 0 camber. In less than an hour total time. There was nothing to it. No magic involved. Its not rocket science.

 

You're right it's not. But not every one gets the Midas touch.

 

The guy i go to by my house literally spent 2.5 hrs (some of which was bsing about dirtbikes with me) getting shit SPOT ON. im talking dead nuts even per side. It can be done, and dont accept anything less.

 

Alignments aren't difficult especially with all the automated gadgets shops have, getting someone to treat your truck like you do is the hard part. It's easy to say "don't accept anything less" when you've got a guy that does good work without even asking. Taking it to the same shop 4 times because you already paid and "I'll be damned if you accept that shit job" gets to be one of those things that seem less and less worth the trouble. Just like anything else you try to get fixed it's hard to find someone you don't have to watch like a hawk to get acceptable service.

 

oh 100% true! I am lucky enough to have an alignment guy who treats vehicles with the utmost respect. He even went as far as to throw a little lube on the cam bolts so he didnt bend cam tabs as he was like. I know these can get a little sticky and I dont want to stress them at all.

 

My alignment sheets shows that Toyota's spec is a max of like +2.9 Caster.

 

for a stock height, stock UCA truck yes. Lifted... specs change, 3-3.5* of caster is optimal to help with the extra wandering induced by a taller truck.

 

I took it back in and had it redone. Tech said the caster was the main problem and threw it back on the rack. He brought all the other metrics closer to nd4spdbh's specs and that fixed the pulling. It still turns with the slope of the highway but not enough to where I feel like I arm wrestled my steering wheel by the time I get to work. He maxed the caster while keeping it close (something like 2.4 each side, I'll edit with the specs when I get the sheet from home), but he probably could've gotten over 3.0 had I moved the UCAs to the +3 position instead of +2. I'm pretty happy with it right now but if it still bothers me in a few weeks I'll take it to Firestone and get the $170 lifetime alignment deal.

Thanks for your help guys.