Truck swaying while driving

Solution that worked for me is post#16. If I would've known this was an issue I would've left the factory rubber bushings in place. The ES bushings have very little deflection as opposed to the rubber ones so that extra force has to go somewhere causing the rack to shift. I took a video of what was happening before I welded in the tabs.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cVDlhLhoYoE

 

Holy smokes that is a lot of deflection.

 

Yeah and they were torqued down to specs too. I thought i was going crazy when I made a turn and my steering was off then made another turn and it was straight again. Another option to stop this from happening is putting a giant star lock washer in between the crossmember and bushing washer so it bites down and doesn't move.

 

Maybe I’ll keep the stock ones after all….

 

Almost like there is also too much gap between the sleeve for the bolt hole, and the bolt diameter.

 

Seems like it but the bolt had about the same amount of play as it did in the rubber bushing. The tabs are holding up pretty good though.

 

My truck rode hard and steering seemed to wander after the dealer overinflated the tires to 37psi. Dropped back to 32psi per sticker and all is well again.

 

Now keep in mind, I'm on 35" tires. A factory sized tire is easier to turn so you may not have as much deflection.

 

What kind of tires? P metric?

 

Nice! Do you have pictures of the tabs? About to do this mod and curious if you were able to get it close-enough to the rack mount on the driver side without interfering with the hard power steering lines. Also worried about melting the bushings from the welding. Did you unbolt the rack the reattach after installing the tabs?

 

Yes. OEM supplied Hankook P245. I probably should describe the wandering as “jittery”, less sure tracking when at 37psi.

 

I was able to unbolt the rack and prop it up with a 2x4 with everything still connected while I welded in the tabs. I did several tack welds as to not create too much heat. I'll try and upload a pic later

 

Here's a pic of the tab I welded on the passenger side of the rack. I did the same on the drivers side

 

Looks great. Thanks for posting. Does that help the rack stay put as well or are you mainly worried about the bushings moving? In the video it seemed like the entire rack was shifting but maybe that is because the bushings were not tight?

 

FWIW I noticed for those of us that got our replacement bushings at O'Reillys, the design of the sleeve is different. The listing on ES's website shows the sleeve attached to the washer and each half meets in the middle like the bushing. The other (older?) has the washers detached with a floating sleeve.

https://teamenergysuspension.com/product/energy-suspension-8-10106g-rack-pinion-bushing-set/
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/.../a/122624/automotive-truck-2013-toyota-tacoma

Here is the install guide showing the "inner flanged sleeve" part number 15.02.52.39

 

I was more worried about the rack since that's what was throwing off my steering. The bushings in the video were torqued down to specs.

 

Nice. I went with a vertical tab since my 1/4" metal plate wasn't thick enough to stop the rack. Terrible terrible welds but they haven't moved yet and the rack is now solid enough. Great idea man, thanks for sharing.

I wonder why toyota changed the design of the rack mount on the tacoma from the 4 runner style with two different bolt axis and a collar? Seems more solid of a design but oh well.

 

Yeah they should've put a 3rd mount on these jokers. Everytime I go hit the trails and hit a washout my steering went offcenter. Now it stays straight as arrow. I could've used two 1/4" tabs stacked on top each other but this seems to work great so far.

 

Just to follow up with this. Do you experience anything like bump steer since doing the welded tabs? I'm wondering now if the steering rack is transmitting all that energy when going over bumps into the steering wheel since the bushings aren't able to absorb it.

 

I havent noticed any bumpsteer. I welded the tabs at the bottom washer of the bushings to keep the washer from shifting but the bushings still do their job absorbing road vibrations n stuff