Taco all over the road... causes?

Just bought an 04 prerunner, all stock. When I test drove it I noticed a slight veering to the left, nothing crazy but definitely there. Figured it was just due for an alignment. Over the past week and a half I've noticed a vibration at highway speeds coming from the front of the truck that slows down as I pump the brakes, could that be a U joint issue? Also noticed the steering is pretty wacky, jerks left and right at slow speeds going over bumps, and wanders all over the lane on the highway. I'm replacing both lbjs tomorrow. Planning on taking it to get aligned after putting in new ball joints. Any ideas of what the vibration/wander could be?

 

Ball joints are the first thing I think of. 1st gens are known for rack and pinion bushings also. Both give a numb sensation to driving.

 

Wild-ass-guess ... brake rotors? Warped and can be speed-dependent wobble, could also cause pull to one side or other.

Or I may be just wrong.

 

Miles? If a lot, there could be a lot of worn stuff.

 

I replaced brakes and rotors two days ago thinking the same thing, and it still persists...

 

166k miles

 

Do your ball joints. Have it aligned at a good shop. They will be able to ID wear items that need replacement.

I had an old wanderer once and my alignment guy said you need x, y ,z, so I'm not even trying until those are replaced. Do you want to do that or have me?

Took it home, replaced parts over a couple of evenings. Took it back and he aligned it. Gave him a nice tip for working with me.

 

Did ball joints this morning, its in shop for alignment and tire balance now. Saw a couple things this morning that could be culprits. Tie rods look pretty beat, and so do upper ball joints. bushings on both front shocks are dry rotted too. Thanks for the advice!

 

could also be front wheel bearings.

with that age, it really could be 'everything that moves'...

 

just got it back from the shop, at low speed steering jerks and wandering are gone. ill have to take it on the highway tmr to see if it feels right but so far so good.

 

Check the steering rack bushing. I had to replace mine last year because it felt like it was wondering and not in control. You can test by looking under the truck at the rack as someone turns the steering wheel, if the rack moves, you need to replace them

 

Ordered poly steering rack bushings yesterday, I figured out thats what it was. Gonna put in new sway bar bushings while i'm at it too.

 

There are some great videos on YouTube I followed that made the job really easy.

 

I bought mine in 2018, it has always had a slight drift to the right, if you let go of the wheel you'll be in the ditch. tried to get it aligned and he told me it was the steering rack. Fought long and hard against it, replaced everything else first, turns out . . . it was the rack.

The wandering issues could be anything, from tie rod ends to worn bushings to shock bushings, without getting in there and doing some tests it's a shot in the dark. Speaking of which . . .

By "figured out" did you do the test mentioned above? At dead stop, engine off, helper turning wheel left and right, you should see the rack move a little as the bushings compress to one side or the other, I mean like 1/8" to the opposite side you're steering against. Excessive slop you might be right, but I'd recommend against the shotgun approach (change stuff until the problem goes away.)

There's a lot of tests you can do, in a nutshell get under there with a crow bar and without damaging any boots or rubber (probably shot anyway) pry against the join points to look for play. Tie rod ends, ball joints, control arm bushings, upper bushings/ball joints, bushings where the shocks attach at the bottom. That's not the "full story" but I'm guessing you'll find something more loose than it should be.

OR it could be the rack. If you figure you need a rack, don't skimp, go strictly OEM on the rack, ball joints, and bushings. Rack bushings are ok to go poly . . . rubber bushings are used on the rack to "soften" the feel on rough terrain (which is opposite of what you're experiencing.) The stiffer bushings will give it a more "snappy" handling, but you'll slightly feel the road a little more in turns. ES bushings come in 2 grades, red is way stiffer than OEM rubber, but the black version is even more stiff.

 

Basically every bushing will need to be replaced. The rubber is just ~20 years old.

New front and rear shocks will go a long way too. Bilstein 4600s are the goto. Places like Suspension Lifts will sell assembled coilovers with 4600s and moog stock height springs. Those are your best bet for a drop in replacement. Stay away from anything from Monroe.

 

Yeah... I was scooting around under my truck looking for a front jack position (whatever I found didn't look like a safe place to jack off from) to inspect my tie rods and hubs then I saw chewed orange bushings looking back at me. How hard is it to DIY swap these bushings and every other rubber part up front that is BTFO? Also, I see some oil sludge under the driver side, what part seems to be leaking, how hard is the swap, and what's a fair price to pay to do it?

 

Imma not even touch that one LOL

Thanks for posting the pic, I have a set in mine and have wondered how well these hold up! Those appear to be

$32 Energy Suspension - 8.10103R 4WD RACK & PINION BUSHING SET

Energy Suspension poly bushings, the slightly softer red version, and yeah they look pretty beat up. They're supposed to look like this. Difficulty to change: not that hard, people sometimes have trouble getting the vertical bolt out but I can tell you, yes you can get a torque wrench in there.

You don't have to disconnect the rack from the lines, but you do have to remove the 4 bolts and slide the rack to the rear enough to get the bushings in, plan on supporting the weight with something while working.

The sway bar usually needs to be removed for more room, I think it's possible to replace the bushings without doing so but it's a good time to replace the sway bar bushings ($14 for OEM) and the sway bar links when doing that.

This can be done without removing the TRE's but if you are planning on replacing them (OEM only) get them broke loose before you start removing the rack bolts.

Torque on reassembly, pic from adventuretaco.

 

The rack bushings aren't hard in terms of complexity... I have done it twice in 20+ years, and both times found it time consuming to get everything lined back up.

 

The good news is that middle vertical bolt is much more accessible due to no front differential. Makes that part of the job way easier, and gives more room for a torque wrench.

 

Might try the Tack Weld Mod.
https://youtu.be/xsOptgpfshg?si=CxyD8UMXTh9dikJ6