2015 Steering Slop

I was wondering if any other '15 trucks have the ridiculous amount of slop in the steering wheel when driving on dirt/washboard roads. The steering wheel gets this free play feeling in it which in no way should be "normal." I have not noticed it on pavement, and I dont think its happened over speedbumps or bumps in the road, just the continuous bumps on dirt. This is at low speeds (under 10mph, probably closer to 5mph)


"Thats normal" is what I got from the techs at Toyota, which is obviously unacceptable IMO. You designed it to feel like it was falling apart!?


I have had the same feeling of slop with the steering shafts on a few GM vehicles (to relate if anyone has experienced it). 02 Tahoe, 05 Escalade and 05 Silverado, they had a slop in the steering which was caused by a hollow intermediate shaft and the bearings inside wearing or deteriorating, which you either replaced or added a zerk fitting and filled it with grease to eliminate it. But it was the exact same feeling, the sad part is those all had 150k plus on them where my truck did it with 100 miles on it.

I've seen the threads on here to jam a zip tie in there, but on one of the threads someone I thought mentioned that a certain year and up got new shafts and that "fix" wouldnt work.

 

The slip you are experiencing on washboarded out roads is probably from the tires losing contact with the road. Just like the rear gets all loose in the same situations. It has more to do with the suspension not being able to soak up the bumps than anything. When I just upgraded my suspension the truck handles totally different than a stock truck on the washboards. And the stock stuff only had 600 miles on it.

My .02

 

slow down when the steering starts to feel loose

 

Or maybe some better a/t tires

 

I guess I should have mentioned it in the first post (edited it in for future viewing pleasure), but this occurs at low speeds (under 10, maybe 5mph). So there is no contact being lost, and slowing down any further is ... impractical for a forest service road.

When I brought it in for other vibration problems which they also deemed "normal" I told them to make sure everything was tight since I read threads of steering racks being loose, obviously I can guarantee that went in one ear and out the other, so I'll probably get under there and make sure everything is at least tight or doesnt show any signs of wear. My closest dealer has a record of not caring much when you didnt purchase from them (happened to more than just myself), so I may drive a little further and get a better dealer to look it over.

 

Just found this thread that I posted in, I searched before I started my thread and didnt find it. But he obviously has a similar problem (I dont have any noises as far as the shake). There is a single thump after coming to a stop, but not sure if that is related, and it was another "normal" issue per the dealer.


http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/360819-excessive-play-steering-wheel-2015-a.html

 

Obviously you should make sure everything is right with the front end. But my stock 15 was also very squirrely in the washboards before changing the suspension. Now it eats them up at 25-30 mph.

 

Suspension is on the list of things to do, but I wanted to make sure that the issues were resolved first since obviously, as soon as I mod, the pre-existing dealer warranty issue will automatically become my issue with a modified suspension.

 

So do what j becker did go billis. If that is an option, no warranty void there

 

It is "normal" in that if you take 10 Tacomas from the dealer's lot, all 10 will exhibit the same behavior. Ironically, out of all the vehicles I've owned/driven long-term, the Tacoma "feels" the least solid, but is the only one I have confidence with off-road. Try the zip tie mod if it bothers you too much.

Steering feel will worsen if you install a lift due to bump steer in the geometry and loss of caster. If you install uniball upper control arm to regain caster, the on-center feel becomes more vague due to the uniball's higher friction.

 

Regardless of whether you lift or not, better components will (obviously) improve the ride characteristics.