Truck jumps right when accelerating over Bridges on highway

11.08.2013 UPDATE
Just as the title says..
The rear of the truck jumps right when accelerating or holding speeds over bumps (IE: hitting the abrupt edge of a bridges, washboards on dirt roads)
if I take it off cruise control and roll the bridge it doesn’t pull any direction.

wheel bearing?
Bent axle?
Bent frame? (See my previous threads.. had a hell of a time getting it aligned)

this issue makes driving in the snow pretty damn scary when hitting bridges and jump shifting to the right

I’ve noticed that while going fast (40+mph) on washboard brake bumped out dirt roads in 2wd it drifts to the right pretty bad. Doing the same thing in 4wd it is better but still drifts right and is a good bit scary

video showing my attempt to diagnose a potentially bad leaf spring or wheel bearing! I think I could have a poorly packed leaf. What do you think?
https://youtu.be/teG_nlQAUr8?si=HZBNfz-mwGcfooZt

 

The first thing I'd check is the leaf spring U-bolts. Then I'd move on to the leaf spring hangers. Something's moving back there. Look for witness marks.

 

Thanks for the insight, I'll do some looking and research!

 

I'm wondering if the leaf springs have shifted off their perch on the axle housing, resulting in your rear axle sitting at an angle relative to "normal".

 

It does this only on bridges?

 

??
Snow, bridges...are you sure your not breaking the rear end free... and cruise control in the snow? Always a terrible idea.
I mean a bridge is just a road over something...

 

I can read minds. OP's truck is bucking (right) on hard, big lips and shelf potholes at 55+mph on the gas. (this is the meaning of the word bridge)

 

check frame at passenger cab mount
mine was shot and did similar on big bumps

 

MR5X5, It could be my rear end breaking free when hitting sharp bumps at speeds greater than 55mph... (but it did do this on dry roads prior to me changing out the rear shocks. now it only does it super super noticably when a bridge is icey).

I'll check the frame cab mount knottyrope sounds like something that's possible!

Naveronski, So if this answers your question... I have Icon RTX leafs from previous owner. They are minorly rusty, how their packed doesn't look visually great.. the stack isn't 100% lined up straight. When I bought them they were at the most stiff setting and bucked right on bridges real bad (the shocks were soooo blown it wasn't even funny). I replaced the rear shocks and took the RTX leafs apart and at the 2nd setting. When repacking and re-installing everything went well, nothing noticeably challenging or wrong. with new shocks and less stiff leafs the buck is much much much better but still there

 

I do think that most of the time this happens it's when I hit a bridge in cruise control or while accelerating... Maybe I need to just chill out and realize that I'm not driving an AWD anymore...

 

I’ve added to the description in the initial post. Let me know if this stirs any thoughts!! I appreciate all of you!

 

Both front wheel bearings are totally shot.
All tires look bald.

Start there.

 

^^^ This... Maybe also try putting some weight in the back?

My LT tires are pretty stiff and I've noticed the back end gets bounced around more than when I had P rated tires...

 

First of THANKS FOR THE INPUT AND REVIEW jaymac10 and Too Stroked!

I'd like to know why exactly you both think the front wheel bearings are shot? Also, I see what you're saying on the tires looking bald from the vid but I promise they actually have great tread life. Like 60% life left on the K02s

My Diagnosis:
Test 1: Pushing side to side (9 & 3 O'clock position) I have movement. You can see the tie rods move actually, could be a sign for a worn inner tie rod? this was only in the front obviously, in the rear pushing like this resulted in NO movement at all.
Test 2: When pushing on the wheel at the 12 & 6 O'clock positions, There is NO movement in the wheel at all (typically the main giveaway for a bad wheel bearing). No signs of wheel bearing failure from this test
Test 3: spinning the wheel and listening for grinding noises - I did not hear anything abnormal in person, you can hear from the video but the noise from what I can tell seems to just be caliper on rotor.. seems normal to me but please chime in if you have experienced differently!!

Visual inspection of rear leafs:

My video in the description shows all the mounting points from leafs to the frame. To me it kind looks like the pack is fucked at the drivers side front leaf mounting point.. thoughts? (SEE 2:58 in the video)

Here's the vid I had used to reference - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhKxAonmH7w

 

When you move the front wheels - both of them - you can see play between the wheel and tire and the backing plate. None of the steering components are moving.

Look at it this way. There should be no play at all anywhere up there.

 

My second gen SR5 did this since new. it liked to hop on bumps

 

watched the vid
Wheel bearings in front are gone on both sides
Rear leaf is broken, dont drive it anymore until you replace it

 

Now I'm not saying you're wrong : knottyrope, Too Stroked, jaymac10 (and the fact that 3 of you agree makes me definitely think I'm likely wrong). I really really need rock solid evidence that the front wheel bearings are blown before buying and installing wheel bearings. My issue is: I know if I replace the wheel bearings I'll still have that lateral movement in both the wheels because I can seethe movement in the tie-rods from my vid.

Watch the ""Toyota-Maintenance" vid I linked at 3:02 he goes over how play should be in the wheel laterally. When you watch my video at 40seconds you can clearly that all that wheel movement translated into the inner tie-rod moving (see the black boot on the top of she screen shifting w the wheel?) is when moving the wheel at the 3 and 9 position laterally. When pushing up and down there is no movement at all. The only indication of a wheel bearing to me could be from the noise when spinning the wheel

I'm thinking I'm in for a new rear leaf's and inner/outer tie-rods

 

That noise when moving right to left in the front is the backlash (excessive)in your steering rack hard to see but looks like the inner on the driver side the boot is wet if it is leaking power steering rack once that fluid gets into the boot it ruins your inner tie rod because the grease is removed from the fluid. Depending on mileage usually around 150-200k wheel bearings start to fail. Not a bad idea to swap if your around that. But just get an inspection. Tell them to check your lower control arm bushings and steering components. Not sure if u plan on doing it yourself but maybe worth it to get an estimate. Trying to diagnose from a video isn’t going to be an accurate way of figuring it out. But it’s definitely something simple, but simple doesn’t mean cheap. Go with factory parts don’t cheap out on junk

 

Remember, diagnosing issues over the internet is difficult - if not impossible. If most of us could lay hands on your truck, we'd be able to diagnose it - instantly and correctly. I'd suggest that you take it to a mechanic you can trust and see what they think. Don't wait though. You have serious issues.