SOS steering please help

Reposting because I didn’t get any responses but please help!!

I’m posting a video of my steering wheel whenever I drive over anything that’s not smooth pavement. The wheel will jerk left or right depending on what I’m driving over. I don’t feel it so much when I’m over 30 MPH. If I’m turning left or right going over bumps the steering is fine. Toyota thinks I should replace my whole steering rack I think it’s a cash grab because to me it seems like the rack bushings are blown out. Toyota also just replaces the whole thing if something is wrong instead of just the small broken piece. They also said they were sure if that would fix the issue no one can pinpoint what it is. Just want to see if anyone has had similar issues. Here is a video of what it looks like:

https://youtube.com/shorts/4ZXlBYPPpKM?si=OvgTIZJnYXV8J5YW

 

Generally, SOS and help are reserved for emergency situations such as:
- Stuck out on a trail with broken truck
- offroad accidents
- other situations where you are not able to recover or assist your self to home or other more populated areas etc…

you seem to be a heavily populated, metropolitan area with a driving truck.
I’d recommend changing the title of something like “ jerky steering wheel feedback over bumps diagnosis”.

That said, get a GoPro, camera, or a friend to record a video of your steering rack bushing area while you shake the wheel RH and LH quickly. You’ll be able to see if the bushings are shot.

Not sure if Toyota sells just the bushings as an oem replacement part. They may only sell the complete rack, hence the dealers diagnosis of replacing the rack.

Or take it to another independent mechanic, have them diagnose the same issue. See what they suggest.

 

^^^What Sterling said^^^ Also check the wheel bearings one at a time by jacking up each front wheel and using a jack stand to secure it. Then by grabbing a firm hold of the tire with both hands at 3 and 9o’clock, twisting it by pulling one side towards you while pushing in the other, to see if there’s any clunking or looseness, and also check for grinding noise while spinning it.

 

Sorry wouldn’t put SOS but I wasn’t getting any help so I didn’t know what to do. I just bought some 2nd gen rack bushing because they’ve been known to fit the 3rd gen also

 

It doesn’t make any noise no clunks or grinding noises

 

You posted that video in other threads and received responses.

 

How many miles are on the truck?

Have you checked the tie rods?

 

Check the alignment, wheel balance, swap right and left front wheels.

Doesn't look out of norm to me, but I'm not driving it. The wheel will turn some with road imperfections.

 

A really bad wheel bearing will cause your truck to suddenly track over to one side after hitting a bump, and sometimes it’s hard to tell if a wheel bearing has gone bad.

I had just had my wheel bearings replaced by Toyota on my first gen, and while on a 1000-mile road trip away from home, I noticed some weird sounds and issues with steering and stopped at a local mechanics shop to have them checked. The guy did the test I described earlier while I helped, and we couldn’t find any issues, they seemed fine. But on my return, my truck started doing this weird tracking thing on the freeway, and by the time I got home, it was so bad I wouldn’t drive the truck and had it flatbedded to the dealer. They discovered that one of the new bearing races was destroyed and had to do a lot of repairs in order to fix the issue. Luckily, they paid for it as they had just done the bearing replacements just before my trip. I am really lucky that the wheel didn’t fall off on the freeway!

Anyway, I still think you should dig deeper into the wheel bearings to see if they’re OK, what you are describing is very similar to what I encountered. It’s cheaper to fix those than replacing the entire steering rack, so along with checking the tie rods, definitely check the bearings more thoroughly.

 

Idk.... my steering wheel always has some bump steer.
Even more now that it's lifted.
Even worse when not properly aligned.
Not having a swaybar probably adds to it, as well.
I'd start with an alignment.

 

Lesser-offset wheels that increase scrub radius can cause the steering wheel to kick back & forth over bumps more... Is that what you're running?