Wandering steering

toku, you have more Tacoma knowledge in one fingernail than I will ever have in my life, but I can tell you from experience that 3 out-of-round tires can cause wandering and vibration at 55 mph....especially with those stock tires btw, always admired your ride and the awesome place it gets to live

 

I agree with you.
I was going on the assumption that his tires have been checked out by the dealer.

There are many other factors that could cause these issue. I've even heard of a guy with a bad front differential, causing vibration.

You're right the stockers that Toyota puts on these trucks are crap.

 

did they road force balance the tires too?

I'm leaning your direction after re reading the first post, my bad bro. Not sure what 'seems to have corrected' means, but he may not be too sure about the shimmy being fixed. Either way, the alignment may have been done incorrectly and the Toku advice would be right on......sounded close to my experience, just not exact......I should stay quiet

 

Just wanted to provide an update. Went into the dealer yesterday for oil change/tire rotation and had them check out the issues I described above. The squeaking noise from the front coil - the delaer is replacing the entire coil assembly on the passenger side including the strut, said it was an assembly issue (from the factory) and it could be attributing to my wandering steering issues (not sure)? In rotating the tires, most of the wandering issues were greatly improved. This now leads me to believe it is a tire/balancing issue and not the steering rack. The dealer will road force balance all tires when I go back for the coil assembly installation. I am guessing I may have a bad tire and when it was moved to the rear it is not as pronounced? We shall see.

 

How much do you all notice wind affecting the handling of the Tacomas? If there is much wind at all, I really feel it - pushes the nose around quite a bit.

 

wind definitely affects the handling of the tacoma...............its like a brick on wheels man!!! my 04 isnt as bad per say................but my 06 i had was horrible when it was windy as hell!

 

x3,549... on a windy day I could be all over the road...

 

I have a 2008. Dealers and corporate will say that there is nothing wrong with the truck, but watch your front tires very closely, will wear unevenly pretty soon. I'm in Mexico and today lost hope that they will fix it. I'm going to newspapers and will contact every tacoma owner I can to create some trouble to Toyota.

Good luck.

 

Since I started this thread, wanted to give an update. Had the rear spring mod done to the 09 DC TRD OR yesterday (dealer got it right the first time). The dealer also changed out the right front coil spring assembly as it was squeaking and apparently was not seated exactly right (according to the service tech), road forced balanced all tires and performed an alignment. All I can say is WOW, this is how this truck is supposed to drive. No wandering at all, solid as a rock and with the rear leaf spring mod even rides more to my liking. I am very happy !!!

 

Great news! Congrats...

 

x2...

 

I have the same problem as u. even now that mine has 6" lift. it will surely wander. i am also thingking of changing my 35"s to 33"s.

i hope that the after market co can come up with better parts to correct this steering problem.

had drove a stock tacoma before and its the same thing with my rig now. it coz of the tires and the lift thats it has.

well i guess we all just have to deal with it and love our trucks.

 

I haven't had any vibes at all but my truck did feel like it wanted to wander too much on the highway and in general, as in I had to do way more correcting than I should have and pay constant attention (its all stock).

The stock air pressure was 29 in the front and 31 in the back. I put it to 32 in the front and 33 in the rear and that little bit of pressure made the truck feel as stable as anything for me. Don't have to constantly correct at all now.

Ofcourse it isn't as planted as a heavy-ass full size, but it's far more stable than the '03 B4000 we have. On a rough highway at 70 the B4000 throws you all over the place. The new Tacoma is about as comfy as our Outback, but the back end can still do some bouncing if its rough enough.

 

Here is a note from the Factory Repair manual on steering wheel calibration. Hopefully it will help.

STEERING COLUMN: STEERING SYSTEM: ON-VEHICLE INSPECTION (2009 Tacoma) Last Modified: 5-28-2009 5.6 G From: 200805 Model Year: 2009 Model: Tacoma Doc ID: RM000000WB701KX Title: STEERING COLUMN: STEERING SYSTEM: ON-VEHICLE INSPECTION (2009 Tacoma) ON-VEHICLE INSPECTION



1. CHECK STEERING WHEEL FREE PLAY
(a) Stop the vehicle and align the tires facing straight ahead.
(b) Gently turn the steering wheel right and left by hand, and check the steering wheel free play.
Maximum free play:
30 mm (1.18 in.)
If the free play exceeds the maximum, replace the steering intermediate shaft or steering gear.

 

I have a creaking sound the emanates from the driver door sill or left kick plate area. It could be the same thing. I have it at the dealer right now. I tried to live with the sound but I can't, I'll post back if they can isolate and repair it.