Steering feels loose/drifty, suspension feels awful

Hello!

I have had a 2nd gen 2006 4.0 V6 Prerunner 5' bed for about a year now. The steering wheel gives a ton of feedback from bumps and uneven road, and I feel I have to grip it pretty tight and put a lot of effort into maintaining staying straight on the road, especially at higher speeds. I get a lot of shaking around 65 MPH as well. I have put the upgraded intermediate steering shaft in and that only eliminated the "clunking" that others have resolved with the OEM + zip tie mod.

It also is the worst vehicle I have ever owned when it comes to hitting bumps, rough road, potholes etc. and is a super uncomfortable ride. It feels very stiff front/back even when putting weight in the bed to try to help soften the harsh ride.

Any advice on what is going on with the front end as far as the drifting steering, rough ride and what the best/most affordable suspension upgrades would be that I could DIY?

I'm about to sell the thing as it's been so frustrating how awful feeling the truck has become to drive/ride, thanks!

 

You need to do the basics. An unloaded ball joint check and a loaded steering check. Jack up the control arm and pry up on the wheel see if the ball joints are shot. Shake the wheel.

Then when the vehicle is on the ground have someone shake the steering while checking for tie rod play, inner play, rack bushing play etc.

Last, how old are the shocks? How are the leaf springs in the rear?

 

Tire pressures/Rack bushings/steering rack reload/wheel balance/stiff shocks/etc.

Start with setting tire pressure to what the door sticker says. My first gen Tacoma was 26 front 29 rear and it made a huge difference on how it rode and handled.
My rack was an issue for the steering kickback, the preload bushing inside the rack had worn AND the mounting bushings had worn out. Another huge improvement after rectifying these.

 

Adding to great info above.....

What tires are you running, at what pressure?

OE wheels or other?

When was your last alignment?

What trucks have you previously owned you are comparing ride quality to?

 

How many miles on the truck? Any aftermarket suspension components?

 

What you describe is exactly what I’m dealing with on my ‘06. It really started after my lift a couple years ago. I took it in for diagnosis, turns out my LCA bushings and balljoints are on the way out.

What I have for symptoms are,
-wandering/pulling at higher speeds
-popping/creaking when you jounce the front end
-ripped lower ball joint boots
-uneven wear patterns on the tires

Follow the advice here to diagnose it. The guys who showed up here already know their stuff. I took mine in because I didn’t trust my diagnosis, and didn’t want to fire the parts cannon at it.

 

I appreciate all the feedback, will get all requested info and run the tests explained in here. @ZMan2k2 that sounds exactly like the issues I am having, so I have a strong suspicion I will get that answer! (especially the popping/creaking) of the front end being a 2nd symptom I have. Thanks again!

 

Just to come back to this in case others have this issue, it ended up being either the wheels/used tires I had installed as I put on a set of OEM steels with new tires and all my steering feel problems immediately went away. I also replaced the front/rear shocks with Bilsteins and while it still rides like a truck, it is much better.