Trucks “wondering” all over the road

I have a 2001 Tacoma 2.7. When driving down the road/hwy it wanders all over the place. Feels like the front end is loose underneath. When I on jacks and wiggle wheels up down/side to side everything is tight. I recently just did icon 2.5 in front and ome rear leaf springs. New steering rack. Whole front end is new withing 5,000 miles including new lower control arms/ bushings and ball joints and tie rods. The truck was fine after doing suspension drove it a couple hundred miles no problem then I did the steering rack and started having this issue. I got an alignment and now it’s even worse. When I take a turn it feels as if the front wheels catch and damn near want to throw me off the road also throws me all over the road on certain bumps. I’m taking it to a local off road shop to get a second opinion and double check the alignment. I also rotated my tires to see if that changed anything and didn’t change. TIA

edit: once you take a turn it’s fine until you go back straight then back to the same thing. Almost like it wants to go to one direction or the other. Alignment looks good to the eye and on paper but wondering if they’re toed in too much?

 

It's wandering, not wondering.

This might be a stretch, but I had some issues with the rear factory shock being too short after a small lift. It did some similar funky things until I figured out the problem. My issues were only when the rear of the truck encountered speed bumps or similar things in the road. It sounds like your issue is in the front end.

 

Almost sounds like a wheel bearing(s)

 

it happens when the front end hit a bump or turn. I also added new icon rear shocks

 

The only reason I don’t think it is is because it happens either way you turn and you don’t feel any play or bad noises when wiggling or prying Wind lifted in air

 

With pressed in bearings its hard to tell unless it under load....
wiggle test isn't the gold standard

 

You should ideally have at least 3.0 degrees of caster with the lift height you have. Less than that, and the steering can get sensitive at higher speeds. Going as low as 2.5 will still be manageable though. If you are using stock UCAs, and the caster is down around 1.0 degrees, that could explain the shopping cart steering you are experiencing.

 

https://jbaoffroad.com/jba-std-high-caster-upper-a-arms-for-toyota-tacoma-05-plus

High caster UCA’s from JBA fixed this problem for me. Before adding them my truck was almost scary to drive. Aftwards all was right with the world.

 

I have some Ksp upper control arms. They’re not adjustable but the angle is made for 2-4” of lift. When I did my suspension the truck drove great other than a little play from the bad steering rack. When I put the new steering rack in is when my problems got really bad

 

That makes sense and it’s down around 1 degree. The off-road shop is going to set my caster higher this next week when I bring it in for another alignment

 

You said it was fine until you put the rack in……be sure to mention that to the next shop. Hopefully it will save them some time, and you some money.

 

They won't get much more than 1° out of the stock UCAs. Unless I missed somewhere you said you have aftermarket UCAs

 

I do all my own work but I’m stumped so bringing it there for another alignment and possibly a diagnostic if that doesn’t fix it. I’m tempted to warranty the rack and put another one in incase it happened to be a bad rack

 

I have aftermarket upper control arms with the right degree from 2-4” lift. They’re just non adjustable. Their ksp

 

Get the alignment numbers/printout from the shop and verify they are doing the alignment correctly. That needs to be done to rule out the most simple explanation for your problem. There are a lot of idiots doing alignments out there, blindly following prompts on a computer screen.

 

I have the printout ill post it ina bit

 

I had this problem.
I was pursuing rack replacement.
Found a shop willing to adjust steering shaft rack connection.
After inspection, suggested steering intermediate shaft.
Replaced 'steering intermediate shaft'.
Fixed. No more wandering.

It seems there is a 'joint' in the steering shaft designed to collapse in a collision to lessen steering wheel into chest of driver. Over years this steering intermediate shaft wears and gets 'play'. Some folks just weld it solid. Welding fixes play but removes collision safety function.

I have a new favorite taco mechanic.

Here is link to this sites discussion on the issue and the weld fix

 

Not all Tacoma's who wander are lost.

 

I did the tac weld fix on mine, but just applied two small tac welds 180° apart from each other. I doubt those 2 small welds will prevent the shaft from collapsing. It did make a huge difference in the steering feel though

 

It could be wondering. Wondering if it’ll end up in a ditch, wondering if it needs new tires