Wind & Highway Speeds

This truck was bad. I drive 40,000+ miles a year... My own vehicles, rentals, co-workers trucks... I've never driven a pickup that handled as bad as this one. Hell, my 84 f150 handled better.

The shocks made the difference though. The old ones didn't seem bad for 100,000 miles on them, but I guess this truck just likes stiff.

 

Yeah, these things get moved in the wind. Out doing the visiting thing over the weekend with the girlfriend. While driving the highway at speed limit, I almost had the truck blown out of my hand and into the median. It moved probably a good 5-10' from the fast lane to the left shoulder. That was a 3 second heart attack. I had a firm grip on the wheel after that.

 

Stock '10 Tacoma 4x4 VS Wreckhouse winds 70-80knots (ie 150kmh)
No contest.
Take the Scooby.
Don't get me wrong, I Luuuuuv my Taco, but when it comes to cross winds over 60mph (100kmh), I opt for my '05 Impreza with unstudded winter tires. Its a tank in the snow, and handles Hurricane force winds like a warm breath on your privat... face.

See my post here for Wreckhouse pics
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/of...33-breakfast-club-thread-727.html#post2481169

 

It's the body roll changing the front independent geometry....cross winds make the body roll as well as pushing for a compound effect. If you can get an alignment to eliminate it my guess is it would be prone to heavy oversteer and super dangerous in curves...especially when you put some weight in back.

Taco's have no sway bar in the rear and the front one is pretty small for the size of the truck. Adding a rear sway bar helps a lot and a beefier front one even more. IMO, these are pretty much essential to include in suspension mods if putting something tall like a camper in the bed.

However, as with most mods there are trade offs: they limit articulation for serious off-road and rock crawling. It all depends on which you want to optimize for.

 

Or a 53' wood chip trailer with the top completely open and a opossum belly floor that almost touches the ground. Caught a recorded 116 mph gust on the Oregon coast that put me up on one side, only to ease off and slam me back down on the roadway, snapping steering axle leaf springs and blowing out tires, me bashing my head against the glass in the cab and my lunchbox and alum log book flying over to pummel me. lucky to be here typing.

Small pickups get buffeted pretty good, just do to the lightweight nature and mass side area. weight in the bed and a good 6+ ply tire helps to dampen some of that buffeting, but it's still there. Can't beat mother nature, but you can try.