2008 twitchy on the highway

[swegen]

So can't take eyes off road cause it has a mind of its own and will move slightly R or L depending on road, wind, anything. Had a wheel alignment after the slight lift and truck seems to not have a "deadband" in steering. any steering wheel movement initiated by me will cause truck to turn slightly. The wheel align guys I used are NG, I may take it to another place soon to verify what they did. I suspect too much toe-in or crappy tires. New Tires 40k ago look good (265/60R18 Tires Sumitomo Tour Plus LXT = 32 psi)
SO the question is...............
For less toe in , I need to break loose the jam nut while holding the rod on the steering rack side , make steering rack rod adj, retighten jamnut, yes?
Always sumthin

 

[07V8]

Sounds like you need more caster. 2.5-4 is the sweet spot.

 

[3eyedRaven]

So can't take eyes off road cause it has a mind of its own and will move slightly R or L depending on road, wind, anything. Had a wheel alignment after the slight lift and truck seems to not have a "deadband" in steering. any steering wheel movement initiated by me will cause truck to turn slightly. The wheel align guys I used are NG, I may take it to another place soon to verify what they did. I suspect too much toe-in or crappy tires. New Tires 40k ago look good (265/60R18 Tires Sumitomo Tour Plus LXT = 32 psi)

SO the question is...............

For less toe in , I need to break loose the jam nut while holding the rod on the steering rack side , make steering rack rod adj, retighten jamnut, yes?

Always sumthin

I also have this issue on my 05 Sport. The steering is so dang sensitive. At normal in town driving speeds, this is not as noticeable if noticeable at all, but on the highway, it is so sensitive that I cannot keep it in a straight line.

I thought this was just a Toyota thing. My previous life had me in a Silverado and that thing drove straight as an arrow, even with heavy cross winds.

Am I reading the response correct? I need to ask my alignment guys to adjust the caster? Does that correct this issue?

Thanks to all of you for the expert knowledge.


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[97BlackAckCL]

I've been noticing the same on my 08, it seems almost top heavy or something

My 03 sport had the sport suspension and x-reas and it cornered hard. My 08 SR5 has a much more spongey suspension and is really sensitive on the highway

 

[3eyedRaven]

I've been noticing the same on my 08, it seems almost top heavy or something



My 03 sport had the sport suspension and x-reas and it cornered hard. My 08 SR5 has a much more spongey suspension and is really sensitive on the highway

Mine doesn't seem spongy, but it is almost exhausting to continually fight the steering just to stay relatively straight. Doesn't seem right...


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[3eyedRaven]

Also, I noticed at highway speeds, bumps in the road tend to make the 4R sort of jump around. Suspension looks good to the untrained eye...


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[97BlackAckCL]

 

[kcdehart]

MY '04 Sport is very twitchy as well, it'll sometimes have a mind of its own on the interstate. Isn't toe-in what you want for stability? IIRC toe-out will make the vehicle more prone to follow imperfections in the road and whatnot.

I haven't gotten mine aligned since buying it a few months ago and putting larger tires on it, and I probably should.

 

[ukbloke]

More caster is what you want for the steering to self correct back to straight.


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[3eyedRaven]

I suppose I don't understand how this will correct the sensitivity in the wheel. But I am a Noob...so there is that.


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[kcdehart]

I suppose I don't understand how this will correct the sensitivity in the wheel. But I am a Noob...so there is that.


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Have a read!

Camber, Caster, Toe-in/Toe-out, explained - Intrax Racing

Toe out basically makes the tires want to follow any imperfections in the road and makes your turn-in much more responsive. It only takes a little bit to make a huge difference.

 

[3eyedRaven]

Have a read!



Camber, Caster, Toe-in/Toe-out, explained - Intrax Racing



Toe out basically makes the tires want to follow any imperfections in the road and makes your turn-in much more responsive. It only takes a little bit to make a huge difference.

Very interesting thanks! I get it now.


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[3eyedRaven]

So here's my current alignment.

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[RonJR]

Taking the caster a bit higher, up to 4, will really steady it up, but the steering will feel stiffer and heavier at speed. I really like mine that way. At 2.7 it was all over the road.

 

[3eyedRaven]

Taking the caster a bit higher, up to 4, will really steady it up, but the steering will feel stiffer and heavier at speed. I really like mine that way. At 2.7 it was all over the road.

Perfect! Thanks - I will do that as soon as I fix the miss in the engine i have somehow created....

So I suppose i just go tell the fellas at Alignments-R-Us to set my caster at 4 and they will do it...I honestly didn't know I could do that...

 

[RonJR]

4(2wd) or 3.97(4wd) degrees is still within Toyota's spec, so the shop shouldn't give you any grief about it. If they're any good they'll know exactly the tradeoffs of more or less caster and adjust it to suit you.

 

[Guyerst]

I had the same issue, and more caster helped. But I was still darting around on the highway. Started playing around with air pressure on the advice of my old timer neighbor. I can't remember what the numbers were off hand, but I had the fronts set 3-4 lbs higher than the rears. That's worked best for my pickups over the years. Neighbor had me bring the rear pressure up and drop the fronts so the rears were now higher by 3-4 lbs. That did it for me. Was totally surprised, but it's running straight and steady now. Simple enough to check quick before spending more time and money on alignments.

 

[swegen]

have a read!

camber, caster, toe-in/toe-out, explained - intrax racing

toe out basically makes the tires want to follow any imperfections in the road and makes your turn-in much more responsive. It only takes a little bit to make a huge difference.

nice article !

 

[luke87gt]

Here is a question for you guys...

What is the max caster you've been able to get out of your stock 4th Gen 4Runners (stock suspension, stock ride height).

I'm at +1.9* with the Daystar 2.5/1.5 and it is a bit twitchy on the highway. I find that I am having to constantly correct while at high speeds. It's a little annoying, but you get used to it.

SPC upper arms would probably address some of that and allow me to take the caster to +4ish.

 

[luke87gt]

I had the same issue, and more caster helped. But I was still darting around on the highway. Started playing around with air pressure on the advice of my old timer neighbor. I can't remember what the numbers were off hand, but I had the fronts set 3-4 lbs higher than the rears. That's worked best for my pickups over the years. Neighbor had me bring the rear pressure up and drop the fronts so the rears were now higher by 3-4 lbs. That did it for me. Was totally surprised, but it's running straight and steady now. Simple enough to check quick before spending more time and money on alignments.

Seriously? I've never heard of that before. What were the actual pressures and are you using a highway tire or a A/T tire?