4th Gen vs 5th Gen Turning Radius

[T-Dub]

Not sure how accurate this info is but according to Edmunds.com the "turning circle" is the same for a 2006 and a 2015 4Runners... 37.4'

You will have to click on the "See All Features & Specs" link.

https://www.edmunds.com/toyota/4runner/2006/features-specs/

https://www.edmunds.com/toyota/4runner/2015/features-specs/

That being said I love the turning radius of my 4Runner, sure beats the turning radius of my Suburban!!

Interesting, I thought my turning radius was better in my 2004 4th gen than my daughter's 2017 5th gen and saw your numbers.

Did a little more research and it turns (pun not intended) out that the radius' are

2004- 36.4 feet
2006-37.4 feet
2017-37.4 feet.

So it looks like post facelift 4runners have a greater turning radius than earlier 4th gens.

 

[T-Dub]

Pre facelift models of the 4th gen do have better radius. 36.4 feet. Something changed after the 2005 model year because after that the radius is the same as the 5th gens.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Pre facelift models of the 4th gen do have better radius. 36.4 feet. Something changed after the 2005 model year because after that the radius is the same as the 5th gens.

I know the steering rack for the 4th gen was superceded at some point, something about a tendency to leak or something (might be a TSB on it? I'd have to dig around...) The updated rack can only be ordered as a whole assembly with tie rods included. I wonder if the new rack is designed slightly different and accounts for the increase? It's possible it was updated mid way through the production run so newer 4th gens got the new rack?

I honestly can't think of anything else that would change the steering radius beyond that because not much else changed that significantly with the 4th gens and even the 5th gens have very similar suspension and frame design overall.

 

[AuSeeker]

Interesting, I thought my turning radius was better in my 2004 4th gen than my daughter's 2017 5th gen and saw your numbers.

Did a little more research and it turns (pun not intended) out that the radius' are

2004- 36.4 feet
2006-37.4 feet
2017-37.4 feet.

So it looks like post facelift 4runners have a greater turning radius than earlier 4th gens.

Pre facelift models of the 4th gen do have better radius. 36.4 feet. Something changed after the 2005 model year because after that the radius is the same as the 5th gens.

I know the steering rack for the 4th gen was superceded at some point, something about a tendency to leak or something (might be a TSB on it? I'd have to dig around...) The updated rack can only be ordered as a whole assembly with tie rods included. I wonder if the new rack is designed slightly different and accounts for the increase? It's possible it was updated mid way through the production run so newer 4th gens got the new rack?

I honestly can't think of anything else that would change the steering radius beyond that because not much else changed that significantly with the 4th gens and even the 5th gens have very similar suspension and frame design overall.

Interesting, after seeing these posts I just checked specs again to see when the changed actually happened and it appears that the 2005 model is when it changed, 2003/2004 models have the tighter turning radius 36.7', the 2005 and onwards have the 37.4' turning radius.

[MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] I would be very interested if you do find a TSB on the earlier 4th Gen steering rack, I have noticed a little bit of wetness at the boots where the tie rods connect to my 2004 rack.

All that being said, I'm not sure what changed the turning radius from the 2004 model and the 2005, I just checked and Toyota list them both as having the same steering rack part number, the part number does change for the 2006 model, also the 2006 model rack is listed for close to $400 more then the earlier steering rack, earlier rack at McGeorge Toyota is 574.84, the 2006 is $946.17.

Now that being said it also list in the "fitment chart" that the later/updated steering rack will also fits the 2004 and 2005 model as well as through 2009 models, but not the 2003 model, the earlier/less expensive rack is listed as fitting only the 2003/2004/2005 models.

So I wonder if you installed the later/updated rack in a 2004, would that change the turning radius to the larger radius of the later models?

All this also makes me wonder what increased the turning radius of the 2005 model since it had the same steering rack as the 2003/2004 models??

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Interesting, after seeing these posts I just checked specs again to see when the changed actually happened and it appears that the 2005 model is when it changed, 2003/2004 models have the tighter turning radius 36.7', the 2005 and onwards have the 37.4' turning radius.

[MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] I would be very interested if you do find a TSB on the earlier 4th Gen steering rack, I have noticed a little bit of wetness at the boots where the tie rods connect to my 2004 rack.

All that being said, I'm not sure what changed the turning radius from the 2004 model and the 2005, I just checked and Toyota list them both as having the same steering rack part number, the part number does change for the 2006 model, also the 2006 model rack is listed for close to $400 more then the earlier steering rack, earlier rack at McGeorge Toyota is 574.84, the 2006 is $946.17.

Now that being said it also list in the "fitment chart" that the later/updated steering rack will also fits the 2004 and 2005 model as well as through 2009 models, but not the 2003 model, the earlier/less expensive rack is listed as fitting only the 2003/2004/2005 models.

So I wonder if you installed the later/updated rack in a 2004, would that change the turning radius to the larger radius of the later models?

All this also makes me wonder what increased the turning radius of the 2005 model since it had the same steering rack as the 2003/2004 models??

Can't find a TSB, so I am guessing that it was some sort of "internal" documentation that was never released outside of the TAS/FTS/Engineering side of things, assuming there ever was one (I can't remember if I saw one or not to be honest with you, it just feels vaguely familiar.)

I do recall when talking with my parts guys though about why some steering racks we order come with new tie-rods and others don't, they mentioned that usually this is done because that part is superseded for some issue, be it something like premature failure/leaking or some sort of noise concern. In the case of the 4th gen racks we generally price out, as far as I am aware we only have the one "superseded" option for all 4th gen years that comes as a full rack with tie-rod ends. I assume that is the same rack that went into my personal 2004 V8 4WD after my accident on the trail a while back since it too was a "fully-loaded" rack. Unfortunately I could not tell you about the steering radius as I had 35's at that point and my turning radius was limited by them rubbing, I added material to the steering stops to limit my radius to prevent rubbing.

So according to partsouq.com/ The previous part number was: 44200-35060 and was superseded by 44200-35061. The weird thing is that according to the same website if you look up a 2004-2009 production date vehicle it shows the same original part number and superseded part number.

When looking at some other dealer parts websites I found that 44200-35070 is listed for 2004-2009 4Runners, but the availability is spotty and PartSouq shows it as no longer available (usually they're pretty good, if they say it's not available it's likely out of production, at least in my experience when cross-referencing with my own parts department's system). I wonder if it was consolidated into just that one part number for the sake of trimming part numbers down for "out of production" vehicles.

 

[patkelly4370]

What was your friend driving before? Perspective is a huge factor.
If I went from our Hyundai Accent to my 4runner the 4runner would turn wide.
Compared to Wifes quad cab long bed Ram the 4runner feels like air has rear steering.

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