Bad inner tie rod, no alignment, squirrely steering

[Elan_]

When I bought my 2006 Limited my mechanic said it had a bad inner tie rod. It will drive OK but it needs replaced and then aligned.

So I bought a Toytec lift for it and new tires and was going to have him do it all at once. So yesterday comes and he puts my lift and tires on but wasn't prepared with the tie rod and can't get it on until Tuesday. No sense in aligning it until then. Drive it as little as possible.

Now both before and after the kit and tire install the steering was funky. It drives mostly straight. A small amount of left pull but nothing serious. But when I hit any kind of bump or pothole the truck wants to immediately veer off into the ditch or into oncoming traffic. It's a battle to keep the thing going straight on high speed bumpy roads.

My question is is that something I can expect the new tie rod and alignment to fix or will I still be looking for the cause after that's completed?

 

[blind squirrel]

My question is is that something I can expect the new tie rod and alignment to fix or will I still be looking for the cause after that's completed?

The alignment should fix your issue, mine did what you are describing when I installed my toytec ultimate lift and has good tie rods. I also replaced my UCAs which made mine further out of alignment, but made it easier to get within spec.

 

[mrpurplepenguin]

The alignment should fix your issue, mine did what you are describing when I installed my toytec ultimate lift and has good tie rods. I also replaced my UCAs which made mine further out of alignment, but made it easier to get within spec.

+1, getting an alignment should help your problem tremendously. You probably have very little caster at the moment (low caster makes the steering respond more quickly/violently to road imperfections and bumps, giving the truck a "darty" feeling).

 

[Qlaloo]

But when I hit any kind of bump or pothole the truck wants to immediately veer off into the ditch or into oncoming traffic. It's a battle to keep the thing going straight on high speed bumpy roads.

I'm struggling with this problem as well, just replaced my old bilsteins not too long ago and thought I'd be okay riding without an alignment for a couple of days. Everytime I hit like a small hole in the road or like a sewage cap it takes me in that direction mainly the drivers side. Thought maybe it was my rack and pinion because I've installed new inner tie rods and got it aligned before I did the front shocks but, I'm guessing I'll have to get an alignment again to see if that fixes the problems.

 

[socal-4runner]

This really a common issue with our cars so it seems. Mine are seized and bad as well. Is there anything we can upgrade with for these parts or is it best to just go with oem?