Front end jumps and swerves when going over bumps!

[hawkcharmer]

Hi guys!

Just purchased a clean 99 runner. The front steering seems a little sloppy and it jumps and seems a bit shaky over bumps.
What steering/ suspension parts should I be looking at?
I have the taller stock coils and shocks look original.
I definitely need front brakes and will be doing the tundra 199mm upgrade.
So, while I'm doing that Ill tackle the rest.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

 

[fish0281]

Get both front wheels off the ground and test the following (or google search: test lower ball joints and tie rods)...

1. Grab a front wheel at the 12 & 6 o'clock position and try to move the wheel. Test both sides If it is loose, your ball joints are hosed.
2. Grab a front wheel at 9 & 3 o'clock and try to move the wheel. Test both sides. If it is loose, your tie rods &/or steering rack is hosed.

You can also check the rack bushings by having someone turn the steering wheel back and forth (with the truck on the ground) and watch for excessive movement.

There have been some people that get play in the steering column itself, but that's usually a nuisance thing and does not necessarily cause swerving (from my understanding)


Also, make sure the wheels are on tight.

 

[spectre6000]

Check your front sway bar linkage. They can break as they get older (and are sometimes just removed) and can cause some wonky handling. Only one needs to break for the sway bar to be rendered ineffective. It can have the net effect of pulling the front of the car to one side or the other when it hits a bump as that wheel travels up independently of the other and the car sort of "falls" in that direction for the breifest of moments but long enough to cause the steering to noticeably pull in that direction as you are describing.

The change in coils but not shocks also points in the direction of someone attempting to modify the car "on a budget" or without knowing what they're doing and just removing the linkages entirely.

 

[hawkcharmer]

dry rotted stabalizer link and steering rack leaking!

Thanks for the input guys!

Well i got under there today and noticed driver side sway bar link (stabilizer link) dry rotted and rusted to hell! Check out pix! Everything under there looks pretty dried out! Should I replace both sway bar links and bushings on the center of sway bar? Should I replace with OEM or aftermarket?

Also, looks like there is some leakage coming from driver side of steering rack. It could be from something above and I have not tried testing for excessive play because I need another person, I'll do that tomorrow and probably end up installing new bushings for now.

Can you guys see anything else in pix that needs to be replaced?
The truck is very clean, but front steering it sloppy and I want to tighten it up before winter.

Thanks again

 

[fish0281]

Yeah, that all looks like a hot mess of rust, but still nothing that'd make me say, "yep, that's why your truck handles poorly."

Seriously, given the nature of your undercarriage rust, get those LBJ's/tie rods/steering rack checked... if not by you, a shop will probably do it for free/cheap.

 

[hrt4me]

good advice

 

[Dad]

Ugggly rust

 

[revenantdead]

that one sway bar link is toast. also, if the steering rack guide is loose you may experience a little play. that may also be the cause of that seep on the steering rack.

 

[Nelsonmd]

If you search a bit more, you will find lots of threads about front end wobble on bumps.

Fish's advice is good, definitely check those. It could also be worn out suspension. I had the same behavior, and it was 90% the suspension.

It isn't the sway bar. Don't worry about the sway bar at all. It helps prevent sway while turning, but doesn't affect your stability over bumps. lots of guys run without it and don't have any looseness on bumps.

It very likely is not the steering column. That gets thrown around alot as a potential cause, but I think it is a different problem and symptom (and is much more rare that just worn out suspension/steering components). If, at a standstill, you can shake the will a bit and feel play in the steering wheel (as in the steering wheel turns a bit without moving the wheels), then you should look into the column, but you should be able to feel the gap in steering wheel/front wheel engagement.

And that rust looks very similar to what I started with. It isn't a death sentence, but it isn't far from it... If you want to keep it for many more years, you definitely need to take care to prevent further corrosion.

Check out my build thread (link in my signature) for my battle with rust and front end looseness.

 

[1985taylor1925]

If you search a bit more, you will find lots of threads about front end wobble on bumps.

Fish's advice is good, definitely check those. It could also be worn out suspension. I had the same behavior, and it was 90% the suspension.

It isn't the sway bar. Don't worry about the sway bar at all. It helps prevent sway while turning, but doesn't affect your stability over bumps. lots of guys run without it and don't have any looseness on bumps.

It very likely is not the steering column. That gets thrown around alot as a potential cause, but I think it is a different problem and symptom (and is much more rare that just worn out suspension/steering components). If, at a standstill, you can shake the will a bit and feel play in the steering wheel (as in the steering wheel turns a bit without moving the wheels), then you should look into the column, but you should be able to feel the gap in steering wheel/front wheel engagement.

And that rust looks very similar to what I started with. It isn't a death sentence, but it isn't far from it... If you want to keep it for many more years, you definitely need to take care to prevent further corrosion.

Check out my build thread (link in my signature) for my battle with rust and front end looseness.

Nelson is right. The swar bar isnt going to contribute to jump handling. In fact without a sway bar your ride would feel softer and more boat like since the sway bar connects the left and right suspension. But yours are definately in need of replacing.

How many miles are on the 4runner?

The general list that youll get on the forum as far as parts that potentially need replaced are:

Coils/shocks
Upper and lower ball joints
Inner and outter tie rods
Steering rack bushings
Steering rack guide
Sway bar bushings
Steering rack
Lower control arm bushings

Obviously not all of those need to be replaced on your truck. So just spend some time diagnosing each of those components and youll probably be able to figure it out. There are ways to inspect each of those components. I would say certainly replace lower ball joints, as they can fail even if they dont seem worn out. Especially with all that rust. And also replace the steering rack bushings, as they are cheap and typically make a noticeable difference.

 

[hawkcharmer]

Thanks for all of the wonderful feedback!

My 99 4runner has 190k miles. The body and interior are clean with no rust!
The engine and drive train run quite and strong.
The carfax showed that the truck had regular oil changes and has been serviced by toyota up until I purchased it last month.
The only thing the previous owner did not do, was take care of any steering or suspension components. These parts are all original and rusted out!


I will be doing the following work to the 4runner in the next month..

Tundra 199mm brake upgrade! Needs it bad, My brakes are toast!
Tacoma lower ball joint mod
Steering rack bushings- if my inner ties are shot, I'll do the reman cardone steering rack that comes with inner ties for $300
Moog sway bar links- replace with poly bushes
Sway bar bushings- Energy suspension greaseable polys

and then coils/shocks... maybe a 2" lift, I don't want anything too crazy!
any suggestions?

 

[hawkcharmer]

Steering rack guide

Where is the steering rack guide located, and is it a difficult part to replace?

When parked I can turn the wheel back/forth about 2" before I see the front wheels move.

When I am driving I can turn back/forth about 2.5"- 3" before I notice any movement in front steering.

If I hit a bump going about 60mph my truck will shoot damn near into the next lane! Very dangerous!

I'm going to jack it up do the tests to see what I should replace first and in what order..

 

[Dous]

I'd do the ball joints asap, you are lucky if they get you to 200k without failure. They will account for loose steering and play, which is indicative of their wear.

 

[Rock]

Nelson's build thread is the way to go

 

[BTO]

Bad alignment can also cause this.

 

[1985taylor1925]

Where is the steering rack guide located, and is it a difficult part to replace?

When parked I can turn the wheel back/forth about 2" before I see the front wheels move.

When I am driving I can turn back/forth about 2.5"- 3" before I notice any movement in front steering.

If I hit a bump going about 60mph my truck will shoot damn near into the next lane! Very dangerous!

I'm going to jack it up do the tests to see what I should replace first and in what order..

Thats really bad. And that does sound like the steering column to me. That amount of movement could only be in the column actually. Part of it could be in the tie rods as well. But just bad tie rods would never allow that much movement. I would take a look at that asap

 

[RockyrT4R]

Ruuuuuuuuuuustttttt

 

[19963.4lsr5]

I know it's a old thread but the 96 I use to have did this and replacing all the bushings in the rear control arms and track bar fixed it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mikesayboom]

Bad alignment can also cause this.

I agree with this. I had a slight wobble/very little swerve when i would hit bumps and when i got it aligned it got rid of my problem. no more grabbing the steering wheel for my life everytime. bonus was that firestone did a full check of my suspension parts to make sure everything was in good shape so i knew it wasn't anything else.

 

[stever1000]

The general list that youll get on the forum as far as parts that potentially need replaced are:

Coils/shocks
Upper and lower ball joints
Inner and outter tie rods
Steering rack bushings
Steering rack guide
Sway bar bushings
Steering rack
Lower control arm bushings

Good info!