steering pulls when on crowned roads

W

wildcatt

New member
Hi there:

I've had my 98 Limited for about 8 months now and was wondering about the steering on these vehicles.

I'm coming from a 2001 F150 4x4 and the difference is distinct.
My mechanic says that it's just because of the shorter, narrower wheelbase and there is nothing wrong.

The 4runner steers straight and true on flat roads. Nice and easy to drive. But as soon as I get on a road that has a hump in the middle, or a bumpy road, the steering wants to pull from side to side. It's not really a problem, just different than what I was used to. My F150 would not be as effected by these types of conditions.

How do other owners find this type of driving conditions - with their vehicles?
 
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wildcatt said:
Hi there:

I've had my 98 Limited for about 8 months now and was wondering about the steering on these vehicles.

I'm coming from a 2001 F150 4x4 and the difference is distinct.
My mechanic says that it's just because of the shorter, narrower wheelbase and there is nothing wrong.

The 4runner steers straight and true on flat roads. Nice and easy to drive. But as soon as I get on a road that has a hump in the middle, or a bumpy road, the steering wants to pull from side to side. It's not really a problem, just different than what I was used to. My F150 would not be as effected by these types of conditions.

How do other owners find this type of driving conditions - with their vehicles?
Click to expand...

My 97 and 02 4Runner and my wife's Honda also does this.
 
next time you're in for an alignment, see if the passenger side front caster is .5* greater than the drivers side. If it pulls to the outside of the road, that's what you'll need.

otherwise I'm not sure what you mean.
 
wildcatt said:
I would say in the direction of the slope.

Sounds like this is normal for these vehicles.

That's good to hear.

Thank you
Click to expand...

I'd say it is. I didn't realize there were vehicles that didn't do that on crowned roads unless you went toe in a wee bit on the passenger side to compensate.
 
I've seen situations where the road has settled down a bit and two humps form on each side of the lane. These roads have caused significant steering issues when I drive on them because the vehicle is fighting to stay in between the humps. This, though dangerous is actually normal and happens in all four vehicles we have in our home. Another wierd situation I've had is that on sloped, long turns I have to compensate with some steering towards the opposite side of the turn. Also fairly normal driving ( I know because I have new tires and checked the alingment three times and everything is within spec).
 
wildcatt said:
Hi there:

I've had my 98 Limited for about 8 months now and was wondering about the steering on these vehicles.

I'm coming from a 2001 F150 4x4 and the difference is distinct.
My mechanic says that it's just because of the shorter, narrower wheelbase and there is nothing wrong.

The 4runner steers straight and true on flat roads. Nice and easy to drive. But as soon as I get on a road that has a hump in the middle, or a bumpy road, the steering wants to pull from side to side. It's not really a problem, just different than what I was used to. My F150 would not be as effected by these types of conditions.

How do other owners find this type of driving conditions - with their vehicles?
Click to expand...

Like you have to fight the wheel to keep the thing from diving in the ditch or crossing the center line into the other lane? Me too.
 
madbomber08 said:
Like you have to fight the wheel to keep the thing from diving in the ditch or crossing the center line into the other lane? Me too.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call it "fighting" - but you do have to correct when the road is uneven or bumpy. More so than my previous vehicles. Not a big deal though.

It was like that before I put the 2" lift in. Seems about the same with the lift and the Air Bags in the coils.
 
Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I think it's just the nature of the beast. Do you ever feel unsafe on the type of roads you described?
 
It's pretty normal, just the truck following the road really. the depressions from the crown are almost like trolly tracks. Once the tire is in them, they tend to stay there.

Probably not as noticeable on your F150 because I believe those use a steering box as opposed to a rack. I think the rack tends to give a bit more feedback than the box will.
 
You think it's bad when everything is stock you ought to try it with 35" mud tires :D Mine mainly wonders when I'm on the brakes coming to a stop or if I'm going slow enough to feel it. Otherwise, I can't tell. It may not fix it completely, but a good dialed in alignment will take care of most of that wandering feeling.
 
this should have been posted on your home State Department of Transportation concerns page. it just means they need to maintain the roads a little more often. There are some bad ones like that in SC
 
mikebontoft said:
next time you're in for an alignment, see if the passenger side front caster is .5* greater than the drivers side. If it pulls to the outside of the road, that's what you'll need.

otherwise I'm not sure what you mean.
Click to expand...

check this otherwise like others have said it's just the roads, we tend to have high crowns in our state sue to the amount of rain we have and some of the "trolley grooves" north of us a bit are really crazy due to all of the semi's coming/going across the Canadian boarder .
 
theizzardking said:
check this otherwise like others have said it's just the roads, we tend to have high crowns in our state sue to the amount of rain we have and some of the "trolley grooves" north of us a bit are really crazy due to all of the semi's coming/going across the Canadian boarder .
Click to expand...

The 2 right lanes are pretty bad in any of the highways up here. 405/205/I-5. 522 is just awful to begin with...
 
I'm new to the board - and also the proud new owner of a 2004 SE, 4x4 V6 with 88k miles. I've noticed the same phenomenon. The 4runner doesn't like the ruts in the interstate and when changing lanes it fights against the crown in the road. None of this is noticeable at speeds below 50 mph. For the first few days I owned it I dismissed most of it to gusting wind. After a week it was apparent this wasn't the case.

My previous vehicle was a Honda CRV and it didn't handle like this at all. I took it to an alignment shop for peace of mind and the specs I got from them show that the toe is the only thing outside of spec (and it's not by very much). Could the toe be causing this? Is this normal?

I've thought that maybe the tires are the problem - currently have Geolander HTS on it. It's pretty costly to put 4 new tires on just to see if it helps. Does anyone have any advice or had a similar problem?

Happy to be here and looking forward to many years of contributing to an awesome site.
 
I am having the same issue. I think it may be due to worn out steering rack guide and bushings. I have replaced all other parts except for the rag joint in the steering input shaft and the rack itself.
 
I replaced the steering rack guide, rack bushings, inner and outer tie rods, pinned the slip joint in the column, and got an alignment bringing caster within spec. It all helped, but I've come to the conclusion that the T4R, at least with a lift and larger tires, just has a tendency to wander on uneven roads.

It's most annoying on roads with deep tire grooves, I suspect the wider tires and the wheel spacers put my track width wide enough that my tires are constantly fighting with each other to stay the grooves made by narrower vehicles.
 
theizzardking said:
check this otherwise like others have said it's just the roads, we tend to have high crowns in our state sue to the amount of rain we have and some of the "trolley grooves" north of us a bit are really crazy due to all of the semi's coming/going across the Canadian boarder .
Click to expand...

Kurtis said:
The 2 right lanes are pretty bad in any of the highways up here. 405/205/I-5. 522 is just awful to begin with...
Click to expand...

YES and YES :lookout:
 
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