Aquatic Escape

I picked up a 90 4runner last year that had 150k on it. The steering seemed a bit odd, but I chalked it up to a bunch of stuff worn out. I decided to install a Rough Country lift, 33" General Grabber tires on 15 x 8 Dick Cepek DC2 wheels. During the lift install, I replaced both cv joints, upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends. Headed to get it aligned, and the truck was all over the road. After alignment, it was still bad. It is a fight to keep it going straight. Here is what I have done so far ( after reseaching here on the forums).
1. Replaced idler arm and pitman arm
2. Cranked torsion bars to level it out ( rear was sitting a lot higher than front, I assume my torsion bars are sagging. Thought the rear being high would put caster in the negative)
3. Checked steering wheel freeplay. Adjusted it so see if there was any difference. ( should adjuster be difficult to turn to tighten and to loosen?)
4. Aligned again, maxing caster out to +2.5
5. Tried various tire pressures between 20-35 lbs
6. Put old 31" tires back on and drove.
7. Put a wrench on every nut and bolt to make sure they were tight
8. Repacked front wheel bearings( there was no movement when checked)
The steering gear box is about all that I can think of, but I don't want to throw another $200 at the truck if there is something else I can check first. Any ideas??

bmcghie

For what it's worth, the steering freeplay adjusting knob should turn pretty easily and smoothly. If it starts to get hard to move, you have adjusted it too tight. You should also be able to feel a slight "tight" area in the middle of the play in the steering wheel as you turn it, if it is adjusted too tight.

However... if the previous owner adjusted it too tight and left it like that, or you did... it will just feel loooooose, and you can't fix it short of remanufacturing the box.

How far does the wheel move before you see any change at the pitman arm? Are you using a GOOD alignment shop? Some people have the darndest time getting these trucks aligned, especially if your lift is a bracket lift. Other than those two areas, I really don't know where you could get slop.

Ooooh, ps: Does the truck wander on a good, flat, straight road? Or will it go straight absent any steering input?

Aquatic Escape

Thanks for the info.
Even on a good flat freshly paved road, it is a struggle to go straight.

When I tried to adjust the gear box, I couldn't turn the adjuster with a screwdriver after loosening the nut, I had to use a screwdriver attachment on a 1/4 drive ratchet. Even then, it was hard to move in wither direction.

I trust the alignment guy, he does a lot of work for a local off road shop and all the trucks that they lift.

bmcghie

Okay I see. That tells me a couple things, I think (I'm no expert though)

The adjusting slot should have firm resistance, but I can turn mine with a couple fingers gripping the screwdriver tightly. This might be silly, but have you checked the fluid level? When's the last time you changed the ATF in that system? (Surprisingly, for my 93 4runner... changing the fluid improved steering feel. Don't know why...)

And if you've got yourself a good alignment tech, I'd say there must be another issue up front. Quickly though, how much use has the idler arm seen? Even if you've had it off-road a couple times with a bit of hard driving... it's bushings could be toast. Might be time to look into 4crawler's bronze bushing upgrade, or a brace.

If the idler is pretty much brand new out of the box minus street driving, I would start looking at bushings. I doubt your alignment tech missed a lower control arm bushing being shot, but when the truck is in the air start hammering on the upper and lower control arm bushings. Sometimes they are bad enough to clunk!

Finally, are you running a sway bar? If not even a small breeze will make a lifted 4runner move about a fair bit!

Aquatic Escape

After reading the previous posts, I realized that I never let go of the wheel to see if it still wandered. I went for a drive and let go, it tracked much better. Apparently when I looked at steering wheel freeplay, I must have checked it with the truck on. When I checked it with the truck off, there was maybe 1/2" of freeplay, at most. I loosened the adjuster and road tested again. I would say 80% better. It feels fine on surface streets, but still a bit sketchy on the freeway. I am guessing that when the gear box was replaced about 10 years ago( but only 40k miles), it was adjusted too tight. What problems could this have caused?

bmcghie

I'm glad you have found the source of your troubles, more or less.

Good news is, the only thing you will have damaged by having an over-tightly adjusted steering gear is the gearbox itself. Bad news... I don't know how you fix that, short of a new (to you) box. I've had not so good luck with junkyard boxes.

It's also good to keep in mind that these trucks are boxes on wheels. Not very aerodynamic... especially from the side. Add a lift and 33" tires (are they 12.5" wide?) to the mixture, and you have a vehicle that will follow a lot of small divots and ruts in the road, and will also be very susceptible to being blown about by cross breezes. Having a steering system will nearly no play in it will help dealing with being blown about, but there's only so much you can do ultimately as far as I know.

Best of luck to you.