1) get a steering stabilizer shock on the truck.
2) take it to a shop that you know or someone else knows, that is a good shop and knows how to align a truck. The steering wheel can be straight and the alignment can still be off.
3) you can check your shocks, look for leaks, does the truck bounce a bit after going over a bump?

Get the truck to a good shop, or get someone who knows about the truck, drive it and check it out.

I have a stock 87 with 31x10.5x15, and sitting at a stop light, the truck will sway a small amount when cars and trucks go by. On the highway, I have no problems and I have driven it on trips over 1000 miles. I have a friend who owns a shop and does my alignments, he has set my truck to have a quicker turn in and track straight on back roads or drift a little right with a road crown.

 

Do number 2 in the previous post first. You need to make sure all your bases are covered before you start any mods to address the issue. The stock 4Runner will be affected by the wind on the interstate (it's as aerodynamic as a brick) for sure. However, it shouldn't be as bad as you describe. So if a well tuned stock config is not giving you the performance you want, only then would I look in to doing things like upgrading the suspension or adding a steering stabilizer (I have never seen such a thing on a 3rd gen anyway, does anyone do this?).

 

Hah, this is depressing. Well I know a good shop that all the off-roaders around here use. Everyone says they do good work and their price can't be beat. I just hope they can handle it because dealerships get rapey pretty quick.

I'll swing by on Monday unless something comes up. I'll let you know then...unless I'm too busy assuming the fetal position in a corner while biting my nails and mumbling a number in the thousands.

 

they dont make stearing stabalizers for 3rd gen 4runners, and theres no where to mount them ethier.

 

buy a heavier truck? I think my 87 4r is trying to kill me every time I go over 55

 

To check your rack bushings, you just kneel down in front of the driver's door and with the engine running, get your head under there and look at the rack while you rock the steering wheel back and forth with your right hand. If the rack itself moves at all, your bushings are worn out.

Yes, tire pressure could definitely play into this and that's what I'm thinking is your problem now that you said you're "running them at the "upper limit". Telling us the actual psi you're running in your tires would tell us whether it's acceptable or not. The "upper limit" on my tires is 80 psi, but I run them at 35 because 80 is ridiculous and that's the max pressure. If that's the case, you probably only have about 3 or 4" of tire tread actually making contact with the road.

 

I say you have a blown shock somewhere. When my rear passenger side shock blew, it was a nightmare driving on the freeway. When I would hit bumps or dips, my rear end would bounce like crazy and would move me around a lot in my lane. I think wind would have the same or a similar effect but that's my guess

 

I was running them a little over 40. Not crazy high but they do have tall treads bit pretty big spacing. Brought them down to just under 30. Haven't gone out to drive it yet but soon we'll see. Old tires were worn, full of leaks, patched, and all together kind of scary to put any real pressure into so they were at 25(ish).

Hopefully this works, an easy fix at no cost to me.

If not I'll check my rack bushings as mentioned and drive over some speed bumps to test all the shocks.

 

out of curiosity, how much does your 4runner sway if you were to sway it manually with the truck parked? does it keep swaying or does it come to a stop in a timely matter? if it keeps swaying, then your shocks could be worn out at 70k. another thing to check is make sure that your front and rear swaybars are still attached, bushings are intact, and that the actual metal it's made of is 100% intact - it is possible to fracture the swaybar, especially the vertical sections on each side.

 

I don't think it's a sway bar issue because I don't have any sway bars on mine and I don't get blown around the road. Another thing I would take a look at is your panhard bar (rear only) and the bolts and mounts for it.

 

check your tie rods put your front end on stands under the control arms and wiggle your tire as if you where turning left to right youl see and feel the play in the tie rod if its bad

 

also, during these experiences where you've swayed so far, you've gone into the other lane - how much does it affect the feeling at your hands on the steering wheel? is there a lot of response in the steering wheel or do you feel nothing in your hands when you drift over?

secondly, how much steering play is in the wheel if you were to try to move lanes at speed? do you move the wheel, then a second later the wheels turn? or is it nice and tight?

 

Phew, lot's of questions to answer.

Allright, 4runner doesn't bounce or anything like that, sway it and it rebounds once and then stops.

Sway bar is solid, mounts are solid, bushings are good. Rear bar and bushings looks perfect, can't see the mounts but there's no play when I jerk on it so I'm guessing their fine.

I have no clue what a panhard bar is, please explain.

Need to find a proper jacking solution to check the tie rods.

I don't feel anything in the wheel when I get blown around. But I'm also correcting the wheel as fast as humanly possible. And wheel is very responsive, I point, it moves. No hesitation.


Extra question here, I'm also having troubles with my drum brakes. I need to pull the wheels off and adjust them but the truck has NO jack points in the rear. And all I have is a bottle jack and a floor jack. The only thing that looks reasonable to use is the bottom of the axle housing but it's small and rounded. Anyone else know a good way to jack the rear end of a 3rd gen?

 

jack off the diff all day long, but put it on jackstands to work on it, a floor jack should have a cup so being round shouldn't matter. are your front tires worn evenly side to side? the toe in could be correct and the camber still off, this would show by the inner edge being worn more than the outside edge(as an example) how are your wheel bearings? any noises or difference in fuel mileage? just a thought.. . . from a cnstruction worker not a wrench turner, lol

 

Tires seem to have even wear, then again their so new I can barely tell they have any wear.

And lower tire pressure seemed to help a bit, but not as much as needed. Also noticed that rather than just flying to one side now it goes over and kind of...bounces from side to side.

I thought suspension so I checked them more thoroughly and when I shove down on the fender it does take a few bounces for it to stop moving. I'll check each shock later to see if all do the same.

I'm kind of stuck here, lower tire pressure helped but I can't really go much lower than 28 and still be reasonable. And it's still too dangerous to drive.

 

The panhard rod is the rod that is located to the rear of the rear axle. When looking towards the front, it connects the ladder frame at the rod's right/upper end to the rear axle at the rod's left/lower end. Toyota calls it the lateral control rod. There have been a few cases of having this rod disconnected due to the bolt getting loosened and falling off, at the lower/left end without the driver knowing it. the jacking points are on the ladder frame. these points are located near the body mount behind the front tire and the body mount in front of the rear tire.