I would take a good hard look at your rear panhard bar. It controls lateral side to side movement of the rear axle. A worn out one can let the rear walk a little causing rear steer and a rolling side to side feeling like the back it fighting the front

 

Never mind i see someone already suggested it

 

$172.00 for the lateral rod!!

 

New Toyota outer TRE's didn't make a difference... I'm 0 for 3

 

There's a thread on t4r.org with a similar situation, may give you some ideas:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...rack-help.html

 

i think you mentioned your prob started with new tires at the beginning of this thread. did you check the air pressure? something simple like this can make a truck feel different. too much sidewall flex, or too much road surface "float" from friction pull, particularly on concrete with rain drain grooves vs. flat blacktop. my truck feels too floaty if i dont air it back down to OEM spec, which is usually way lower than tire shops do by default. but i have an earlier truck w different susp. than you so i cant advise much else. but remember that new shocks only dampen impact, they dont affect roll and ride height. thats the springs/t-bars job. good luck.

oh also check if you changed weight class when you changed tires. a class C vs.class D, or a truck tire to a P-metric (passenger class). just tryin to suggest other than what i read youve already covered.

 

Close but this guy has a different problem. Mine feels like the wind is blowing me side to side like...not a shimmy at a certain speed.

 

Good thought, but the problem was there before the new tires. While the feeling I am getting is flex in the rear tire sidewalls something is causing the tires to do do this by kicking the car back and forth....not the other way around. I don't want to spend 200 on the damn lateral rod to find out it wasn't it like everything else I've done. I'm thinking I may look into the rack itself a little more. Are there inner tierods? Easily changeable or will I need to replace/rebuild the rack?

 

http://tps.toyotaofdallas.com/parts/...agramCallOut=3

I am answering my own question...260 for both inner tie rod ends or 571 for the whole steering rack. Is there a good way to test the rack to see if it's working properly?

 

I had this same issue happening to a 97 QX4 (pathfinder) and it was rear upper control arm bushings. When the bushings are completely shot it allows for excessive movement at a joint, and if the bushings are so bad they're gone then you have a lot of free play in a vital suspension area.. Mine felt like it would build up off of small bumps and such till it was dangerously swaying on the highway, rear control arm bushings are where you should be looking and replace with OEM, actually you need to check all control arm bushings front and back just to be safe.

 

Have you replaced the steering rack guide?

Usually your rack is ok if it is not leaking. TO check just remove the boots from the inner tie rods.

 

Rack is not leaking and I haven't taken the boots off...that'll be the next thing I do. I'm also going to take the track bar off to check the bushings even though they seem fine. Both control arms seem fine too but I may take those off also to check.

 

you're going to need to pull the boots off to expect the seals for any leaks. I probably would have replaced bother tie rod ends inner/outter at the same time. if it turns out to have a significant leak I hear the AAE rack on rock auto is really good for 245.

 

Thanks chadsy! Sure enough, I opened one boot and fluid came out...couple tablespoons worth. It wasn't leaking at all out of the boot...it was apparently just sitting inside the grooves. I shouldn't be seeing any fluid, right? Is this likely my problem then? Inside the boot was, according to the FSM, a "rack end" and mechanically it seems fine...it just looks like a ball and socket. Is the rack just shot? Do I try to take the rack off and replace the seals or just get a whole new rack? What have others done?

 

If it was just a couple of tablespoons and it quit while you were expecting it should be ok. Just keep an eye on your power steering fluid levels.

When you were expecting did the inner tie rods stand up on their own or did they fall downwards? It's even better to see what they do while the outters are still connected. if they are falling that is typically a sign of them needing replaced. Just did mine yesterday.

 

Yea the fluid just dumped out of the boot and that's it. I left the boot off for a day and also turned the wheels back and forth and nothing was leaking out. I only took one boot off because the clip was such a bear to take off and I didn't want to have to replace both in case I broke it. The inner stayed up on its own so I take it that means its good still? Is there a trick to the clip? On and off?

So with all this I'm still not sure what the problem is and I only have expensive options left... Hmm...what to do. In the meantime I guess I will replace the clutch.

 

Chadsy, how much did the inners cost you? Where did you get them? How hard was the install? How long did it take you?

 

the oem are crazy expensive but the napa premium or raybestos professional are just as good IMO,

raybestos can be found on rockauto.com at half the price of napa and theyre the same part... just different box.

all in all it took me about 2 hours for the lbj and both tie rods for each side. i will post a video in the morning to help you out. pretty easy job if you have the tools.

as for the clamp use some channel locks to squeeze the two tabs tigether and place the locker on the middle tab with some pliers.

 

As promised, here is the video:

[YOUTUBE]

Tacoma Tie Rod (Inner & Outer) Replace - YouTube

[/YOUTUBE]

 

Thats a great video. I forget how much info is on this interweb. I'll plan on getting them from napa. However I think I may have found the culprit. I drove home later than usual so traffic was lighter which allowed me to do some diognosing while driving. I tried a lot of different ways to get the problem to occur and feel pretty confident it starts in the rear. Once it starts the "rocking" slowly gets worse. I thought if the problem was in the rear it would be the panhard bar since it feels like the back end is fish tailing enough to start rocking, but now I think the axle is actually rocking front to back with the lower control arms being the culprit. I really studied the bushings when I got home and while I can't get any play out of them with a pry bar the looked pretty bad...and then I found this thread http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...ntrol-arm.html. Which makes me think that is what I have. I guess I'll find out.