I just bought a 1988 4Runner 4x4 v6 and joined the forum moments ago. Definitely enthused to learn more about the vehicle and have some fun with it. The big problem with it so far is that I cannot turn right more than half-way (the steering wheel stops and suddenly my turning radius is awful). Turning left is flawless. The guy I bought it from said he had it inspected and they said it was a bent tie rod or something like that. He also said he hit "something" at low speed so that sounded reasonable. It sounds simple enough but I'm trying to avoid taking it to a an offroading specialist shop (the local one here charges $90/hr and from what I hear this is something I might even be able to do myself).

Does anyone have any ideas or feedback on what I should do? I just want to make sure I'm on the right track and it's not a bigger issue that I'm missing. Should I just order parts online and do it myself or are things under compression and I would need special tools?

Thanks mucho!

 

Well you can always get under the truck and see if it really is a bent tie rod end. The tie rod end itself is only about 3 inches long so it's kind of hard to bend. The bending would most likely happen on the tie rod (the long round bar) itself.

Steering is very tricky to diagnosis. One messed up piece can cause other pieces of the steering system to be messed up too because they are all connected. Start at the steering box on the frame and go from there. Make sure your pitman and idle arms don't look bent, then go to the ball joints and tie rod ends.

 

Hawaii Guy. I think you should get down under your rig and take a look and compare the way the steering geometry looks left to right. I mean does the left side look pretty dam close to what the right side looks like? I wouldn't just go start buying parts because, where would you start.
2 things I think you should check are the Pitman arm/steering gear area.--Look for a twist in the splines of the sector shaft. That is the shaft you see coming out of the bottom of your steering gear with a large nut on it. The splines should just go straight without any twist or curves. Check between the gear and the pitman arm. Look in there with a light if you need to.
If that looks perfect then take a good look at the pitman arm. (connects the steering gear to the centerlink) Its cast so you may be able to see some distortion in its shape or fresh metal where there used to be light rust covering everything evenly.
Other things you could look at are the centerlink but it would have to be a big bend to affect turning radius.
Also check your steering arms. They are the things that your 2 outer tie rods hookup to.
This is where you want to see things exactly the same left to right. Stick a finger or two between the wheel side of the steering arm and the rim. You should have the same gap in both sides.

Hope this helps. There are lots of things here to check and these are minor compared to a bent or broken frame.

Lastly the best way to look for a bad(worn) tie rod or other joint is to have someone slowly rock the steering wheel back and forth while you or a mechanic looks at all the joints. Might as well look at the control arm bushings while you're at it and you've got help.
Good luck
Hang loose bra

 

Thanks you guys, that was just what I needed. I've never had to deal with suspension/steering issues and didn't know where to start. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for no serious issues (bent frame or front-end replacement). This SHOULD be the perfect surf rig and I'm already scouting the forums for all kinds of cool mods.

Overall I've gotta say I'm so impressed by two things: the fact that pretty much all of the electrical (lights, cruise, power doors/windows, A/C) in the 4Runner still works great after 21 years! My last Audi was always breaking down and it was only 3 years old! Secondly the forum is definitely a wealth of knowledge and YOU guys are helpful and respectful. I've seen some forums where folks flame people pretty bad for nothing really. So thanks for that!

Will report back on progress.