Anyone have any idea why this is happening? Worn bushings or something? My steering wheel basically moves left and right a little bit. This is while parked also. I can wiggle it left and right also while driving. Possibly loose U joint or something somewhere? Or is this normal? I highly doubt it but I inspected the shaft and from where I was looking, nothing looked wrong with it.

tia
Darrin

 

Yeah I'm thinking my bushings might be worn out because mine has the same symptoms.
They only have 185k miles on them... hmm

 

grimpy

I had this issue on my truck and found that it was two bolts underneath the steering/dash. You would have to take that bottom dash panel off, the one under your steering wheel down by your pedals.

Once you have that off there are two bolts that hold the steering wheel. It's holds it from moving side to side.

That was my problem. It could be something else but my guess is to start here.

Good luck

 

Thanks bro, I'll give it a try later.

 

OSR, nice looking out bro! It turned out to be those bolts...

Asu, try checking those bolts. When I checked to see if it was loose, I gave it a little jerk but it was tight... I decided to give it a good tug and it tightened up more... Now my steering wheel has no left/right play.

Required tools, 10mm for the 4 bolts that hold the lower cover on and 14mm deep socket for the two that holds the steering column in place.

 

Sweet, I'll try that tomorrow.

 

Damn... I just messed mine up.... When I tightened it, I didn't center the wheel so it looked a little off... I decided to center it... Lets just say when I retightened, I tightened too hard and broke the thread... The reason why I kept tightening it was because there was still play on the steering wheel... After breaking the thread off, I managed to get the trapezoid block thing out and found out the reason why it wiggled... The trapezoid wasn't lined up properly... No matter how much you tighten, if the trapezoid is off by a certain amount, it may wiggle... The pos thread part is welded on so now I have to figure a way to get the sucker out... Now it's worse than before...

If your's is wiggling and that trapezoid isn't flushed in place... try to push it to flush it... Mine was still off so I may need to remove the trapezoid crap and drill the hole bigger so it will flush after I figure a way to get the POS bolt out and stick a regular bolt back on. I'm wondering why the hell Toyota used this pos trapezoid crap instead of just regular bolts to tighten it...

 

Wow, i'll try not to make that mistake.

 

were you guys able to fix this problem? my mother in laws Toyota sequoia is doing the same thing, I took off the plastic around the steering wheel and I didn't notice anything strange/missing/loose, so im guessing it might be the same problem you guys had...if you guys have anymore info on this please share


greatly appreciated
thanks

 

I know this is a really old thread, but I'm having the same problem. I think the reason for the "pos" blocks is to allow the column to collapse in the event of a collision. The blocks are supposed to keep the column from moving from side to side, but should allow it to move into the dash. On my gen 3 runner, there is a lot of side to side play. The airbag was replaced by prior owner, leading me to suspect the car took a head on at some point. Guessing the mounting blocks were bent, or moved, or something. Can anyone verify any of this?

 

Might want to look up the steering column tack weld repair. I've never done it but I have heard it mentioned.

 

Well I'm not seeing a slip joint to tack weld. I think the way this one works is with the two trapezoidal blocks, or lugs, that bolt the column to the dash members. Can anyone out there take a look at this photo and tell me if these two lugs are supposed to be fixed to the column, or are they free floating (like mine?) I'm guessing that the lugs are "welded" or soldered into place to keep the column from sliding back and forth at the dash members. But in a head-on, the lugs break loose, allowing the steering column to pitch forward.

My runner has definitely been crashed. When reassembled, those two lugs bolt firmly to the dash frame members, but the steering column moves maybe 1/8" back and forth. No amount of torque on the bolts will tighten it down.