Very light, jumpy steering off-road in 2HI

Does/should the steering feel different off-road being in 2wd vs 4wd?...

I took the tundra out on some unmaintained double track roads yesterday for the first time. Nothing that required 4wd, so I was in 2hi the whole time. I noticed that, especially while climbing, the truck's steering felt very light, jumpy and experienced a ton of jittery bump steer. As if the steering wheel was following every little imperfection in the trail.
This is my only truck so far, so my experience with a true full-size 4wd is minimal. My last vehicles have been Subaru Foresters which I took on similar trails including some much harder stuff quite often and never experienced a steering feel like that.

Does this sound normal? Am I overthinking it?
Would being in 4hi/4lo lessen this as there would be power going to those wheels and this 'tightening/damping' the steering rack?

 

Normal, for the reasons you describe, i.e. power to the front drivetrain a.k.a. torque-steer.

 

But there wasn't power going to the front wheels. Torque-steer and bump-steer are two completely different things.

 

Yes it'll feel different. The front end putting power down and grabbing things will make it feel stiffer versus in 2WD where it's just pushing and sliding around.

 

Yep, that's why it felt lighter and was more prone to bump-steer, there wasn't power to front end. You're thinking is sound.

 

He is saying that in 2WD the truck feels like there is too much slop in the steering when in small bumps like number 2 stone. Mine feels exact same way; my 2017 4 Runner was way tighter feeling. I am considering placing a steering stabilizer on the truck if I ever end up living in an area where I'm in that type of terrain every weekend.

 

Yeahhhh.... Don't do that. You're pissing in the wind putting a damping/stabilizer bar on power rack and pinion steering. All it would do is fight the system.

 

Good to know, thanks

 

Mine does this too. I have a 3” king lift and SPC upper arms. Do you have a Lift?

 

Bilstein 6100/5160 with shims up front and shackles in the rear. Makes for roughly a 3/1" lift.

 

I have Rough Country level block that are 1.75 up front. Didn't try it without the front lift so not sure if this is making it worse or not.

 

Revisiting this...
So I was on similar, unmaintained farm roads yesterday and decided to put it in 4hi. Same exact sensation.
Can anyone else chime in? This is really disconcerting to me. The truck is brand new (5k miles). Is this possibly an alignment issue? Tire pressure? Something actually loose in the front end from the lift installation?
The truck feels absolutely fine on the road. What am I missing here?