03 toyota tundra play in steering wheel when it goes over bumps on fwy

I have a tundra with alot of steering wheel play when it hits potholes, ive replaced upper and lower ball joints, upper control arms and rack and pinion, i see that the seal where the firewall is the rubber part of it is non existent could that also have something to do with the steering wheel play? ive seen most people say is basically a dust cover or a noise reduction type part, Please let me know what you think

 

Check out this thread here, may have some info.

 

What you are describing sounds like "bump steer".

 

I didn't notice a difference in the steering wheel after replacing my horrible shaft seal. I would replace it though since it's cheap enough and makes a big improvement with cab noise.

When you replaced the steering rack, did you re-use the steering rack bushings or buy new ones? There is also a u-joint in the steering column which could be going bad.

 

Not suggesting it's the cause, but did you use OEM lower ball joints and spring for new hardware?

 

What's the recourse there Des? I've had these apart before and often wondered if anyone has gone the length and replaced/had rebuilt. These are quite small but I bet if they were mic'd they could be replaced if pressed out. I remember back when I has 1st gen CRV I had to find an ATV u-joint small enough to fit my rear prop shaft and do similar. I ended up doing two more vehicles the same after that with good results.

 

I bought new bushings the old ones were torn in half

 

OEM ball joints

 

Excellent.

Have you inspected the cabin side of the shaft where it passes thru the firewall to lift/jiggle the shaft and see if there's any play? I can link up some pics of what other members have posted in the past about the cabin side of their shaft apparently just flopping around (and the seal was definitely blown/out/loose)

 

i did and yes i feel like it moves around too much, but i dont think that seal is going to help. maybe the yoke right above that is too lose?

 

I'm not having the problem and I could never get an answer from anyone who clearly had the problem.

Check the two links in this reply and hopefully you'll see what I'm talking about, and also my thoughts on this last time about that seal being "structural": https://www.tundras.com/threads/sloppy-steering.116615/#post-2998253

Clearly, if it has to be tapped into place, and if the rubber blows out with time, it must have some forces against it, so it must have some kind of support it's offering. I just would've expected a bushing to be used in such a case...

 

Was the truck behaving like this prior to doing all the front end work?

I've never tried it personally, but I'd assume it can be done. I think Toyota still sells the complete unit and I've read others on here have bought it from dismantlers. PHM tried greasing that u-joint and didn't notice much.

That joint can be easily checked when doing the steering shaft seal though since the columns gotta come off the steering rack itself.

 

Hell, I'll just post their image here - although you should look at the 1st link in the post I just put out there, maybe that intermediate shaft is your issue, if you hadn't replaced? But the sound you mention sounds more like a blown rubber/poly bushing, loose bolt, or something like this failing and letting your shaft clunk around:

​

 

Hey Hunt, you might also try to isolate the feeling by eliminating sections of what Shifty is talking about. Maybe see if you can use some vice grips clamped above and/or below the joint and then wedged to fixed location. Add a block or strap if you need to to really isolate the shaft in place if you can. Give the steering wheel a wiggle and let us know?

I'm interested to see where this one goes.