This is a 2000 4runner 4x4 5 speed with about 180k miles, it's a little rough (dents, etc) but doesn't have any obvious issues otherwise. The big problem is that the rear of the truck is extremely unstable at speed and rocks side to side (to the point that wildly thrashing wouldn't be much of an exaggeration) if the road isn't completely smooth, although it has no real effect on the steering and its easy to keep it going straight. It has had the shocks, panhard bar bushings and the swaybar bushings and end links with no real improvement that lasted more than a few days, and it has slowly gotten worse. Some of the others I see on the road have this problem, but most either don't or aren't near as bad. Does anyone have an idea what might cause this?
Rear end sagging badly also? The rear springs on those are known to be a bit too soft. May need to be replaced.
TGMF
Reader
3/7/16 4:17 p.m.
Frame rotted out at the rear lower lateral arm if youre in the rust belt,
or wasted lateral arm bushings.
Have you rotated the tires front to rear? I have seen tires that are separating internally do weird stuff.
It's not rusty enough to have holes anywhere I can find, I think it used to be in Colorado and is now in California. I will try changing the tires since it's free to try and the tires are old. It's not sagging in the back really, but the rear springs being way too soft compared to the front seems like it could explain the problems. The bushings do likely need changing too, although they don't look excessively torn up from what I can see.
I have an older one that was doing the same. The axle was sitting on the stops and causing weirdness. ~$60 for a pair of moogs on amazon and an hour of work and it is night and day. I also had a little tow out going on from worn from bushings that caused some late turn in as well.
How does your front tire wear look?
Sounds like the panhard bar's bushings may be shot.
It is pretty common for the rear springs in these to get soft. Usually it is evidenced by the rear sagging, but that may not always be the case.
Another issue is the trans cooler being built into the radiator, sometimes it leaks and mixes the fluids (no bueno) so it doesn't hurt (and isn't too hard) to bypass and run an external trans cooler on the cheap.
