Outer Limits 4x4 Board

We have a 98 Toyota 4runner 3.0 Turbo diesel 5 speed 4x4

1. When you are driving around 50mph or more and accelerate hard, the back of the car shifts to the right.

2. Sometimes you have to steer to the right a little bit to compensate.

3. As long as you are accelerating, the car seems to keep a straight trim.

4. If you hit a bumpy spot on the highway like a bridge or uneven pavement, the rear of the car gets very loose and wags to the right or left.

5. If you decelerate, the car shifts back to the left again.

6. The car seems to be more stable laterally while coasting.

I have had this problem for a while, but it seems to be getting worse lately.
Mechanics in Costa Rica don't seem to help. Every time I take it in, they tell me I need to change this or that, but the problem persists.

Here's what I have done or had done on this car to try to fix the problem.

1. I have replaced all of the bushings in the front suspension upper and lower control arms.

2. I have had one of the back lower control arm bushings changed. The rest of the bushings, they said were good.

3. I have replace the back shocks.

4. I have replaced the steering rack and pinion, ball joints, and tie rods.

5. Any time I have done any of this work, I have taken the car back to get it aligned. The tires are balanced and have the same psi in all 4.


I don't know what else it could be. I was thinking of replacing the motor mounts and transmission mount. The motor moves quite a bit when you rev it. The passenger side mount is pretty close to the turbo, so I was thinking that the heat from the turbo might have worn out the rubber motor mounts especially on that side. The motor mounts are covered with a metal cover, so you can't see if the rubber is really bad or not.

Could you help me or give me and idea if I'm on the right track?

Is the '98 torsion bar independent front end or was it changed over to the prado front end by then?

Just thinking right hand drag and right axle/wheel engaged with the ADD system. If so this is something easy to check.

Reading that again it feels more like a driveline problem. I assume the mechanics you took your car to checked your universals/driveshafts?

It has coil springs in the rear and a straight axle. The front also has coil springs with IFS. It does not seem to pull as much if I have it in 4x4 high. I thing the symptoms indicate problems in the rear suspension, but I can't seem to find them. The driveshafts and u-joints seem very tight, but I can see that there has been quite a bit of movement in the front and rear driveshaft yoke

Panhard rod bushes or mounts?

I would check the panard bushes first as I get the same symptoms when they are worn.
Next check your trailing arm bushes, my top right is the one that wears first.

what brand do you have for that steering rack? i was thinking of buying the Moog steering rack. But im still looking for other brands.

UhhOhh wrote:Is the '98 torsion bar independent front end or was it changed over to the prado front end by then?

Late 95 changed to what the 90/95 series Prado inherited.