Steering sway at highway speed bumps.

Driving at highway speeds and hitting bumps such as the beginning/end ramps of small bridges, my truck wants to sway me off the road. Nothing two on hands on the wheel can’t counter, but definitely want to fix.

Is this a sign of needing new coils/shocks?

I’m currently sitting on the stock setup (2002 107k miles).

 

could be slop in the steering shaft, or your shocks are bad. Quick way to check shocks is to push down on the tailgate and let go, does the bed bounce up and down a lot? It should immediately settle in it's original position. If it acts more like a pogo stick, your shocks are toast.

 

Check your tire pressure. When I first picked my truck up from the dealership, on the 100 mile freeway drive home I thought I was going to lose control every time I hit a bump in the road. When I got home I realized they had my tires filled up to ~50 psi, which was wayyy too high. Let them down to about 32psi and it was a world of difference.

 

Front end alignment? Toe-in will definitely affect drivability. How’s your tire wear? Condition of power steering fluid?

 

Alignment caster/camber issues , you probably don't have enough camber which is causing bump steer

 

Check your tie rods.
Lift the front of the truck up off the ground and grab one of the wheels at 9 and 3 o'clock and do a push and pull to check for movement. Any movement will indicate something is out of whack.

 

Take a look at the steering rack bushings, while under there have someone turn the wheel all the way left or right and see how it moves.

 

Ball joints and alignment check.

 

Look to see if one of your sway bar links is broken. Happened to me 3 times and I had a side-to-side combined with a front-rear rocking motion whenever I drove over any kind of dip on the interstates. Until I replaced the link. (IMHO whoever designed those flimsy links didn't realized the force placed on those links when off-roading.)

Also, if the sway bar link bushings are all dried up and cracked, you should replace them with the Toyota part. And be sure to torque them ALL THE WAY DOWN to the factory spec.