Stiff Steering 2015 TRD

I sold my 07 because frame was badly rusted and just picked up a really nice 2015 double cab long bed TRD in magnetic gray with 110,000 miles. The truck was very well kept and looks new. The steering is stiff and not returning to center. I sprayed down the intermediate steering shaft with wd since my last tacoma had a similar issue. It didn't help at all. The difference is my last Tacomas steering issue was tight and loose when I turned the wheel so spraying that u joint fixed it. This one seems uniformly tight throughout turning the wheel in both directions. I brought it to my local mechanic and he looked it over, sprayed down the steering u joint again while on the lift and turning steering wheel. Still didn't help. He said all ball joints look good. He is stumped. I ordered a replacement intermediate steering shaft that he will be installing on the 17th but something tells me this isn't my problem. Its really annoying to drive this way since Im constantly making small steering adjustments because the steering is tight. The wheel turns nice and smooth. Just too tight. Fluid level is good. Tire pressure is good. Im going to have him align it after replacing the shaft. I saw in old posts that someone said increasing caster helped them with a similar problem. Has anyone here had a similar issue and did you resolve it? I really hope its not the rack.

 

Are you sure your old truck's steering wasn't just way too loose? My 2015's steering is "tight but responsive" meaning it holds straight and tracks accurately, but you have to be deliberate when you turn the wheel, unlike newer cars with electric steering that have zero feedback or character.

 

Im sure. My old 07 still drove perfectly with 240,000 miles on it. My friend has a 2021. He drove my 15 and agrees its not right. Mechanic agrees also. It doesnt track. It doesnt pull to left or right. Feels like from about 11:00 to 1:00 it doesnt return to center at all speeds. When I purchased it a couple weeks ago I thought it might possibly be the tires. It came with BFG Ko2 E rated tires so I switched them out to stock wranglers and it didn't make a difference. I weighed the wheels n tires and was surprised to see the BFG's weighed almost 15 pound heavier each. But the BFG's sure do look nice.

 

Maybe ask the the guy you bought it from ,bet he knows what is wrong with it.

 

Does it have any kind of lift on it? Any abnormal tire wear on the tires you replaced?

 

You're right I bet the previous owner does know. But I got it from a dealer 2 hours away. I noticed it immediately when I took it for a test drive. Dealerships service dept looked at it and quickly said intermediate steering shaft. They knocked off a grand and I figured I would take the risk since the truck looked new and was clearly well cared for. I looked for this truck for almost 2 years. Hard to find a low miles 2014 or 15 dbl cab long box for a reasonable price. Hard to find any truck now for a reasonable price. But Tacomas especially really hold their value. Appears as if the only non stock parts on the truck are Bilstein 5100's on the front and the BFG ko2 tires.

 

No lift. Looks like the front Bilstein 5100's are on lowest setting. There was no visible abnormal wear on the tires.

 

It's possible the steering shaft u-joint is so tight the lube simply couldn't help. Might have to take it off to fully inspect it and flex it around.

 

Failed power steering pump? Incorrect camber/caster? Tacomas supposedly have a very peculiar alignment spec that should normally make the steering feel a bit twitchy.

 

I mean you could technically throw a rack and/or pump at it. It’s old.

unless there’s air in the system and you try fluid replacement and bleed.

many folks including myself have different alignment settings that may not be factory, due to aftermarket parts. But the idea is generally to keep whatever the settings are the same on both sides. Because having them uneven typically results in something like a pull to one side.

I don’t think it’s the softest steering. Hydraulic isn’t in general. Let alone a truck with big tires. Not gonna be effortless like something designed to be such as servotronic, electric rack, etc

my previous 33’s heavier than 31’s were a little harder to steer. Got used to it.

 

I just bought my 11 dclb. Steering was way tighter than I thought it should be. Pulled cap from reservoir and it smelled like ps fluid, not atf. Damn dealers refuse to use the toyota recommended fluid. Drained the system, ran a flush through it and refilled with atf. Night and day difference in steering feel. These racks use some teflon seals and suspect they don’t like hydraulic fluid and cause dragging. Research how to flush the rack.

 

Thank you that sounds like its worth a try. I will let you know if it helps.

 

Only thing I can think of hasn’t been said is charging system. Had a RAV4 do the same thing and result was alternator starting to go and not keeping up with charging- power steering system was one of the first noticeable effects.

 

Disconnect the steering shaft and check it's movements. If thats okay then check your alignment. I'm predicting it'll have some combination of too much positive toe, negative camber and maybe caster a little light.

From my Tacoma experience you want 0.02-0.08" positive toe, 0.30-0.8* positive camber and atleast 2* caster with the right side having 0.5* more caster to compensate for road crown.

Mind you even with 3.5* caster on my own truck I found it doesn't quite centre the steering wheel after a turn. I feel Toyota built the truck to rely primarily on the over centre steering rack bind to keep the ship straight more so that the caster like most other vehicles

 

His truck doesn't have electric power steering... As long as the engine is running and the pump is working, the power steering system wouldn't be effected by the alternator not outputting properly.

 

Thank you lr172. I flushed the power steering and it made a substantial improvement. I first sucked out what was in the reservoir to get a good look at what was in there and it looked like thick black gear oil. I likely should have done it differently. I jacked up front end. Sucked out reservoir, added new atf, turned wheels 30 times or so to pull new fluid through, repeated the process 9 times until it was pretty clean looking. I was alone and didn't want to suck air into the system so figured this was a safe approach. I may do it again next week and see what it looks like. I can drive with one hand now. Big difference. Thank you everyone.

 

Steering is still too stiff so I did a proper flush of power steering and while it seems to have helped a little bit. Steering is still too tight and not returning to center. Its going in the shop tomorrow to have intermediate steering shaft replaced. I doubt that's the cause of my problem but will update once completed. Im gonna ask the mechanic to do more diagnosis while he has it on the lift and has things apart.

 

I had an 08 4x4 AC 4 cyl 5 speed that exhibited stiff steering, but only in cold temperatures. This did not occur until the truck was 5 or 6 years old and I’d say at 25°F or below. At colder extremes it could become almost impossible to turn the wheel. The dealer recommended changing the power steering fluid but that didn’t seem to improve things appreciably. My particular situation had the wheel cyclically increasing/decreasing in tension at what felt to be like it was related to the steering shaft “universal joint” rotation. The truck had typical Midwest rust and I did thoroughly lubricate the steering components to no avail.
Never did resolve the issue and ended up totalling the truck on an icy bridge in 2015.
(I never made that possible correlation until just typing this )

 

I had the super tight steering problem! You should try a complete flush of the power steering fluid… there is a screen in the bottom of the reservoir that gets gummed up. It is your cheapest fix and should be tried first.

 

+1

recommend that in my post. If the stuff in there is like tar, it possibly left a bunch of gunk behind that needs to be cleaned out. Cheap and easy step before shelling out cash to mechanic. They sell flush fluid designed for ps systems.