2011 LC200 Torque Steer

[bloc]

Should I be looking at too much wheel offset?...lots of people running same lift/wheeloffset/tire size combos without any issues.

Yes. Many people “don’t have issues” but might not be paying attention or just accept it as the price to pay for their mods.

Rear springs are relatively cheap and easy to swap out, you could toss in some 2721s and see if it helps. Or even get some stock take-offs for really cheap to try out temporarily.

I’m betting your offset plays a big part here though.

 

[linuxgod]

MY2019. Torque steer to the right here as well. Used truck with King 2.5's all around, OME 2723 (2-400lbs) rear springs King 3.16.600 J19 (600lbs) front springs Method Vex wheels 17x8.5 0 offset, 285 70 17 BFG Ko2's. Previous owner had a lot more weight on the vehicle when he set it up including heavy duty steel ARB touring rack & roof top tent, lights etc and he towed a lot. I took off about 300lbs constant load off his set up without changing out springs. I also added new SPC adjustable upper control arms & Dobinsons adustable rear panhard bar to round out the suspension & got a good alignment & tire rotation/balance. Torque steer almost seems worse with the new components & the weight off. On freeway it drifts slightly left with no throttle input then pulls right when accelerating. Pulls right under acceleration in all conditions. Obviously the truck is oversprung now with a lot of weight off of it but could that be causing the torque steer to magnify? Should I be looking at too much wheel offset?...lots of people running same lift/wheeloffset/tire size combos without any issues. I plan on adding new TJM bumper (140lbs) maybe a winch (80 lbs) and eventually some sliders (1-120lbs) at the most to the truck. Swap the springs out? So annoying!

Is the truck level left-to-right or is there any lean, especially in the front?

I’m assuming there’s no diff drop

What are the alignment specs? First and foremost if your alignment is off that will cause or magnify issue

Depending how much weight you’ve removed and from where it can affect your alignment a bit.

 

[calixto]

Alignment was post weight loss. No diff drop but from what I've read it is not necessary for the 200 unlike the 100. Truck seems level however I will double check today. Also for how much spring the truck has on it, it still rides really smooth...almost factory like. Here are the alignment specs.

 

[calixto]

Just measured ground to middle of wheel arch along middle of each wheel. DF 38.5 PF 38.25 DR 39.5 PR 39.75. Could be a tiny bit of +/- here as i just measured it with a regular tape measure in my driveway. Doesn't seem too off & no noticeable lean

 

[TeCKis300]

I'll try to help you break down the several things that may be contributing to your issue. In combination, they're likely exacerbating things. It may be that if you can address enough of them, without solving all, that the driving quality could improve enough to your liking.

MY2019. Torque steer to the right here as well. Used truck with King 2.5's all around, OME 2723 (2-400lbs) rear springs King 3.16.600 J19 (600lbs) front springs Method Vex wheels 17x8.5 0 offset, 285 70 17 BFG Ko2's. Previous owner had a lot more weight on the vehicle when he set it up including heavy duty steel ARB touring rack & roof top tent, lights etc and he towed a lot. I took off about 300lbs constant load off his set up without changing out springs. I also added new SPC adjustable upper control arms & Dobinsons adustable rear panhard bar to round out the suspension & got a good alignment & tire rotation/balance. Torque steer almost seems worse with the new components & the weight off. On freeway it drifts slightly left with no throttle input then pulls right when accelerating. Pulls right under acceleration in all conditions. Obviously the truck is oversprung now with a lot of weight off of it but could that be causing the torque steer to magnify? Should I be looking at too much wheel offset?...lots of people running same lift/wheeloffset/tire size combos without any issues. I plan on adding new TJM bumper (140lbs) maybe a winch (80 lbs) and eventually some sliders (1-120lbs) at the most to the truck. Swap the springs out? So annoying!

1) Weight taken off the rear further increases ride height/lift, magnifying some of the rear axle alignment issues below.
2) 285/70R17s (32.7") tires call for 50mm offset as optimal. Combined with 0 offset wheels, means you have a 50mm delta from optimal suspension geometry, which is huge. Getting larger diameter tires can help, as something like 285/75R17s (33.8") calls for ~38mm offset, reducing the geometry descrepancy.

Alignment was post weight loss. No diff drop but from what I've read it is not necessary for the 200 unlike the 100. Truck seems level however I will double check today. Also for how much spring the truck has on it, it still rides really smooth...almost factory like. Here are the alignment specs.

View attachment 2648002

3) Positive front camber. Not ideal, when combined with low offsets as that can effectively make the geometry feel even lower in offset as the outer parts of the tread touches down more. A trick here can be to go negative camber, which makes the center part of the contact patch closer to the inside of the tire. This may be hard to visualize and understand, but basically saying the positive camber change isn't helping you any. More negative camber can help.
4) Rear Thrust Angle @ -0.39* is huge. You can see why in the picture below why under acceleration, the rear axle is effectively steering your car right. This is likely due to the large lift that is installed. I believe you said you have an adj panhard. Use that to center your axle at right height, which should reduce the axle thrust angle. May want to also check if there's a lower trailing arm that may be bent?

 

[linuxgod]

Alignment was post weight loss. No diff drop but from what I've read it is not necessary for the 200 unlike the 100. Truck seems level however I will double check today. Also for how much spring the truck has on it, it still rides really smooth...almost factory like. Here are the alignment specs.

View attachment 2648002

@TeCKis300 reply is pretty good. I’d add that I *think* you want more caster on the passenger side than the drivers side, to account for road crown. Right now you have more on the left, which will make you pull right a bit. I’m not an expert though so you may want to double check that

 

[calixto]

Super helpful info, thank you! I do have a set of 18x9 with 25BS Method NV's &285/65/18 tires on my 100 series that if I can find some time I could swap over to see if the problem goes away or is reduced. Probably will change wheel offset size before going with a larger tire as I already have a very slight rub a full clock in reverse on the right inner fender lining. Not a ton of options for a better offset wheel for these trucks in a 17 besides Icons...however Method just came out with a new "trail series" wheel 17x8.5 BS35 called the 703 that looks really nice & simple. They are currently backordered. A great shop here in SD, SD Trux's, is going to look at my truck next week, will see what they suggest. So bummed about having to sort out some of the issues & shortcuts the PO made on this truck. He got all the work done at 4Wheel Parts in Temecula, doesn't seem like they really know much about Land Cruisers. @TeCKis300 looks like you are SD based, is that a photo of Cardiff Campgrounds in your sig? I live in Leucadia. Thank you again!

 

[TeCKis300]

You got it sir, Cardiff Campground. Been a few years and would love to get out there again this summer, but it's in high demand especially now. I'm in the Scripps Ranch area.

 

[calixto]

Had local shop look at my truck again. They made some slight adjustments to the suspension including the adjustable rear panhard, swapped the two front tires over to the other side and new alignment. Truck drives better & is manageable but still some torque steer to the left. At least it's no longer pulling two different directions on & off the gas. I plan to have discount tire look at my tires again to make sure they aren't worn in a weird way. Also plan to swap out the wheels to the new Method 703 trail series 17x8.5 35 offset instead of my 17x8.5 0 offset Method Vex wheels when they become available again in August. Likely will also add TJM bumper to front & possibly sliders in that time period as well. Recent alignment below

 

[calixto]

 

[calixto]

As advised by Cruiser Outfitters I swapped out my OME 2723 rear springs for OME 2721 rear springs & lowered the front end to match. New alignment. The swap got rid of all the alignment & steering issues i was having with my truck. PO just put too much height in the front & stiffness in the rear.

 

[ronnunan]

Just to give an update a year later. Torque steer is still there but not as bad as it was. I’ve also learned to live with it. Some days it’s straight and no issue, other it’s mild torque…

 

[AnyMal]

View attachment 2488284

Have you zero pointed and reset your neutral zero point per FSM for your VGRS steering system?

 

[ronnunan]

Have you zero pointed and reset your neutral zero point per FSM for your VGRS steering system?

What! Holy s***.. what is that? Did I miss something?