87 4Runner Death Wobble (2 Viewers)

[thetoyotaman]

I have an 87 4Runner turbo that is having a death wobble around 15-25 mph. The intermediate shaft had been removed and or adjusted by the previous owner due to a SAS and steering box relocation which over extended it. The rag joint is bad I think which might be the culprit. I’m looking for measurements of how much spline should be showing on the firewall side to start and how far back the steering box is from the frame to try to fix.

 

[aztoyman]

I had a bad rag joint on my SAS'd 88 but no death wobble. Is it leaf springs or is it linked? My only experience with death wobble was caused by worn bushings on a TJ and I saw why it's called death wobble.

Sorry, I don't have a stock one to measure for you. I think the box end kind of clunks back and forth between the clamp bolt in a notch. The end at the steering column goes in clear through the clamp but there's quite a bit of spline still showing on my 88 anyway.

 

[thetoyotaman]

It’s leaf sprung. If you hit a big pothole the wheel starts going back and forth hard.

 

[gnob]

It’s leaf sprung. If you hit a big pothole the wheel starts going back and forth hard.

it's almost always a tire issue.
you could also have a caster problem

 

[thetoyotaman]

I do know the shaft is loose and you can shake it at the rag joint so I figured I’d start there first. Hasn’t happened at highway speeds. It drives nice otherwise. I don’t have any tire vibration.

 

[aztoyman]

Hopefully it won't happen if you hit a pot hole at 75. Weird that it is good at speed. Check spring eye and shackle bushings. Shocks and shock bushings. Being as it happened only with a big hit, Maybe a bad shock (s)?

Check it all. Tie Rod ends too. Caster like gnob mentioned. Might as well since you didn't build it. I finally got rid of my rag joint. It was just twisting up when crawling once I went to 35's.

Good luck with it and please post up what you find.

 

[thetoyotaman]

What do you all recommend for a replacement rag joint?

 

[aztoyman]

IDK if there are upgrades. I just fabricated a shaft without one.

 

[ntsqd]

Replace the intermediate shaft with one from an FJ60. Those have a real U-Joint at both ends with a splined center section. They are very much a drive-shaft for the steering. The UJ's dwarf anything in the aftermarket. You may need to adjust the length, no idea about that.
This is a whole FJ60 column and intermediate shaft: