Any way to improve turning radius? (1 Viewer)

[eatSleepWoof]

Buddy and I were talking about trucks and the topic came up. The turning radius of the LX is pretty much the same as of the (much longer wheelbase) Tacoma I had prior. The Taco's wheels turned more than on the LX.

He mentioned that some cars buy modified linkages to improve their turning radiuses. Has anyone done something similar with a 200-series?

 

[rockcruiser915]

Take your buddy out and show him Turn Assist... I don't use it often, but when I do it's pretty cool.

 

[TeCKis300]

I use to follow the drifting scene so I'm familiar with steering knuckle, steering rack, and link mods one can do to gain more steering angle. On rear wheel drive cars.

Problem that I see making these types of mods with a 4WD is the front CVs. Not just at normal ride heights, but at the full extremes of articulation that the 200-series is capable of. At those extremes combined with more steering lock, and it's a recipe for grenadining CVs IMO.

There's also stability and alignment trades with many of these modes. Including durability of the links and knuckles themselves. Making more room to turn big AT tires might also be an issue.

Sorry to not offer much of a solution here, outside of what @rockcruiser915 has suggested with later model years that have Turn Assist.

Personally, I find the 200-series turning radius rather good for such a big car. I forget what wheel and tire package you have on your vehicle @eatSleepWoof , but maintaining optimal scrub radius is important to not give up any turning radius.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Take your buddy out and show him Turn Assist... I don't use it often, but when I do it's pretty cool.

No such feature on my '14 LX, and I was really thinking more of day-to-day use. Not overly practical to engage 4LO + turn assist every time I want to back out of a stall at the mall.

The turning radius is not at all a big deal, but tighter would have been nice. I test drove a '15 ML550 before buying the LX, and that thing turned on a dime, it was pretty amazing.

I use to follow the drifting scene so I'm familiar with steering knuckle, steering rack, and link mods one can do to gain more steering angle. On rear wheel drive cars.

Problem that I see making these types of mods with a 4WD is the front CVs. Not just at normal ride heights, but at the full extremes of articulation that the 200-series is capable of. At those extremes combined with more steering lock, and it's a recipe for grenadining CVs IMO.

There's also stability and alignment trades with many of these modes. Including durability of the links and knuckles themselves. Making more room to turn big AT tires might also be an issue.

Sorry to not offer much of a solution here, outside of what @rockcruiser915 has suggested with later model years that have Turn Assist.

Personally, I find the 200-series turning radius rather good for such a big car. I forget what wheel and tire package you have on your vehicle @eatSleepWoof , but maintaining optimal scrub radius is important to not give up any turning radius.

Thanks for the technical details (as always)! Makes sense, and explains why this hasn't been done yet (as far as my quick Google search could tell).

I'm on stock-size tires, and will probably keep it that way when I get new all terrains this spring.

 

[Madtiger]

I just run over things if i exceed my turn radius..........unless it's a human, then i yell out before proceeding.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

I just run over things if i exceed my turn radius..........unless it's a human, then i yell out before proceeding.

I yelled at a tree while snowboarding once; it called my bluff.

 

[drftsub]

At those extremes combined with more steering lock, and it's a recipe for grenadining CVs IMO.

In one of the suspension iterations my Tacoma had the setup allowed for far too much steering angle.

I broke outer cv cages nearly every time I took it to the rocks until I figured out why.

 

[99Cruiser]

The LX570 has better turning radius than Range Rover Sport and GL550, plus 4 feet shorter than the X7. That seems pretty good.

 

[steenh]

The 200's have a fantastic turning radius for as big as they are, and best of the lot for LC's. I threw the FJC in there as a non-LC comparison

200 38.7
100 39.7
80 40.4
FJC 41.8

 

[RobW0]

The 200's have a fantastic turning radius for as big as they are, and best of the lot for LC's. I threw the FJC in there as a non-LC comparison

200 38.7
100 39.7
80 40.4
FJC 41.8

Just to clarify these are turning circle diameters and not turning radii.

 

[M1911]

Just to clarify these are turning circle diameters and not turning radii.

You can get the turning radius by dividing the diameter by 2.

 

[Whiskerz]

A Honda Odyssey van has a turning circle of 36.75 feet. for comparison. I am not sure how tight you expect.

 

[M1911]

The 200's have a fantastic turning radius for as big as they are, and best of the lot for LC's. I threw the FJC in there as a non-LC comparison

200 38.7
100 39.7
80 40.4
FJC 41.8

Exactly. The 200 has a great turning circle for its size.

 

[RobW0]

You can get the turning radius by dividing the diameter by 2.

Yes I understand that, but the original poster had them listed as turn radii and not circle diameters.

 

[09LX570]

No such feature on my '14 LX, and I was really thinking more of day-to-day use. Not overly practical to engage 4LO + turn assist every time I want to back out of a stall at the mall.

The turning radius is not at all a big deal, but tighter would have been nice. I test drove a '15 ML550 before buying the LX, and that thing turned on a dime, it was pretty amazing.



Thanks for the technical details (as always)! Makes sense, and explains why this hasn't been done yet (as far as my quick Google search could tell).

I'm on stock-size tires, and will probably keep it that way when I get new all terrains this spring.

Is there a turn assist button next to your crawlcontrol?

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Is there a turn assist button next to your crawlcontrol?

You know, I think there is. I'll check the next time I'm in the car.

For some reason I was convinced that the turn assist feature only came out on the 2016+ models. The photo above would suggest I was wrong!

 

[CharlieS]

My 2103 has turn assist.

 

[Markuson]

The 200's have a fantastic turning radius for as big as they are, and best of the lot for LC's. I threw the FJC in there as a non-LC comparison

200 38.7
100 39.7
80 40.4
FJC 41.8

Agree
Turning radius on this truck is surprisingly good.

I hopped in my brother-in-law’s JK on a Breckenridge Trail last year and was blown away by how awful the turn radius was by comparison.

 

[Reckless]

Putting bigger wheels should help, when I went from 18s to 17s AT I noticed cornering changed considerably.

 

[Markuson]

Putting bigger wheels should help, when I went from 18s to 17s AT I noticed cornering changed considerably.

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