Here is a picture showing the difference between the new device from Warn and the original Toyota device. The difference is remarkable.
The steering stabilizer is a shock absorber that will take up the small lateral movements
from the wheels and steering components.
The bigger tires one uses, the more need for it.
When used in rough terrain, it is allways a good idea to have such a unit,
since the wheels will be pushed in all directions by rocks and other obstacles.
The Toyota 4Runner is equipped with such a device from factory.
But it is a small and tiny one.
After 60,000 km's it doesn't do it's job any more.
So, I decided to change it.
I chose the
Black Diamond AT
stabilizer from
Warn.
The unit is a 'bolt-on' part. It fits in the original mountings. You should be aware of one small detail, though. The original shock is mounted in the steering rod with a conical pin, that fits in a conical hole. The new mounting hardware will mount a cylindrical bolt into the conical hole. Since it is well tightened in place, it shouldn't start moving around in the hole. But this is still to be seen, after some thousands of kilometers...
It took me about one hour to do the change. You will need a good extractor to remove the old stabilizer. The conical pin does take quite a lot of force to get loosened.
I had not expected such a big difference while driving. Already with the original wheels, the truck is a lot more calm and stable. And it's even more obvious, using the bigger tires of 33". It was definitely worthwhile the money and the effort.
