Weird steering glitch finally solved!

So my son's 98 4runner was doing something really weird; driving down the road the steering wheel would just reposition about 15 degrees but the car would still be tracking straight. I tried lots of fixes, ball joins upper and lower, steering rack bushings, ties rod ends, etc. Still there.

The lower control arm inner bushings seemed fine. BUT, I finally pulled them anyway and what I found was the passenger side bushings were in fact worn on the inner diameter where the adjusters reside. What was happening was the whole control arm would shift position under load, acceleration or braking, effectively altering the caster and camber. In any case if you have similar troubles check the inner bushing with a large pry bar and the suspension unloaded. They need to be REALLY tight.

 

Interesting. Good idea to check that.