At this point I'm going to take it out and test on dirt roads, jack it up and turn wheels, generally check everything. Will repost when I have something else to work with...

Check your pitman /idler arm....jack the front of the truck off the ground, just enough to get the wheels free. Then, phyically try to move the wheel ( not the steering wheel ) left and right. If the right moves and the left doesn't....rebuild or replace the idler. This is a common problem with IFS. <img src="http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/grinser/grinser045.gif" alt=" - " />

We have some snow coming this weekend, will check again then. In the meantime have to finish my SR5 gauge swap, headlight upgrade, int wiper upgrade, and get the rusty bolts out of my licence plate and rear wiper. Too many irons in the fire to start this prob just now, but will continue to post as I check stuff. Thanks for the help guys.

Just got the truck back (again) from another troubleshooting of the oil leaking outta this reman engine. They had to pull the engine to reach the problem and the mech said he found the 4wheel shifter had been put on backwards when he separated it from the tranny. It did shift very easily unlike when I first bought it, and after he put the engine in the first time; so am gonna check it for steering hop next chance and see if it's gone... Hope so.

Since it only occurs in 4x, I wouldn't think it would be steering linkage related. Sounds to me like a cv joint problem (maybe), or (probably) a higher ratio in the front (lower numerical number) than the rear. I'd check the gear ratios first. Sounds to me that the front tires are turning faster than the rear tires. Hope this helps. Ben

Not sure how to check the gear ratios... 1:4.1 for the stock 22re right?
I still think it's something between the two fronts or affecting only one front wheel, not sure it has anything to do with the back as it seems the fronts are bickering between themselves.
If the ratios are off then the back would be doing the same or the steering would just pop momentarily and return to center instead of having to hold it left or right. Have been too busy to check and not ready to pay for the repair anyway.
So how do I check gear ratio? I may check all the previously submitted stuff this weekend too..

Update: Took it out in the rain to provide some slip, and just going straight forward it still pops left to right. Shifter fix did not take care of this. Arranging to have it jacked up and start yanking at the wheels as described above, but still need to know how to identify my diff ratios, hopefully with no wrenching.

I am still not convinced it is a steering component as the problem would be there in 2hi, operative theory is axle/hub/4wd linkage or something to do with the drivetrain in the front axle.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by dajabr:
<strong>Update: Took it out in the rain to provide some slip, and just going straight forward it still pops left to right. Shifter fix did not take care of this. Arranging to have it jacked up and start yanking at the wheels as described above, but still need to know how to identify my diff ratios, hopefully with no wrenching.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">With open diffs, mark one tire and the driveshaft, hold one tire from turning and rotate the other one through two full rotations, counting the driveshaft rotations. That count is your gear ratio. For a more accurate count, do 20 wheel rotations and divided the driveshaft turns by 10 for the ratio.

Finally got to this, some guys I did a website for checked it out, found maybe 2-3 inches play between the front wheels at turning. Lotsa noise in the diff and the transfer case. Also found the diff had been opened before by presence of red silicone.
Scheduled a full day wednesday to open both up and take a look, then will have the verdict on this issue. In the meantime for others with the same symptoms, it's either heavy wear in front diff or t-case, possibly/probably caused by not changing fluid.

It's not the front diff, not the transfer case, not the hubs. All in great shape, gears almost new and appear to be working fine. Will be getting a toyota cert mech to offer a theory.