Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
I have noticed that a lot of owners have different ideas of what the steering components might be doing wrong, but sometimes putting it in to words just doesn't seem to come out quite right. Hopefully, I can help you out.
Knowledge is not dangerous, it can help save your life and sometimes your wallet.
Here's a few descriptions and possible causes of suspension/driveline issues:
The Death Wobble - cruising along, the day seems just fine til ya hit a certain speed and OMG it feels like you're front wheels are elongated and are trying to go two different directions at once - the steering wheel tends to move from left to right pretty abruptly and you can't decide whether to speed up, slow down or just plain stop and clean out your britches. Speed up, it tends to smooth out a bit, but you still notice the vibrating in the steering wheel. Hoo-boy.
The Wanderer - kicked back, tunes blaring and you notice the least bit of ruts in a highway and your truck wants to drive down it. Straighten the wheel, loosen your grip a wee bit, and your ride wanders to the center stripe or maybe to the right side of the road. If you ignore it, the wandering area will increase and you'll find yourself correcting the steering path more and more. Just like driving an old 70s-80s Ford, constantly moving the wheel to find the sweet spot.
Air Steering - ok, so you noticed a little spot of oil where you park and you figure out it's power steering fluid. Just keep topping it off in the pump and it's good to go, right? Not always ... especially when some moron pulls out in front of you going 20 mph and you're cruising at 60+mph, you stand on the brakes and grit your teeth and pray alot, cause there's no where to go. The ABS kicks in and you got brakes, but your steering suddenly feels like a kiddie ride steering wheel for a brief moment or two - here's your warning sign! Better check out that leak a bit further. If the wiper seal where the pitman arm mounts onto the steering sector box is leaking fluid out, then in turn it sucks in crap too. In easy terms, the power steering pump is pumping in pressurized fluid that is dispersed through the steering sector box through a series of channels and chambers to lube the internal components and to maintain a high pressure that is pushed back into the power steering pump reservoir. This creates a vacuum effect at the wiper seal that can occur when there is little resistance on the pitman shaft. When you move the steering wheel, pressure is increased and fluid will leak out at the place of least resistance along it's directed path. All those teeny particles that get sucked in a little each week will cause some serious scoring on the inner walls of the steering sector box. Loss of fluid pressure (or spastic changes in pressure) can occur causing funky steering and a loss in braking power can occur (from poor hydroboost operation) causing you to accidentally squish the next moron that is driving too slow. :-{}
The Vibrator - you notice the steering wheel has an irritating vibrating and it seems to start at certain speeds and it doesn't stop. Just a constant irritation. Hmm, tires got air, ain't hit nobody or been off road lately ... . I think my hand may go numb if it doesn't stop soon! Did you happen to hit something with a tire? Chunk of old tire in road, big rock, curb, etc. Those new cool wheels tend to bend in the center a wee bit. Physics can do stuff to wheels that some peeps at the tire store just don't understand. Just moving them front to back can locate the guilty wheel if the vibration changes. Check the front and rear hubs - jack her up just enough to take the weight off the tire, secure the truck with a quality jack stand and see how much you can move the tire top-bottom and push-pull. If it seems sturdy, slowly spin the tire and listen for the faint roar of a dry bearing. With a tire, wheel and rotor off, you can truly feel if the hub has excessive play against the axle spline. On the rear hub, you may note the roaring of bad bearings. Then again, you might have to remove the wheel and check for excess play on the axle shaft and check the bearings inside the hubs. Semi-floating and full-floating differentials are not for the faint of heart or newbie solo repair. Get competent help before exploring this expensive endeavor. When a hub wears out completely, you'll hear it humming at highway speeds, unless you've got monster muddin' tires or a stereo loud enough the neighborhood can party too! Oo. (yeah, I'm guilty of good tires and tunes ... ... my sons think I'm deaf!)
After you clean out your britches, time to crawl under the front end and do a bit of dirty investigative work. Check the steering linkage for anything that may be bent, has paint missing from hitting something, bars rubbing against the pumpkin (front differential) or the stabilizer shock may have a bent piston rod or it's just plain worn out. Check bushings, mounts, ball joints, damaged boots and link ends - grab 'em and try to move them side-to-side and rotate them, loose and worn out causes the suspension to "bind" and the laws of physics take over ... I made a Toyota 4 seater sub-compact into an ultimate 2 seater compact attached to the rear bumper of an old Ford LTD land yatch at 30 mph. Thank God, the guy was fine, but his car wasn't much bigger than my truck tool box! I don't put off fixing the brakes anymore.
For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. That fact applies to more than just a good ole bar room brawl. Keep in mind when something starts to act weird on your ride - if the left front is screwy, the right rear is going to misbehave ... .
Knowledge is not dangerous, it can help save your life and sometimes your wallet.
Here's a few descriptions and possible causes of suspension/driveline issues:
The Death Wobble - cruising along, the day seems just fine til ya hit a certain speed and OMG it feels like you're front wheels are elongated and are trying to go two different directions at once - the steering wheel tends to move from left to right pretty abruptly and you can't decide whether to speed up, slow down or just plain stop and clean out your britches. Speed up, it tends to smooth out a bit, but you still notice the vibrating in the steering wheel. Hoo-boy.
The Wanderer - kicked back, tunes blaring and you notice the least bit of ruts in a highway and your truck wants to drive down it. Straighten the wheel, loosen your grip a wee bit, and your ride wanders to the center stripe or maybe to the right side of the road. If you ignore it, the wandering area will increase and you'll find yourself correcting the steering path more and more. Just like driving an old 70s-80s Ford, constantly moving the wheel to find the sweet spot.
Air Steering - ok, so you noticed a little spot of oil where you park and you figure out it's power steering fluid. Just keep topping it off in the pump and it's good to go, right? Not always ... especially when some moron pulls out in front of you going 20 mph and you're cruising at 60+mph, you stand on the brakes and grit your teeth and pray alot, cause there's no where to go. The ABS kicks in and you got brakes, but your steering suddenly feels like a kiddie ride steering wheel for a brief moment or two - here's your warning sign! Better check out that leak a bit further. If the wiper seal where the pitman arm mounts onto the steering sector box is leaking fluid out, then in turn it sucks in crap too. In easy terms, the power steering pump is pumping in pressurized fluid that is dispersed through the steering sector box through a series of channels and chambers to lube the internal components and to maintain a high pressure that is pushed back into the power steering pump reservoir. This creates a vacuum effect at the wiper seal that can occur when there is little resistance on the pitman shaft. When you move the steering wheel, pressure is increased and fluid will leak out at the place of least resistance along it's directed path. All those teeny particles that get sucked in a little each week will cause some serious scoring on the inner walls of the steering sector box. Loss of fluid pressure (or spastic changes in pressure) can occur causing funky steering and a loss in braking power can occur (from poor hydroboost operation) causing you to accidentally squish the next moron that is driving too slow. :-{}
The Vibrator - you notice the steering wheel has an irritating vibrating and it seems to start at certain speeds and it doesn't stop. Just a constant irritation. Hmm, tires got air, ain't hit nobody or been off road lately ... . I think my hand may go numb if it doesn't stop soon! Did you happen to hit something with a tire? Chunk of old tire in road, big rock, curb, etc. Those new cool wheels tend to bend in the center a wee bit. Physics can do stuff to wheels that some peeps at the tire store just don't understand. Just moving them front to back can locate the guilty wheel if the vibration changes. Check the front and rear hubs - jack her up just enough to take the weight off the tire, secure the truck with a quality jack stand and see how much you can move the tire top-bottom and push-pull. If it seems sturdy, slowly spin the tire and listen for the faint roar of a dry bearing. With a tire, wheel and rotor off, you can truly feel if the hub has excessive play against the axle spline. On the rear hub, you may note the roaring of bad bearings. Then again, you might have to remove the wheel and check for excess play on the axle shaft and check the bearings inside the hubs. Semi-floating and full-floating differentials are not for the faint of heart or newbie solo repair. Get competent help before exploring this expensive endeavor. When a hub wears out completely, you'll hear it humming at highway speeds, unless you've got monster muddin' tires or a stereo loud enough the neighborhood can party too! Oo. (yeah, I'm guilty of good tires and tunes ... ... my sons think I'm deaf!)
After you clean out your britches, time to crawl under the front end and do a bit of dirty investigative work. Check the steering linkage for anything that may be bent, has paint missing from hitting something, bars rubbing against the pumpkin (front differential) or the stabilizer shock may have a bent piston rod or it's just plain worn out. Check bushings, mounts, ball joints, damaged boots and link ends - grab 'em and try to move them side-to-side and rotate them, loose and worn out causes the suspension to "bind" and the laws of physics take over ... I made a Toyota 4 seater sub-compact into an ultimate 2 seater compact attached to the rear bumper of an old Ford LTD land yatch at 30 mph. Thank God, the guy was fine, but his car wasn't much bigger than my truck tool box! I don't put off fixing the brakes anymore.
For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. That fact applies to more than just a good ole bar room brawl. Keep in mind when something starts to act weird on your ride - if the left front is screwy, the right rear is going to misbehave ... .
