2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Luke's Link In, Pulls Right. Advice?

[Tulsa618]

I finally got around to installing a Luke's Link on my track bar this morning. I'm confident I got everything right - everything fit well and the adjustment from the poly spring to the cap threads seems fine, right at the 3/16" Luke's recommends. Everything went back together without problems, although my wife had to turn the steering wheel quite a bit to get the pin to line back up to the frame. Torque at both ends was set to spec from the maintenance manual, and I re-greased the link end before I reattached it and afterwards once the pin was torqued in.



Now I have a slight pull to the right and my steering wheel is off center a few degrees to the left. Have I done anything wrong? Could the track bar been so "off" that the near perfect alignment I had before simply compensated for that?



I have less than 65K on the truck and almost all off those miles were paved roadway. I'm putting on new tires in about four weeks and I wanted the track bar to be nice and tight. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[LHartman]

When I replaced mine, the steering wheel was not straight either when I was done. You may just need to have it alligned.



Loren

 

[Tulsa618]

Yup - that's pretty much what I was figured I'd have to do. Dang it!



Thanks Loren!

 

[peteweb]

same with my truck. I got an alignment the next day and it works great.

 

[Sled Puller]

I guess that shows how far outa wack the old bar let the front end wander around.

 

[LHartman]

When I bought my truck, the first thing I did was have it alligned because I assumed that's why it wandered and shook. Little did I know about this "trac bar". I then replaced the trac bar because allignment did nothing. When I did this, the steering wheel was waaaay off. I was slighly annoyed because I had to pay for another allignment. If I had known about this site and did my reading, I could have done the appropriate checks.



Just another good reason to shell out a few greenbacks for this site per year.



Loren

 

[Rogue Ram]

I have the same problem but mine pulls to the left, and the alignment is perfect. Tires have been swapped front to back, side to side, etc. , and still pulls to the left without braking.



I think this link did it... ... ...



????

 

[Rogue Ram]

BTT



Can this track bar with the link on it "push" your rig one way or another? Anyone?

 

[Sled Puller]

It only makes the ball and socket joint on the end extremely tight, it doesn't change the geometry of the bar, or the attache points.



My uneductaed opinion is no, it can't move it one way or the other, exceptt take up initial slop, which is what yo uwant and should be corrected with a line up.

 

[Steve Campbell]

Did you change anything else.....

while under the front of the truck? Did you take the truck in because it pulled left (as in they compensated the settings for that and now that you fixed the "problem" it pulls right) or just poor steering/handling in general? If one brake caliper (right) is sticking on, it can really cause a pull. Someone on this site had the "perfect alignment specks about 2 years ago. As far as the steering wheel being off, that is an easy adjustment on the drag link.

 

[Rogue Ram]

What happened was "truck day" exactly a year ago: Bilsteins all around, new front pads-cleaned and lubed the calipers, Heckathorn steering stabilizer, and Luke's Link. Did it all ourselves.



Have had it into Les Schwabs (don't think Les has made it to Pennsylvania yet, Sled--big discount tire dealer here in the NW) 2 or 3 times for alignment, each time the guy refuses to charge me $$ and says its right on. I have had them move tires all around the truck, no change.



Truck does not pull worse when braking, that's why in my mind I am thinking its not the brakes. Just did the rears 2 weeks ago and they are working fine.



Could this Heckathorn steering stabilizer do it? I just can't see it, but I am stumped. The tires are down to about 30% tread (thanks Les, for crap that lasted 25,000 miles) and unfortunately I prob should move on to new tires. I think I'll try the advice from some achives and find a line up shop that does big rigs for big accounts, and that ain't Les Schwab.



RR

 

[LHartman]

Rogue, I had the same problem with mine. In fact, I fixed it today. I had mine in and out of Schwabs and they said my allignment was right on. The truck still pulled to the left. My steering box was shot. Took me about 2 hours to swap out. My truck has never driven nicer and the slop is gone finally after two years.



Loren

 

[Rogue Ram]

Well, I got to the bottom of my problem. TIRES. I had a first class body/frame/alignment shop go over the whole thing. No way does the Luke's Link or a trac bar or a steering stabilizer do this. My alignment was in fact right on. Tires had been rotated etc. , but now I am questioning if the tire monkeys might not have screwed things up somehow. The alignment shop got the tires moved around and no pull. The tires are junk that Les Schwab sold me (All Terrain SXTs) with a 40,000 mile treadwear guarantee, and they haven't lasted hardly 21,000 miles. The wear patterns appear to be uneven but you have to take a really close look to see it.



Schwab is saying they will prorate the tires and get me into something else, but now I am wondering if their stuff is worth the bother.



RR

 

[wlowe]

I had the same problem on a Ford Ranger with firestones. I had Les Schwab do a brake job and the truck had a slight pull to the right. I took it back in and they said that they couldn't find anything wrong. To make a long story short they had rotated the tires while doing the brake job, when they rotated them back to original it drove fine. I believe the main problem was that the tires had never been rotated in 70,000 miles so the tread was uneven, causing the pull after being rotated. It probably would have eventualy fixed itself when the tread wore down even.

 

[Sled Puller]

Originally posted by Rogue Ram





Have had it into Les Schwabs (don't think Les has made it to Pennsylvania yet, Sled--big discount tire dealer here in the NW) .



RR

I know!LOL

Had a rental car get a flat on the Oregon coast, Florence, I believe, Les fixed me up.

 

[edmeyers]

i installed my Lukes link this weekend and when i put it all back together i thought it looked a little close to the front diff. cover but i thought if it was a problem others would have reported it by now well sure enough it hits the diff cover under compression and i'm not talking about off road just street driving any one got any suggestions

 

[Sled Puller]

New springs, that is way to low.

 

[edmeyers]

yeah i figured i also called lukes link and they said to grind a little of the corner off to prevent it from touching the cover but a 2" leveling kit would be nice

 

[Driftwood Ram]

Lukes Link

We put one each on a '95 and '96 and had the same problem, street driving only. In my opinion this "grind a little off" is B. S. I could see it if the front diff. cover was other than stock, but this is not the case. If you sell something for a specific application it should work for that application without any "GRINDING"

 

[edmeyers]

i agree with you TRACY MURPHY that to grind a little off is BS but the link along with the DSS bar made my truck track better than my wife's 01. 5 and that made me happy i have always supected my truck sagged a little in the front with 291k of that cummins beating the coils so i'm gonig to save some $$$ and buy the 2 inch longer coils i thing i read where they are around 150 but i hope i can get a 4wheel shop to trade out my rancho 9000 stock lenght for some that are 2 inches longer for around $50 that would bring the project to around $200 if i do the labor. the other option i thought about is to take a 1/2" extension and hammer and persude the front diff cover to move out of the way just enough to clear the link.