Steering is tight, won't return to center

[PFranzese]

Good afternoon all,

I am noticing that I have to return my steering wheel to center manually lately on my truck and I also feel like the steering is not finding center correctly even when I try to drive straight. For example I go around a turn in the road and when I come out of the turn I need to straighten the truck out, it will keep turning if I let go of the wheel. There is some resistance to going straight and the wheel will fight back until I either turn the other way or hit a bump in the road. Then it finds center again. I replaced the axle shaft U-Joints on both sides 2 months ago with greasable ones. I double checked the u-joints when I started to feel this and added grease to them again to make sure they where good.

Could this be the ball joints binding up(OE ball joints)?

Truck has 70k miles, no heavy abuse just occasional towing of car trailer and mostly highway and side road driving.

Thanks for your opinions.

 

[Bob4x4]

Jack it up remove the front tires and pop both tie rod ends off the knuckles the knuckles should move very freely.

 

[RoosterXP]

You may need a front end alignment. I have heard similar stories about tightening the steering gearbox (on older higher mileage trucks) that have very similar issues to what you are describing. Does the steering pump whine loud or sound funny when turning? Have you checked the power steering fluid level?

 

[PFranzese]

I have checked the power steering fluid and there are no whines from the pump or noises at all from the front end when turning. There is nothing out of the ordinary other than the steering not returning to center and having to fight to keep the wheel centered until I hit a bump and then it magically centers on its own. The only noises I ever heard where from the U-Joints, which were toasted!

Front tires are wearing really well at this point and I am a little afraid to bring the truck to any of the alignment shops around here. Most places around here can't balance a tire and the one that can doesn't have an alignment rack big enough for the truck. I can check the alignment myself to see if its in the ballpark but it sure won't be as accurate as a rack would be.

I will pop the tie rod ends and and see if the ball joints are moving freely and also check for play in all the front end joints and bushing.

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[CSilkowski]

I have been struggling with the same problems for some time now. Several causes have contributed to the problem. The first turned out to be new ball joints that were too tight. After being replaced (free of charge), the problem was resolved. The problem surfaced about six months later and ended up being the steering box. Replacing the box solved the problem. The third and forth time turned out to be alignment related. Our trucks are very sensitive to alignment adjustments. I would start with the alignment as it is the least expensive fix.

 

[PFranzese]

Jack it up remove the front tires and pop both tie rod ends off the knuckles the knuckles should move very freely.

Thanks Bob4x4, your advice showed that I had a bad ball joint on the driver side.

I had ordered new ball joints, track, and a steering box stabilizer during the week and this weekend I changed out and added the new parts. The Passenger side upper ball joint had some side to side play but everything moved freely. When I got the driver side everything changed, the knuckle was so tight I could loosen both ball joint nuts without the knuckle even moving. I had to put a 24" crescent wrench on the knuckle to get it to move and even then it was extremely tight. After I got the joint out the lower was fine and moved freely but the upper looked to be rusting around the pin where it goes into the body. I could not move the pin at all, turn or in and out.

Thanks for the advice, the truck now drives better than new.

 

[rscurtis]

If you used OEM joints, the upper's can be drilled for grease fittings. I did that on my signature truck and with almost 80K on it, it still drives great and I expect the original Michelin's to pass 90K miles before replacement.