Truck ALL OVER the road with lots of new parts!!

[Hawkeye 04]

I'm about at my wits end with this truck. I'm getting ready to jack up my radiator cap and pull a new truck under it!

The symptoms are: If the road is perfectly level and ridge free, it's fine. But if there is any irregularity in the surface or if i get off the side of the road, it's all over the road, ditch, median, or anything else that's around. Even a wind will make it wander like crazy!

Now, before I go any further, let me explain what I've already had done as a process of elimination. These things are all new and have been done in the last 2 months:



Moog Adjustable Ball joints

Wheel Bearings

Thuren Track Bar

Tie Rod Ends

U-Joints

DSS Steering Stabilizer

Bilstein Shocks

Pro Comp Xtreme AT 305/65/17 E Rated

Oh, and it's been aligned twice to perfection!



The only thing I can think that it could be anymore is the steering box or the steering stabilizer shock!



Again, I just really want to get this thing fixed. The last 2 weeks i've put over 2,000 miles on it and it's been a bee-otch keeping this thing on the road. :{



Please post any ideas you guys might have. It's going to the shop next week for a set of Flux injectors and a DD clutch and I'd like to fix everything at one time if possible.

 

[AKaiser]

Did it do this bone stock? How many miles on the new tires? How many miles did it have when you put the new tires on it? I know mine is a bit loose on roads that have grooves worn in them, so this is nothing unusual. Mine is not that bad, though. Have you tried adjusting the steering box? I think there is a bolt or screw that allows you to "tighten up" the steering.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Get under the truck and give the input shaft of the steering gear a slight turn, the output shaft should move slightly. These boxes are set up with preload so there should be no slop at all.

Mine was sloppy from the factory. DC installed a new one and the truck steered like a new honda ~ unbelievable difference.



Scotty

 

[HLewallen]

Just to be thorough, what is "perfection" (in relation to alignment)? Who aligned it, and what are the measurements? I take it you have had someone under the truck witness steering input to look for any wierdness in the system?

 

[Hawkeye 04]

AK- It just started doing it this extremely about 5,000 miles ago. It has 140,000 now and the tires have 6,000 now. I'll need to check into the whole steering box tightening thing.



Prairie-I'll have to check the steering box a little closer. I've gotten under it and had someone else turn the wheel back and forth and couldn't see any play. But that wasn't me turning the shaft.



HL- I was standing there watching him align it to my specs. I'm pretty picky.

 

[cummins_crewcab]

You say you have leveling kit, you sure it's not death wobble?

 

[jelag]

Could you state your caster and camber on each side..... and your toe... .

Than maybe I could suggest something.....

 

[MCummings]

Might also want to check the rear. I have a truck that has 1. 5* bend in one axle, so the rear axle tracks with a toe out angle. Straight and level road, it's a dream, but if the road has a lip on the shoulder,, yippee, it's left and righa few times untill it settles down.





Merrick

 

[Cattletrkr]

Did ya ever get it straightened out?

 

[KevinO]

put a dual steering stabilizer on it. Mine had death wobble a lot and when it wasn't full death wobble it was still shaky till the install.

 

[PRattenbury]

You need to find an alignment shop that knows what they're doing. You get these 'ASE Certified Techs' that might know how to run the machine and set things to spec, in theory, but if you get a good alignment guy (ASE or not) that knows what's what, he'll get you figured out.

 

[TBartlett1]

At this point my guess would be the steering box or shaft from steering box to steering wheel but here are a couple easy checks you can do yourself.

A quick way to check for some alignment problems is to look at and feel the tread on the tires. Are they wearing evenly across the tread? If you move your hand back and forth across the tread does it feel smooth or feathered one way or the other? If feathered the toe-in obviously is off. If the tread feels smooth moving your hand across the tread from the outside of the tire to the inside but feels rough from the inside to outside that would indicate excessive toe-in and vice versa. If you have zero toe-in wandering will be a problem or worse yet toe-out which will cause the vehicle to dart from one side to the other.

If the alignment was aligned to perfection twice at the same place I would suspect that their machine is out of calibration. Or they don't know the difference between toe-in or toe-out!!



Hope this helps

Tim

 

[BigPapa]

Hey Hawkeye!

Take that thing over to Alex Hendry. He's on Straightway right off Gallatin Road across from the Auto Diesel College. It's in a bad part of town and the shop's kind of junky looking but he's the best in the business. They specialize in custom suspension, lifts, lowering, anything you can think of. I took my truck to him this morning for front wheel bearings and a light cut on my front rotors. Tell him Scott from America's sent you.

Scott

EDIT: I just noticed this thread started in 2007. Hope you have it fixed by now. Anyway, my advice still stands.

 

[jon_paulnc]

Hey scott you live near the auto diesel college in naswhville. I wen to school there bout three years ago. just wondering how the place is holding up. And your right that is a bad part of town. . i remember a many nights sitting outside my dorm room throwing a couple back and hearing gunshoots and screams. but only on accations... lol. Take care.