steering problems

[mitch]

ok, my steering has been messed up for awhile but i was to lazy to fix it. The steering wheel and the truck turns to the right pretty fast when i let go of the steering wheel (this is when im going straight). But when i break the wheel and truck start to go left??? crazy huh. Also my front need to be aligned so i took it in to do that and rotate the tires, they say they cant do an alignement for 32 in. tires but they rotated them and recreased the bearings on both sides (they said they needed it, dont know?) So when i got it back the steering wheel starts to shake when i accelerate and then stops when i get to about 40-45. So when i got home i started to look to see if i could fine what the problem could be. I put my hand on the tie rod connected to the pitman arm and could move it fowards and backwards, and could move the tie rod that was connected to the steering stabilizer the same way, dont know if it is suppose to do that or not. COuld this be why my steering is screwed up. Any help would be nice, thanks.

 

[l1tech]

There shouldn't be any back and forth movement in any of the joints. Sounds like you may need to go to a trusted shop and have them have a closer look at the front end, be warned though, if you have never had any front end work done on this vehicle the bill will probably be quite LARGE. Don't go back to the shop the shop that you just came from...if they can't align a vehicle with 32's then I wouldn't want them touching anything else either.

 

[jjstokes]

The place I deal with if the components are worn they will not do a alignment since you cannot do it correctly and they will show it to me.Sounds like its worn and needs replacement.Most are easy to check yourself and if you got the proper tools can repalce yourself then carry it to get aligned(chiltons manual very handy).As far as the sterring pulling to the right during braking that might be a brake sticking...Also is there any wear pattern on the tires?That can be a good indication on whats worn on the front end and alignment problem.The shaking could be from the worn parts but if it wasn't there prior might be the wheelbearing too loose since they adj them.

 

[mitch]

ya im probably going to take to another place, but as far as i can see there is not any evidence of wear on the tires, so i dont know.

 

[R3dAlert]

i had the same exact problem a few months ago. took it to the shop and they put new wheel bearings in and supposedly re-alligned it. when i got it back it was still acting up, said its because the tires were wearing in the wrong spots, and it should fix itself soon. well 1200 miles later it was still pulling. i rebuilt the rear and front brakes and dialed them in and that fixed the pulling when braking.
right now it still goes right a little bit, but i think its just old bushings or something. i ordered all new steering componets last night and hopefully it will fix it. whatever happens ill post it.

 

[MAXIMIS1]

i am going to say the vibration or back and forth of the steering wheel is from wheel/tire "out of round" weather its from a bent wheel or a separated tire its likely the problem i used to spin donuts, well i hit a rut once while spinning ,it stopped my motion . however i didn't think anything of It till i rotated my tires, having a severe shake of the wheel. i took it off and spun balanced them examining them while it spinning it was very obvious it had bent the shizit of of my wheel.