Steering Pulls

[SCOTT L]

I was wonder if any of you guys have had this problem before. It seems that my steering is pulling to the right, do to alignment problems, very litte and when I correct for it the steering jumps and pull to the left, very hard & quick. Then when I correct for the pull to the left it jumps to the right, very quick. It will pull to the left harder and quicker then the right. I just put on new manual hubs and tires. I also check the wheel bearing and repack with grease, everything looked ok. I had the steering problem with the old tires. I tough this would fix it – not. (I needed new tires any way) Does this sound like a tie rod replace, ball joint… Could someone please help.

1994 "X"

 

[kert0307]

Why don't you take it in for an alignment?

 

[DeRocha]

Wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rods, steering gear, and tires are the components that cause alignment/steering issues. To Check for ball joint wear raise the front tire off the ground and grab the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock, Try and move the tire in and out; the tire should have no movement. Any movement beyond 1/8" (indicates ball joint wear) and IMO you should have them replaced. A worn steering gear can feel like all the above. It can give you a feeling of vague steering; You turn the wheel 4" to the left, but the car doesn't respond right away, or when it does it over corrects causing a driver to constantly give steering corrections to keep the car going straight.

 

[SCOTT L]

I did some investigating this weekend and know I’m more confused then ever. When the truck was park & running I turned the wheel back & forth. It was hard to turn the wheel to the right and when I turn to left felt it felt normal. When I turned the wheel to the right you could see the tire flip flop & the u-joint would try to spin. When the tire flip flopped that’s when I could feel my steering problems. So I put it in 4 wheel drove it up and down a gravel driveway turning back and forth. While driving in 4 wheel drive the steering felt normal but the drive side hub was making a clicking or cluck nose will driving. Then put it back in 2-wheel drive and the hubs know just make a clicking nose. The steering is better but not correct yet. I jack up the drive hid and the wheel does have a little play, I don’t think enough to worry about. When I rotated the wheel by hand and I could still hear the clicking sound. I did add manual hubs 6 months ago & got new tires last week. Could the more aggress tires be bring out all these hidden problems? I install the huds per instruction, but I guess that does not mean anything. So could I have a bed u-joint? Should the u-joint spin when you turn the wheel? Or could it be a ball joint? I’m not sure what’s making the clicking nose, the hub or something else. I’m open to any suggestion!

 

[DeRocha]

Ball joints only allow the wheel to pivot left/right during turns and maybe slightly with a camber load but thats it.. The U-joint and stub axles will rotate if the HUB is locked or being powered by the drive shaft (4x4 engaged). How old are you U-joints and when were they changed last? Ball-joints typically last 100K miles and will last less if you do alot of off-roading.. At 120K mile I replaced all 8 u-joints. The U-joints in the stub axle (steering knuckle) were toast. the bearings inside were rusted and had zero grease left. As such they were really hard to move and when they did they made a click/grind noise. Even when not in 4x4 the U-joints at the wheels still articulate with steering changes... as such these joints tend to wear out faster than the others..

IMO if you need to replace your U-joints then you should plan on also replacing all 4 ball joints, as well.. This is because in order to replace the u-joints you will need to remove 90% of the front end components. (caliper, hub, wheel bearing axle nut, wheel bearings, rotor, ABS protector, Spindle) At this point you'd remove the stub axle shaft and replace the u-joints.. You'd only need to remove the Steering knuckle by removing the lower ball joint castle nut, upper ball joint pinch bolt and use a pickle fork to separate the lower ball joint from the beam.

If you only replace the U-joints you will need to remove all the above again to replace ball-joints.. As such it is more cost effective in terms of money and time to tackle these at the same time..