Swaying on the highway!

[MistahYebba]

Recently replaced my PS Gearbox because there was play in the gearbox and also it was leaking from the gearbox and I was tired of refilling my PS fluid. 2 questions resulted from this...

1. After replacing, the steering wheel is slightly ****ed to the left now. How is this possible? There is only like... 1 way to put the gear 'stem' that comes out of the Gearbox into the steering shaft because there is a flat top???

And there are only 4 possible ways to put the pitman arm onto the PS Gearbox and only 1 way is correct... because of knotches... so why is it crooked?

2. I replaced it hoping it would help with a sway when driving... and since the steering is a little more firm now, it does help... but today it was kind of windy here in Florida... and a firm gust of wind made me literally go from driving in the middle lane to halfway in the left lane in a split second! My heart dropped and I re-centered myself very quickly.

What could cause a sway like this from just some simple wind??? Very scary and dangerous.

I just want to point out that when I did the gearbox I noticed that on the driver's side, you know how there are sort of 2 sides to sway bar bushings? One whole side of the rubber of the sway bar bushings was hanging on by a thread so I just tore it off.

Are sway bar bushings important? What's the point of a sway bar?

 

[RangerX]

So you're swaying on the highway, your swaybar is missing parts, and you don't know why you're swaying or what the swaybar is for?? That might have something to do with it!
Also, are you lifted with bigger tires, or stock height? How's your alignment?

 

[MistahYebba]

So you're swaying on the highway, your swaybar is missing parts, and you don't know why you're swaying or what the swaybar is for?? That might have something to do with it!
Also, are you lifted with bigger tires, or stock height? How's your alignment?

Yeah, should probably research swaybar, huh? Any insight on that?

Stock height and tires. New tires as of a few months, in good shape.

The wind seems to just really affect the truck, so much as to swoop it over to another lane.

Alignment is good, got one just 2 months ago. It was already spot on before the alignment.

However, it got aligned BEFORE I replaced my bad gearbox. Might that change anything?

Also, might adjusting my new/rebuilt gearbox to tighten it up reduce the amount of "wind sensitivity"?

 

[BKennedy]

Uh, yeah..anti-sway bars have a lot to do with sway. Replace the anti-sway bar bushings and see if it gets better. Might also have worn out ball joints, steering tie rod ends, shocks, coil springs, etc..

Every steering gear box I have replaced required adjusting the steering wheel. You do that by moving the adjusters in the tie rod in if the wheel is tilted towards the left, and out if its towards the right.

 

[natenkiki2004]

It's your swaybar... entirely. The point of a swaybar is to encourage both left and right suspension to move at the same rate. Without it, each side is even more independant. Stiffening up the swaybar makes for a vehicle that corners better, it mitigates body roll.

Look under your vehicle and think about what's going on. When the driver's side suspension goes up, it puts pressure on the bar which twists and encourages the passenger side to go up. When the passenger side doesn't want to go up, it pushes down on the driver side. You can think of it like a shock/spring but it doesn't really work that way. It's a just a way for the shocks & springs to be balanced on both sides.

The only time you don't want a swaybar is when you offroad a lot and need unhindered suspension travel. Driving without a swaybar on the highway is borderline dangerous.

 

[RangerX]

So did you have the sway problem before you changed out the gearbox? Or did it start when you had the new box in?
Take a good long look at the other bushings on your swaybar. If one is deteriorating, odds are the others are too. There's six, two at the frame mounts, and two each on the two dog bone links.

 

[kristinandq]

Mine was scary without the sway bar. After i spend 400 on shocks a lot of my friends said that would fix it. Stupid me believed them. Put my spare sway bar on and also proper air pressure. 90 percent of the sway went away. The rest i am just going to say in my case is my lift.

 

[FR-425]

Drink less before heading out on the highway! Okay I'm gonna get banned for this comment. So let me apologize right now.

This is a disclaimer for making a joke that might not be received well.

 

[hlg99]

Might want to consider looking at the bushings on the radius arms too when you work on the sway bar bushings.

 

[toypaseo]

When I was missing a front swaybar endlink, it was like driving a ship. Back and forth. Hitting a dip in the road was up, down, back and forth. Even switching lanes was scary.

 

[MistahYebba]

Hi everyone!

So I got the new swaybar and end link bushings..

I took off one of my endlinks (dogbone style) but could definitely NOT remove the old bushings.

I was trying to using a flathead screwdriver and a hammer to do it.... very very hard

Sort of a waste of time

I put the endlink back on (now the bushing is in even worse shape!!) and now I am here!


How the heck should I go about this?


Also, I got some white grease... is that okay? I hear I should cover the bushings in grease liberally but the people at the auto parts store said that's weird.

 

[swshawaii]

How-To Burn out Suspension Bushings: The Right Way - Suspension.com

 

[MistahYebba]

How-To Burn out Suspension Bushings: The Right Way - Suspension.com

Thanks for sharing that! Time to get some butane.

 

[FR-425]

You can also soak them with brake fluid. It will make the rubber turn to mush.

 

[MistahYebba]

You can also soak them with brake fluid. It will make the rubber turn to mush.

How long would I have to soak to make it turn to mush?

Also, wouldn't that strip all the black off the end links?

 

[toypaseo]

Did you buy endlinks like these for example? Just remove the old ones and put these on. They are the ones I used.

 

[FR-425]

How long would I have to soak to make it turn to mush?

Also, wouldn't that strip all the black off the end links?

Yes it will strip the paint. 24 hour soak will do for old rubber.