wandering problem

Harley · Mar 27, 2014

still having trouble with play in the steering and wandering....looks like i have some movement at the steering box where the pitman arm bolts on....any ideas??? is my steering box shot??

tsi617 · Mar 27, 2014

I had a lot of movement and thought it was the box. Ended up that the rag joint nuts had backed off and the slack was the shafts not being fully mounted together.

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Harley · Mar 27, 2014

tsi617 said:
I had a lot of movement and thought it was the box. Ended up that the rag joint nuts had backed off and the slack was the shafts not being fully mounted together.

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i checked the shaft from the wheel to the steering box and there was no slop at all, wish there was...i can see the pinion arm and bolt moving when someone turns the wheel....

ab_slack · Mar 27, 2014

Long ago I had slop in my steering where if I was turning one way I would have to go thru a dead zone to turn the other. Going strait was a real pain because if I were holding the wheel I would have to turn it about 20 degrees from correcting right to correcting left (rotating the wheel 4 or 5 inches). I didn't do the work on that but I was told it was where the arm out of the steering box connects to the side to side bars that control the wheels. Drawing a blank on the name.

More recently I had some wandering when I went over some uneven pavement. Was most noticeable to me as I moved onto the dirt shoulder to park in front of my house. That turned out to be a tie-rod end that was in bad shape. It eventually let go while driving. Fortunately it didn't disconnect completely and while the wheel on that side would wiggle if I pulled on it, if I kept it under 15mph it tracked well enough and I was able to drive the last 3 miles home. I hadn't noticed any play before it broke, just the odd tracking.

Harley · Mar 27, 2014

ab_slack said:
Long ago I had slop in my steering where if I was turning one way I would have to go thru a dead zone to turn the other. Going strait was a real pain because if I were holding the wheel I would have to turn it about 20 degrees from correcting right to correcting left (rotating the wheel 4 or 5 inches). I didn't do the work on that but I was told it was where the arm out of the steering box connects to the side to side bars that control the wheels. Drawing a blank on the name.

More recently I had some wandering when I went over some uneven pavement. Was most noticeable to me as I moved onto the dirt shoulder to park in front of my house. That turned out to be a tie-rod end that was in bad shape. It eventually let go while driving. Fortunately it didn't disconnect completely and while the wheel on that side would wiggle if I pulled on it, if I kept it under 15mph it tracked well enough and I was able to drive the last 3 miles home. I hadn't noticed any play before it broke, just the odd tracking.

looks like i better get a real good look at those steering arms...thanks!

ab_slack · Mar 27, 2014

I can see something that seems tight when wiggled by hand but under turning forces moves.

I would expect that if you can get someone to turn the wheel one way then the other while you watching underneath, if something is a bit sloppy you should be able see one side of a coupling move with the movement of the other side delayed until the one side moves enough to take up the slack.

alwaysFlOoReD · Mar 28, 2014

^^^ this is what you need to do. Get someone turning the steering wheel back and forth fairly slowly and look up from underneath at all the joints. The tie-rods, And where the pitman arm connects to the draglink, and also from the pitman arm thru the box to the steering shaft. Like suggested, checking the rag joint is also a good idea at the same time.
You should also check the balljoints; lift the wheel off the ground, grab push in at 12:00 and push out 6:00 and try to push back and forth. There should be no movement. The bearings being loose would also show up at this time if you try moving the tires at 3:00 and 9:00.
Good luck,

Richard

Harley · Mar 28, 2014

thanks guys...ill get out there and look as soon as it stops pouring...

wildbill23c · Mar 28, 2014

Hmm, I have this same problem just recently, I had an alignment done a couple months ago, and its been fine up until last weekend and a drive out of town, on the way home it felt like the lug nuts on one of the front wheels was lose, I slowed way down and drove the last 1/2 mile to the house, checked the lug nuts and everything is fine. Its only on certain roads that it does this so I'm guessing mine is at least road surface related. Just weird that it did it suddenly never noticed it before and I drive that road every day, then yesterday, it didn't do it LOL. Maybe I need to take it back in and have the thing checked over again where the alignment shop did the alignment.

Harley · Mar 29, 2014

checked it out again today and i see a lot of slop in the center link and possibly the steering box...will replace the center link tomorrow and i'll see how much slop is left... thanks for the help guys..im frustrated with the steering on this rig, everything else works great except for that. it wanders worse everyday it seems, something must be failing fast and i still cant seem to say what it is for sure...

Harley · Mar 30, 2014

replaced the center link today and the steering is still crap...scary to drive...the pitman arm moves on the steering box! when i first did the lift, i didnt get the pitman arm tight enough and it loosened up. i didnt figure out it was loose for a few days but didnt drive it much....do you guys think i could have wallered out the drop pitman arm??? hope not,but im starting to think i did....wondering if i ruined the streering box shaft too??? any input??

Andy D · Mar 30, 2014

I would start with the pitman arm

Harley · Mar 31, 2014

ordered the fa600, radius arm and axle pivot bushings...hope thats all i need to get this thing under control

Harley · Apr 6, 2014

Put in new axle pivot and radius arm bushings, still wanders all over!! Lot of work for nothing...lol...pitman arm coming in tomorrow, hope that does the trick

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ab_slack · Apr 7, 2014

Let us know how it works out with the Pitman arm.

I looked things up and the first problem that I had was the drag link connection to the pitman arm. The drag link ball stud was going bad very similar to the ball stud I experience on the tie rod end in the more recent.

wildbill23c said:
Hmm, I have this same problem just recently, I had an alignment done a couple months ago, and its been fine up until last weekend and a drive out of town, on the way home it felt like the lug nuts on one of the front wheels was lose, I slowed way down and drove the last 1/2 mile to the house, checked the lug nuts and everything is fine. Its only on certain roads that it does this so I'm guessing mine is at least road surface related. Just weird that it did it suddenly never noticed it before and I drive that road every day, then yesterday, it didn't do it LOL.

I had put new tires on and had mine aligned before the tie rod end failed. I had specifically said I had experienced some oddities and asked them to check things out. They came back saying all was fine. Evidently not. I was careful to put the new tie rod ends on in the same position and it drover well so didn't get it re-aligned. There is very slight drift to the right when I let go the wheel and in the time since the tires have worn a bit more on the inside than the outside but my other two BIIs did the same.

Does sound like something odd there. Maybe something got in the wheel temporary throwing off the balance? Hope it isn't a sign something is going.

wandering problem

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