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Wandering but steering wheel is straight?


bbbc3

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First off.. I just completed my dana 35/44 swap on my 85 Ranger. New lift springs, drop bracket and larger tires at the same time.

Now when I'm driving, I can hold the steering wheel straight and it will drive straight and then suddenly it will start tracking to the right and then to the left. As if I'm drunk driving. But the steering wheel is straight. It’s not extreme and its drivable but aggravating to have to keep steering it back to the center of the road.

What could be causing this?

Thanks!
 


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Almost sounds like something is loose.

I'd start by double checking all your joints.
 

bobbywalter

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have you ever driven a lifted truck with big tires before?





sounds like your driving a ford thats lifted with big tires.


you will have that...:D


































First off.. I just completed my dana 35/44 swap on my 85 Ranger. New lift springs, drop bracket and larger tires at the same time.
who aligned it for you?

ties? what style.


alignment? specs?

camber?


spring rate? spring type?

if the casters wrong it will do all sorts of weird shit.

toe...depending on beam position, at cruise causes issues....spring rate and actual beam position for steering axis can be tricky. sometimes with ttb toe out or neutral can be better. lot of factors to that.

i prefer the axle over center and this requires a more neutral toe with heavy caster.

toe out can cause it to flip flop like your indicating. too much toe in can cause hardjacking...

bias tires or wide tires with a few psi differential in inflation cause it as well.

wheel offset can play a factor....


i could go on and for a spell, but really i would need to dive it and jack it up and cycle it and stuff.










now...when you say d35/44, what do you mean?

you have fullsizebeams?

you have dana 44 spindles on a dana 35 knuckle with custom caliper brackets?


you have dana 35 beam with dana 44 knuckles?



if you did d44 knuckles on d35 beams you can get bind depending on combination.. if you miffed any of the balljoints on any axle for that matter you can get some bind. jack it up and pop the tierod off and turn the wheel and see if it binds up.
 

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You herd Ford Trucks, you don't drive them, has always been that way.

I agree with bobby, by lifting and using larger tires you have just made the "herding" required a bit more noticeable.

Hope it IS something loose, but it may just be Ford's truck steering setup
 

bbbc3

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Thanks for all of the input guys!!
I recently noticed two things.
1) there was a lot of play in the steering. Adjusting the steering box screw took care of that.
2) when I cycle the suspension by pushing up and down on the front bumper the driver side wheel moves “steers” left and right. This explains why it jerks when going over a speed bump too fast. The passenger side wheel does not do this.

How do I fix number 2?

*Edit - I just went through my parts list and it looks like the drop pitman arm I order through James duff was only for lifts up to 4”. I think I ended up with 5-6 inches of lift. I wonder if this is causing number 2?
 
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alwaysFlOoReD

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*Edit - I just went through my parts list and it looks like the drop pitman arm I order through James duff was only for lifts up to 4”. I think I ended up with 5-6 inches of lift. I wonder if this is causing number 2?
Very likely. There is a very good write up on the ttb suspension and lifts by 4x4junkie. Read that and then check things out again.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/announcement.php?f=47
 

bbbc3

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bobbywalter

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bbbc3

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Sorry, I wanted to run the truck for a while to see how the steering ended up.
The SJ FA600 took care of the wheel movement when the suspension cycled.
I’m still haveing issues with the steering wandering around. I’m looking for ways to fix thy still.
 

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lol'ing at the comments here about "herding" trucks...

My BII on 35s drives quite nicely, there is no wandering or steering looseness in it at all. Of course it doesn't handle high-speed curves or sudden jerky movements very well, but it is predictable and stays going straight when you let go the wheel.

Sounds like you've already sorted out some issues you had with the linkage geometry... My guess is most likely the steering gear box itself if everything else (linkages, rag joints, etc.) all check out good. Adjusting the meshload screw on the top can help a lot, but it's also possible for the recirculating ball mechanism to a bit of play too (which seems to be the issue on my Ranger, it has a slight bit of the wander mentioned here even after I've tightened the mesh, though it's not so bad that I've considered a new steering gear for it yet).
 

bbbc3

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I’ve been adjusting the screw on the gear box tonight and it doesn’t seem to be making a difference. I’m wondering if my steering box is bad? I’m not sure how to Determine if it’s bad?
 

alwaysFlOoReD

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The steering box could be bad. Be careful to not overtighten, there should be no effort going lock to lock, with the wheels in the air. It might be better to test lock to lock with the wheels off.
 

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I’ve been adjusting the screw on the gear box tonight and it doesn’t seem to be making a difference. I’m wondering if my steering box is bad? I’m not sure how to Determine if it’s bad?
The correct way to do this properly is to disconnect the steering linkage from the pitman arm.
Cycle the steering wheel across center while tightening the screw. You should eventually feel a bind occur right at dead-center. Back the screw out just enough until there's no bind, tighten the jam nut, recheck for no bind, then reattach the linkage.

If there's still play afterward, then the box is shot (likely the ball mechanism I mentioned earlier is worn).
 

bbbc3

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After driving the truck a short distance I could tell there the adjustment made a difference. A little too much. I back off the on the adjuster.

I now have my wondering situation under control. I had to eyeball the alignment of the front wheels by looking from the rear wheel. I did this before but every time I pulled it out of my garage I would double check the front and it must be an optical illusion because it didn't look straight, so I'd always adjust the toe in. It must have been too much and caused the truck to fight from side to side causing it to wander. :dunno:
I also set the passenger side caster towards the back of the truck to help with the pull to the right. The truck drives much better now! I can steer with two fingers again.
 

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Here's a good tutorial on DIY alignments I wrote some time back (scroll about halfway down for alignment procedure). No need to eyeball anything from the rear (which may not work all that well anyway if there's a width difference between the front & rear axles, something quite common on RBVs).

http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2008/steering_tech.htm
 

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