Steering pulling hard right after body lift?

So I put a 3in body lift kit on my 94 almost 2 years ago and have been dealing with this problem ever since.

To be clear, i am NOT talking about the normal stiff steering encountered after a lift. I mean If I let go of the wheel it will pull pretty hard to the right ( I will be on the curb within seconds if I let go). I took it to my guy who does off-road alignments and he was unable to correct the problem with an alignment. He suggested that the adapter for the steering column might be the issue (it doesn't fit as snugly as I'd like).i tried fiddling with it but I eventually just gave up on it.

Now 2 years later I finally decide to take it into my local off road shop and have them take a look at it. $120 later they tell me they fixed it, but not only is the problem not fixed, now my steering is back to that original "fresh body lift" stiffness. I'm about to pull my hair out

Does anyone have any suggestions? I havent been able to find anything helpful after various Google searches.

Did they put a new rag joint in it?

Mine was stiff until I got the rag joint exercised for its new travel.

Have you tried swapping your body lift side to side to see if it makes it go the other way?


No, seriously, is it possible that while you had the steering unhooked that you got things off center? I had a very similar issue after replacing the front axle in my truck. I did the axle over the weekend, pulled the truck out of the garage, turned it around, went right back in and pulled the dash out to fix something else.

Anyway, after all that it was doing exactly what you described. Stiff steering and pulled hard. Well I got the steering off center, and so when the wheels were pointed straight the steering gear was already turned one full turn, so the power valve was open, and it was applying force.

To check your centering turn the wheels all the way to one lock, count the number of full turns to the other lock (should be 4) and then count the number of turns back to wheels straight.

adsm08 said:

Have you tried swapping your body lift side to side to see if it makes it go the other way?

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by that do you mean swapping the kit blocks from driver to passenger side? The blocks are all the same sizen, so I guess I'm not sure how that would change anything.

However your comment reminded me that I'd swapped out a damaged body mount under the driver side door when I did the body lift install, but I never swapped the others since they were all in good shape and that one was a total PITA. Any reason that could throw off the steering?

Also I checked the steering rotations just now and it lined up after 2 rotations like you said it should.




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85_Ranger4x4 said:

Did they put a new rag joint in it?

Mine was stiff until I got the rag joint exercised for its new travel.

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No they didn't put anything new in.

And the stiffness isn't what I'm worried about. That went away after a couple weeks the first time. The problem is that the truck will swerve to the right if I let go of the wheel, and an alignment has not fixed the issue.

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SOAD4.0 said:

by that do you mean swapping the kit blocks from driver to passenger side? The blocks are all the same sizen, so I guess I'm not sure how that would change anything.

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It shouldn't, you missed the joke. If you rotate tires or put new ones on and the vehicle immediately starts pulling to one side you swap the front tires side to side to see if a bad tire is causing the pull.

However your comment reminded me that I'd swapped out a damaged body mount under the driver side door when I did the body lift install, but I never swapped the others since they were all in good shape and that one was a total PITA. Any reason that could throw off the steering?

Also I checked the steering rotations just now and it lined up after 2 rotations like you said it should.




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I can't see a mount bracket causing this. I have seen a broken one that let the cab sit off-kilter cause the steering wheel to be off center, but I can't see replacing a single bracket causing a hard pull.

Honestly, since your steering seems to be centered correctly I can't even see installing the body lift being the direct cause. More likely something happened during that job, or something failed right away by coincidence.

Are all of your steering links good and straight? A good alignment tech would have checked all that before starting, but for every good one there are probably two bad ones.

Also, do you have a print out from your last alignment? I am mostly interested in the camber/caster numbers.

Bearings? Dragging brake?

adsm08 said:

It shouldn't, you missed the joke. If you rotate tires or put new ones on and the vehicle immediately starts pulling to one side you swap the front tires side to side to see if a bad tire is causing the pull.



I can't see a mount bracket causing this. I have seen a broken one that let the cab sit off-kilter cause the steering wheel to be off center, but I can't see replacing a single bracket causing a hard pull.

Honestly, since your steering seems to be centered correctly I can't even see installing the body lift being the direct cause. More likely something happened during that job, or something failed right away by coincidence.

Are all of your steering links good and straight? A good alignment tech would have checked all that before starting, but for every good one there are probably two bad ones.

Also, do you have a print out from your last alignment? I am mostly interested in the camber/caster numbers.

Click to expand...

adsm08 said:

It shouldn't, you missed the joke. If you rotate tires or put new ones on and the vehicle immediately starts pulling to one side you swap the front tires side to side to see if a bad tire is causing the pull.

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Yeah that went right over my head haha.

adsm08 said:

Also, do you have a print out from your last alignment? I am mostly interested in the camber/caster numbers.

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Unfortunately I don't. He never ended up charging me for the alignment because he couldn't figure out the problem. But he kept all the paperwork.

I did install new adjustable camber bushings per his recommendation. I think I may have a picture of those actually


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alwaysFlOoReD said:

Bearings? Dragging brake?

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How would I tell if it was either of those? The brake warning lights (parking brake light and ABS) have been on for a while. However I haven't been able to find anything wrong with them and they seem to be working properly


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Jack up the vehicle, put it on jackstands. Spin the wheel. It should spin freely.

FYI I'm home schooled IE; not a mechanic.
To check bearings grab the wheel at 12:00 and 6:00 and push in and out [top in, bottom out, then vice-versa]. There should be no movement. If you can get the wheel to sit about 1" above the ground you could use a point of a shovel to try to move the bottom of the wheel in and out. That might make it easier to see movement. Check at the ball joints at the same time. As long as it up there get a friend to slowly turn the steering wheel back and forth, you look for any slop in any joint.

SOAD4.0 said:

How would I tell if it was either of those? The brake warning lights (parking brake light and ABS) have been on for a while. However I haven't been able to find anything wrong with them and they seem to be working properly


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How is your brake fluid?

alwaysFlOoReD said:

Jack up the vehicle, put it on jackstands. Spin the wheel. It should spin freely.

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check. Wheels spin freely

alwaysFlOoReD said:

To check bearings grab the wheel at 12:00 and 6:00 and push in and out [top in, bottom out, then vice-versa]. There should be no movement. If you can get the wheel to sit about 1" above the ground you could use a point of a shovel to try to move the bottom of the wheel in and out. That might make it easier to see movement. Check at the ball joints at the same time. As long as it up there get a friend to slowly turn the steering wheel back and forth, you look for any slop in any joint.

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Only the SLIGHTEST bit of moment but it was the same on both wheels when I shook them.

Also checked out the steering linkage like you said and didn't notice anything that looked wrong besides them being very mucked up with engine gunk. Everything seemed stable.

I should also point out that while doing this, the wheel did not favor the right side as it does while driving, even with the engine on.

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1990RangerinSK said:

How is your brake fluid?

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Brake fluid is at about half capacity while engine is off

Also, thanks to everyone who has replied so far. I really appreciate your input and suggestions!

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