Wobble and Pulling to the Left

[vanmor]

I posted on some of the other threads about my 91' 2.3 5 speed. It sat for seven years before I decided to revive it. Rebuilt the transmission myself and replaced the clutch assembly.

My brake calipers were seized up so I replaced those. I repacked the bearings.

Now I have to sort out my steering. I have a wobble above 40 mph and it pulls to the right. I've checked out my steering but I can't seem to find any slack in it. Maybe the tires sat too long but it seems like something is loose.

 

[bigblockford79]

Check wheel bearings, tie rods, and pitman arm for starters. Also, if you haven't yet make sure the air pressure in the tires is correct and even side to side. You might even want to try swapping the wheels from front to back as a method of ruling out bad rubber or a bent wheel.

 

[vanmor]

Sounds Good ! Will Do !

Checked the bearings already. My front tires are really messed up. The rear ones look just fine. I'll try that first.

The tie rod ends are caked up. I'll clean those and inspect. The steering wheel is sitting a little to the left going straight down the road. About the 11 o'clock position.

 

[Viper Command]

If the wobble starts around 45 and stops around 65, its your tires needing to be ballanced, and there is a chance that its a radial pull, and or out of round(bad tire).

 

[vanmor]

Thanks Viper.

Somebody told me the other day that I could drop my air pressure in the front tires. Drop it to about 20 to 25 lbs and see how it drove. If the problem went away, it was a bad tire.

I live near an interstate, so I'll give your recommendation a try.

 

[vanmor]

Update......

I switched the two front tires around and my truck started pulling to the left instead of pulling to the right like it did before. So I now know it's a tire thing.

However, the wobble didn't go away. I had the front up on jackstands, so I spent some time working the steering back and forth. It took a bit but I found where the wobble was coming from. It was in the steering box.

I adjusted the worm gear slack adjuster. I know it's not recommended, but I've done it before on other vehicles. I adjusted an 1/8th of a turn until the slack was gone.

Now I just need some tires for the front and I'm good to go.

Thanks for the input.