intermittent steering pull to the driver side.. seems to pull per tire rotation. help (1 Viewer)

[fjman]

So I had some power steering whine last month when it was really cold and could actually feel it through the steering wheel. Once the truck was warmed up, it drove just fine. Now there is no whine and pump seems to be working fine. Its got fluid in it (although it slowly seems to leak on my smog pump..) and seems to operate as normal....

THE PROBLEM:
There is no more ps pump whine, ever.... now i get an intermittent pull to the drivers side that seems to kick in with each tire rotation. What could this be. Its pretty defined and gets the truck doing a pretty good shimmy at speed (plus really kills my smoking habit since I can hardly hold a cig with my driving hand without ashing on myself...)

The steering shaft has a little play in it and when going 20-35 mph or so, I can feel a solid clunk in the steering wheel.

Anyone had this problem before?

 

[3_puppies]

did you try and jack the front end up, and spin the wheels and see what happens?

 

[slcfj62]

Maybe this is a smoking cessation device that someone installed on your rig.

Seriously, it probably has nothing to do with your power steering and is maybe a tire out of balance, a bent rim, etc.

 

[UpsideDown]

Warped tire /separated belts? spin the tire and look for a bulge that should not be there.

Bent rim?

Loose wheel lug nuts?

Bad or mis-adjusted wheel bearings?


~John

 

[fjman]

So i went out and everything was spinning fine..... went to take the wheel off and SNAP! broke a wheel stud. Figured i really need to take it off now and get this fixed. SNAP! another one. wtf? so the wheels off now and I'm not able to get the hub off so I can pull the rotor. Got down to getting the snap ring off the outershaft but the hub won't come off..... On another note (and back tot he problem at hand) should the axle shaft have any up and down/side to side play? Or is it just supported by the hub locks when its all back together?

 

[cavemancaleb]

sounds like it might be somthing as simple as a radial pull, pretty common, basicly a tire you have on the front had a manufacturer flaw, or wore funny enough, that was just enough to casue the truck to pull when placed on a certain side up front. I recomend rotating the tires around around till it stops pulling.