97 is "wandering" the road.... (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

StressPuppy said:
While driving yesterday (hadn't driven in a week or so as my wife had it), I noticed that there is play in the steering that could also be thought of as wandering. Or would seem to make the situation worse. The vehicle starts to wander and you have to turn the steering wheel quite a bit to get it to correct.

This could be anything from you tie rod ends being bad to your knuckle bearings being worn out to the steering box being out of spec. When was the last time the tie rod ends were replaced? Also it's easy to verify if it is the tie rod ends. Have some one steer the truck back and forth as you look at the ends. If you see any play then they are bad.
 
I'm going to be replacing the bearings. And I'll check the tie rod ends while I am under there and replace if needed.

If it is the steering box being out of spec, how do you adjust or fix that?
 
Post back after the rebuild and let us know the findings.
 
StressPuppy said:
I'm going to be replacing the bearings. And I'll check the tie rod ends while I am under there and replace if needed.

If it is the steering box being out of spec, how do you adjust or fix that?

There is a good thread or two on the forum somewhere about adjusting the steering box with some warnings as well. It should be the last thing you touch after you've verified that the knuckles are fine as well as the tie rod ends.

On my truck I did verify that everything was tight (which I did by replacing all tie rod ends and the steering knuckle trunion bearings). I still had some slack in the my steering so I adjusted the adjuster nut on the top of the steering box. I probably over did it and am probably in line now for a new steering box (or rebuilt one). :doh:
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom