My Shop's Verdict on Steering issues

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T

timer00

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Apparently after 2 mechanics and the owner driving my 100 and reinspecting all the suspension parts they found nothing wrong and also really liked the truck personally. Go figure.

They did mention the tires being pretty different then say a stock P rated tire will behave differently.
They are 285/75/16 Duratracs. Currently aired to about 34psi

But on uneven roads and over certain bumps its down right scary handling.
Could this be just the tire by design (LOAD RANGE, PSI, etc)

Could the tires be balanced incorrectly by the original shop (which wasn't the shop I always use)

Should I go with something less extreme in the tread like the Firestone Destination A/T I had on my old 94 LC.. or just go back to a nice Passenger tire.

At least it wasn't my steering rack.
 
air them down to about 24 psi and see if that helps with your uneven roads and certain bumps
 
I've done the bushings .. Helped with wandering a lot.
I am at 32psi now and the tram lining isn't horrible but still gotta be aware

Front end is a little low and I do need to level with the torsion bars yet.

Shop said its just the very stiff big, wide tires will tend to tram line more and it does make sense I am just not used to it since it's different then my 94 with 285/75s and the solid axle with different steering system which didn't really do much tram lining

Thanks for the help and suggestions, I may sell the Duratracs and go back to a more modest road tread and size, don't know yet
 
FWIW I have 285/70/r17 duratracs with cranked torsion bars and 30mm rear spacers. I have no issues. The truck needed an alignment after spacers and torsion bars to fix the toe which was pretty far off after raising it and made it very twitchy. The front came up 1.75". I run around 40psi on the roads and have had great handling from them. Lower than that they felt too squishy for me. But I also felt the Michelin ltx's that were on there when I bought it felt like giant marshmallows. Before the alignment the truck would wander badly on the highway and at speed the steering would shake. Also bump steer was an issue as well. After alignment smooth as butter.
 
UPDATE:

Cranked by torsion bars a little bit today since I was sagging in the front since I got the car last year and it reduced my sketchy handling on uneven, rough roads by about 40-50%.. I am happy just for that for now but probably will crank a just a little bit more. Definitely got stiffer up front and the steering wheel doesn't move around in my hands near as bad as it did before raising the torsion bars.

Thanks for the info cap80 and everyone else that has tried to help me out.
 
Once you are satisfied with the TB adjustments take it to a shop for another alignment. You will wear the edges out on those front tires by changing the camber of the tire. Of course if it was sagging alot then the camber was too negative and you could've gotten it back where it need to be by cranking them up. Either way I'd have it looked at. My alignment guy is really good (I've had him set up a few of my cars for track use and it was night and day) and loves the alignment setup of the 100.
 
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