Sloppy steering questions (1 Viewer)

[cruiserboy14]

My steering is quite sloppy. My cruiser (4/77) wanders on the road, causing me to have to course correct often. I’ve rebuilt the front center arm, but it only helped a bit. I do notice i have a lot of movement before my power steering box and my top drag link end seems to have play. My questions are how much play is normal, and is the top drag end supposed to have play in it?

Thanks for any help, this is hopefully my last big task before I get my cruiser dependably on the road.

 

[charliemeyer007]

Shake/pry on all the ball joints/rod ends - they should move but not clunk. Look at the leaf spring ends, the bushing should tight and the springs need to be in good shape and not fatigued. Jack up a wheel - shake tire left to right and up to down no clunks. What tires and how much pressure are you running. Shocks are good? There can be play in the steering box. It all adds up a little here a little there and soon enough its sloppy.

 

[Pighead]

What size tires? I found that as my tire size increased it liked a little more toe-in to track straight.

 

[cruiserboy14]

I’ve recently rebuilt the steering linkages and tie rod ends. But I’ll look and the leaf springs and the shocks too. I haven’t lifted the font end to check for any wiggle.

 

[Paul_A]

Not sure if this helps you, but this is an issue that others might need to be aware of. On my GM power steering set up the tie rod is tight left to right, but the drag link from the pitman arm to the tie rod twists a bit front to back when going from left to right which causes slop in the steering wheel. If you have a friend waggle the wheel right to left while you watch the rods you might see movement you weren't expecting.

 

[cruiserboy14]

@Paul_A ya that’s what I see there. Is that normal? Or is it wallered out and needs replacement?!

 

[cruiserboy14]

@Pighead I have 31x10.50R15LT at 35psi. On original rims.

 

[Pighead]

You might want to check your toe-in, I use a tape measure and a piece of chalk but there are other ways to do so.

 

[pb4ugo]

That's a lot of air. Make sure your bushings are good, u bolts tight, shackles sre snug and steering geometry are within spec, toe in and especially caster.

 

[SteveH]

If you have a friend waggle the wheel right to left while you watch the rods you might see movement you weren't expecting.

This is about all you need to do. Have someone wiggle the wheel for several minutes while you look, listen, and put your rubber-gloved hand fully around each steering connection point to feel for play. You'll feel it if it's there. There technically should be no play or slop anywhere in the system. Let some air out of those tires, too. Your power steering box (minitruck?) can be carefully adjusted to remove most of the slop, but you should find and read the Mud threads on how to do this properly.

Once you're sure there's no play, get it aligned at a real alignment or frame shop (not a Firestone, Pep Boys, Toyota dealer, or other place staffed by the marginally competent).

 

[cruiserboy14]

I did have my wife turn the wheel.hence seeing so much slop in the system. I’ll recheck the pressures from my owners manual. And I didn’t know you could adjust the mini truck power steering. I’ll definitely look into that!

 

[pb4ugo]

Tie rods and drag links are supposed to rotate when you change directions. With someone shaking the wheel back and forth, you should look at the joints, where the studs/shafts go into the tre's ball and look for a wobble. Check wheel bearing and trunion bearings for movement, and look for bad bushing. Play with air pressures with the chalk test. You want a good contact going across the tread.
If the contact is located in the center the tire will likely wander along with an improper caster angle. Checking steering geometry is critical. As someone else mentioned, maybe take it to a truck alignment shop that are familiar with solid axle setups. Tightening the box should be way down the list.

 

[John Smith]

Are you running stock length shackles? Do you currently have caster correction shims installed on the front axle? What you describe sounds like it could be a caster issue.

 

[77mustard40]

^^^ Caster and Toe In are critical, sounds like you have checked tie rod ends and center arm. I'd agree that those tires are over-inflated, I aim for 30 lbs with my 33X10.50's as that seems to give the best contact patch and improves the ride. Checking the steering box play is done by determining how much free play is in the steering wheel BEFORE there is any movement of the pitman arm, play here will not really have an impact on the trucks desire to find its own line and wander. If caster and toe are good and the other components solid it should track straight.

 

[Sethro60]

Return to stock spring shackle length solved a lot of problems for me.

 

[cruiserboy14]

As far as I know I have stock shackles and springs. Heck they might be the original leaf springs! I’ll look again if it has shims tonight. Thank you all for the input!

 

[cruiserboy14]

It’s looking like no shims.

 

[charliemeyer007]

The bottom plate for those U bolts is after market conifer? comes to mind, the bolts look larger in diameter too.

 

[cruiserboy14]

@charliemeyer007 oh! I didn’t know that? It makes sense. There was a lot of con ferr stuff that came with it. Plus’s I believe the rear transfer case has a con ferr cover on it.

 

[charliemeyer007]

I think that's a good design - I'm not sure they still make stuff. One of the oem's on my 72 is bent over into the nut from playing in the rocks - when I do spring/shocks I might make a set like that.