Wandering 100

[dnp]

My 146,000 mile, '03 LX has recently started wandering on the road. What I mean is that it now wants to follow grooves and other imperfections in the road, occasionally quite drastically.

I inspected the front end, and while my passenger side wheel bearing seems as if it maybe could stand to be repacked, everything else seems to be tight. Also, my driver's side rack boot seems to be slightly wet, but not to the point that I've ever seen any dripping.

Bottom line is: for those of you who have felt the need to replace your steering rack, what symptoms did yours exhibit? Was it merely leaking or did you experience other problems? Are my wandering problems more likely to be rack bushing problems? Could I have had a drastic change in caster? Are there specific ways to check tie rod ends? Etc.

I just wanted to see what others had experienced before I started replacing parts. Any guidance? Thanks.

 

[spressomon]

Lots of things to inspect for wandering symptoms.

#1) Tires and psi. Under inflated and/or unusual wear can be contributors to wandering.

#2) Front end alignment. If its lifted you are probably running marginal castor which can contribute to wandering and/or imprecise overly-sensitive steering at speed. And if its lifted the typical 'lifetime alignment' shops are outside of their element; ditto for non-lifted rigs . Get a reputable front end alignment specialist to thoroughly check your alignment.

#3) Check for wheel bearing play.

#4a) With one front tire jacked and supported off the ground and with your hands on the tire at 3:00 and 6:00 push-pull and feel for any play in the steering rack and/or tie rod. It helps to have a 2nd observer looking for flex/play at the rack and tie-rods when you do this. Good to take a peak at the upper control arm and lower control arm bushings too for play.

#4b) While you're under the rig looking for play inspect the steering rack looking for leaks.

#5) Ditto above but place hands at 12:00 and 6:00 and push-pull trying to detect play in the upper and/or lower ball joint. It often is better to use a long 2x4 or similar placed under the tire to lever up to detect play in the ball joints. Repeat for the opposite side.

#6) Remove the rear upper control arms and inspect the bushings for wear. Ditto the rear LCA. Believe it or not worn rear UCA bushings will contribute to wandering at speed by allowing pseudo rear steer. And 150k miles seems to be the average life span of these bushings.

Then get back with us on your findings

 

[ITcookY]

A newbie with this same problem-

I too have/had wandering (up until this weekend) on my new-to-me 100. Tires where worn unevenly and occasionally the anti-skid light will come on. I hope this job will take care of that. Who, knows I may have a bad sensor as well.

I followed the steps above and when I got to step two (#2) an alignment could not be preformed due to bad inner tie rod ends. There was side to side play in the wheel (3 and 9 position) when on the lift, and the booted inner tie rod ends felt disjointed when I grabbed them. (could not feel fluid) you could feel a pop when turning the steering. I was ready to replace the inner tie rods only until, when the boots were removed they were filled with fluid signaling that a new rack was needed (according to my mechanic). No one in my town had a rack in stock, except for the dealer. The last rack got 160k miles so I will be very happy.

My mechanic had to remove the oil cooler line/attachment to replace the rack. The O-ring was shot and would not hold oil when everything was put back together. The nearest O-ring was thirty miles away delaying the completion of the job until Monday. When I get my truck back I will inspect the control arms and the rest in step #6 above. Thanks spressomon.

Best of luck!