Boatnik

I am begining to think I need an excorist. When I make a tight left turn under acceleration, sometimes, when the truck straightens out it starts to wander. In other words it feels as if the front end wants to go right and left all by itself. It continues to do this until it decides to quit. The osscilations are fairly slow and rythmic in nature and it takes a couple inches of steering wheel travel to correct. So far I have had a friend crank the wheel back and forth on the ground while I looked at the front end. I replaced the steering gearbox twice. I jacked the truck off the ground both by the front axle and by the frame. I have greased everthing. I even took a pipe wrench and pulled on all the linkage to see if the tie rod ends are loose. I thoroughly checked the leaf spring attachments and shackles. I cannot find anything wrong. It still does it when it wants too. What have I missed. Both front and rear Dana's are open, no limited slip. THe king pins appear to be good. The only movement I could get on those was vertical using a medium sized pry bar. This has gotten totally frustrating.

ChrisLib

I everything up front is good you might want to take a look in the rear. I have seen loose rear end stuff (u-bolts, worn centering pins etc) cause all sorts of wierd things to happen. On my 86 W250 it had a 4inch lift with stacked blocks in the rear (I know, a no-no). That truck needed the rear u-bolts ck`ed every once in a while or it would do strange stuff with the steering.

Boatnik

I have been talking this up at work with the guys and one of them said the same thing about the rear. I am going to either take it to someone with a chassis lift or get some cribbing so I can lift the back end up high enough to unload the rear springs. Another thought was the universals on the front spindles. I have manual hubs and didn't think they would have any effect, but right now I am up for anything. The next time it happens I am going to ease in the transfer case momentarily and see if the sympton changes. The front axle u-joints are dry and sealed. No grease fitting. I have driven it around with the hubs locked and never had it wander. Changing those looks rough. I probably will farm that one out to a local garage along with new axle seals. I don't want to do that job sitting on the floor under the hub. I dropped one on my leg this year already. It was Ford F-250 4X4. I was changing springs and the jack under the axle kicked out and pinned my leg the floor. Mom would not have been proud of her son's language on that one.

Winr

Look at the check valve in the power steering pump. See if it sticks open or if something is stuck in it.

greasemonki

ALWAYS USE JACK STANDS!! I've been in automotive field for a long time, and it scares me to see people under cars without stands. just my 0.02

Boatnik

The truck was on two jackstands under the frame one on each side just behind the spring purchase. I was holding one side of the Dana 50 IF up with the bottle jack trying to wrestle the spring back into place by myself. The passenger side hub and half axle assembly was the only thing that fell. About 75 pounds. I should have blocked the hub up but I didn't have anything left to work with. The bad luck was in the way it came down. I was cross legged beside the hub and my left knee wound up with a lug stuck in it ever so slightly. The wound was superficial. The brake rotor stopped the descent. I now have dedicated lumber that I use for cribbing. It never pays to get in too much of a hurry.

Boatnik

Well I have pretty much eliminated any thing under the truck as the source of my agravation. Winr, I think you are right. It is kinda like what Sherlock Holmes said. Once you have eliminated all the possiblities, what is left is the truth. I believe the problem lies in the power steering pump. Now the big question. How do I fix it? I don't really want to replace it just because of a sticky check valve. I wonder if there is a solvent or magic mechanicinacan for this one. It has been acting up ever since I owned the truck. I changed it over to AMSOIL Universal ATF when I changed steering gearboxes. It doesn't seem to act up as often, but it still will on occasion. I think I will just drive it for a while and see what happens, now that I feel confident the bottom ain't gonna fall out of the truck.

timb

One more thing to check Boatnik. The mounting plate behind the steering box has a tendency of cracking. it is are sometimes hard to see the crack's so look close at the ears by all of the mounting bolts. mine does the same thing as you are describing every time I break a plate. which is quite often it seems.

Boatnik

Well I don't need an excorcist. I need a good mechanic. I finnally got fed up enough with the way my truck handled so I made an appointment with a garage that I trust. I talked to the front end speciallist and explained in detali what the truck was doing. It got so bad going to the gargage that in desperation I locked the hubs in to see what would happen. The problem went away. I took it to the shop and told the mechanic what I did and when he checked it out nothing bad happened. You cannot diagnois a problem that doesn't present itself. SO, I drove it home and then out to the farm. On the way to the farm it started wandering again and it stopped when I locked in the manual hubs. It sure looks like I need to do a little maintenance on those little rasculs. I feel now that a good cleaning and some new grease will chase the grimlins away.

Boatnik

I FOUND IT! It wan't the suspension nor was it the steering. It definitely was the Warn Hub on the driver's side. Inside this little jewel I found a snap ring retainer that had dislodged and gone through the bushing to the big aluminum splined hub taking out the teflon bushing as it went. I managed to "iron" the ring back into some symbol of its former self and did the same with the teflon. I then put a generous portion of light grease in amongst the internals and reassembled. I then drove it fifty miles with no problems, five of which with the hubs locked. I also cleaned and greased the other side as well. My Warn Hub Service Kit will be in by the sixteenth so I can do the job proper. Does anyone know which replacement hubs are better? I was looking at Mile Marker and Warn.