I stopped in my local tire shop to get a nail hole pugged. I bought the tires from them. Patches, plugs and rotation are free with purchase.

The shop guy repairs the tire and rotates the tires. I tip him and hop in my truck to leave. I back out and pull into 4 lanes of traffic, the first lane is the only one available. The truck wont steer right. IT WONT TURN RIGHT. I cant believe it. A semi and other cars coming at me at 55mph and I cant turn and I am going to get hit if I dont take evasive action. As soon as I can I floor it, cross 4 lanes of traffic and end up on the median.

upon inspection I see the sleeve on the tierod end and tierod bar is bent up with a fresh break and the bolts are locking up on the spring mount on the axle on a right hand turn. It looks like the jack slipped from the axle and caught the tierod sleeve.

Called AAA got a tow home and replaced the tie rod end and sleeve. now I have what I can descibe as a clunk when I turn the wheel side to side. I can feel dead space and then a catch and the tires turn. Kinda hard to descibe.

Could I have broken the steering gear box? I had my neighbor turn the wheel back and forth and I was under the front end. I could see the play in the steering box before it moved the arm and can hear a kind of clunk.

Thanks for any thoughts. The tire shop accepted responsibilty. Said they would pay for parts and labor.

 

Since my post I took the truck in and they found the problem. Bad track bar. We suspect it is just worn out. I guess I will be looking for a replacement.

Suggestions on that? lol I will do a search here. I know it has been talked about.

Mods feel free to delete if you like.

 

Glad it has ended "fairly" well. Regarding the track bar, it depends how much you want to spend. Best bang for the buck is a jobber replacement from Moog. Bigger ball/socket and stronger than OEM. there are also several "specialty" track bar setups out there if you want to spend more.

 

If it's a 4x4 I'd go with one of the specialty pieces, but id 2WD I'd go with the Moog.

 

Fix it once - Thuren. Give Don a call & make sure what is needed for your truck.