Need help soon!! buying bronco depends on it

[Skrilla]

Ok i am looking at a 93 bronco with 6" lift and 35's. when we took it for a drive it is all over the place. we tried removing the steering stablizers and it somewhat helped oddly enough. We want to buy it but its very hard to steer, it wants to go all over the place expecially when you hit bumps.

Any suggestions about whats wrong?

 

[miesk5]

Ok i am looking at a 93 bronco with 6" lift and 35's. when we took it for a drive it is all over the place. we tried removing the steering stablizers and it somewhat helped oddly enough. We want to buy it but its very hard to steer, it wants to go all over the place expecially when you hit bumps.
Any suggestions about whats wrong?

yo!

Assuming tires/pressure are ok;

Worn ball joints or bushings (radius arm, does it have extended ra's?), axle pivot bushings/bad brackets?...........

Improper front wheel alignment setting (caster and camber).......

Assuming it still has the original TTB... and not swapped to a Solid Front Front AXLE (SAS); Some vg info by our PAL Roadkill; "...TTB Diagram, ...When you use longer springs to lower the wheels with out lowering the axle pivot brackets and radius arm brackets, camber/castor angles can be altered beyond the point where they can be corrected with bushings..."...

Camber Bushing, Fully Adjustable, Offset Installation, Diagrams & Specifications, Ford (Ingalls 532) Source: by ingallseng.com

and,

Stock TTB Setup showing where Camber and Castor are measured. The only place for adjustment of Camber/Castor on the stock setup is by changing bushings around the upper ball joint. This only allows for about 2-3 dregrees of adjustment in any direction. Source: by Roadkill at SuperMotors.net

Worn tie rod ends,....Wobble Diagnosis; "...Check all the tie rod ends for end play. With the wheel-rocking trick, start at the pitman arm, there should be no motion between the arm and the drag link, or the drag link to the tie rod, or the tire rod to the steering arms. Replace and align as required..." Source: by Carl J at Jantz4x4.com ..read more...............

pitman arm, bad/or improperly torqued wheel bearing lock nuts .............

OK, glad I saved most of my reply here..lost power!.. will try to get this response edited and in a better format when I can

 

[NAGS95]

I had the same issue with my 95. Seeings how I already replaced the ball joints and tie rod ends we started looking at other things. It ended up being the steering gear. I was able to adjust it and it got better....later replaced the steering gear and it solved my problem totally.

 

[Miss Kitten]

i think it's just lacking a simple alignment to tell you the truth

i would tell the previous owner that you want it booked it for an alignment and his expense and see if that fixes the problem

however if any of the other parts are worn that mike suggested they won't align it until it's all replaced

 

[NAGS95]

i think it's just lacking a simple alignment to tell you the truth
i would tell the previous owner that you want it booked it for an alignment and his expense and see if that fixes the problem

however if any of the other parts are worn that mike suggested they won't align it until it's all replaced

Good point.....I would definately start with an alignment then start checking all the things listed in the above posts. When I traced my problem back to the steering gear it was after new ball joints, tie rod ends, and a front end allignment! I probably should have mentioned that there was a heck of allot of play in my steering wheel to go along with the excessive road sway. Just out of curioustiy.....do you have allot of play in your steering wheel?

Things I would check:

pitman arm

idler arm

tie rod ends

ball joints

steering gear

 

[Yardape]

I have an 89 Bronco, has excessive play, 89 f250 tons of play. I stripped an 89f350 tons of play had a 90 bronco same lots of play and my current parts getter' an 84 f150 with excessive steering play. I have come to the conclusion they all have play. Go get the alignment they will actually give you a list of the parts you need. In hopes that you will let them do the work, give them an excuse like you have to show your wife the invoice or whatever you can think up, go from there to the parts store and buy everything on the list. I bought everything I could to rebuild the front end and it cost just over 600 bux. You shouldn't need everything I bought but I'm sure you will need ball joints, tie rod ends and such. The drag link is pretty expensive. Hopefully yours won't be that bad. Sorry I'm bored and babbling, haha

 

[Seabronc]

Definitely take it to an alignment shop. It could be as simple as an alignment, but knowing older Broncos it most likely needs more than that. Like meisk5 said, it could be just about anything in the front end. A good alignment shop will not do an alignment if they find evidence of other worn parts because the alignment won't work. My truck use to have what is called by some mechanics as "Slot Car Steering", (the tires followed any ridge or large crack in the road and when turned it made sudden direction changes, sometimes it would do it on it's own, which could be pretty exciting at 60+ MPH). The cause was worn ball joints. If you don't correct those problems first an alignment is worthless.

Either don't buy that one or get an allowance to fix the front end or treat it as one of the hundreds of things you will eventually do on the truck. It's all part of the mystique

Good luck,

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