Steering issue

[muddrivermike]

Ok everyone I have an issue here that maybe somebody has come across this...First off I am a mechanic and do know what Im doing but this has got me. My 78,9 inch suspension lift, 40 inch tires..I swapped in a DANA 60 front with the coil set up still in. Works great. Heres my problem: After I swapped this out, the truck drove better than ever,steering,tracking,ect.. A while afterwards I was checking the front end and found out that the king pin bushings on the tops of both sides were worn out. No problem right? I put new bushings in which toed in my front wheels. I re-aligned it. NOW since I did that my truck is all over the road unless its a flat paved road. If I drive down the road and its hits the **** in the middle of a worn lane,it will shoot the truck to the right,or left depending where the crown is. People must think Im drunk driving. Now at this point I add my factory stabilizer,which made it a little better. I also have the AGR hydraulic assist installed. I do know I have a **** hair of play in 1 of my outer tie rods. Nowhere near to cause anything at this point. Also I have NO shock bushings at the bottom of the 2 front shocks. 1 on eash side. I have to get them I know that.. Besides that EVERYTHING else is new,tight or good. Rag joint,track bar bushings, ect... So my point is, Why would this truck drive perfect (for months)until I replaced the king pin bushings? I cant figure this out.Usually replacing parts makes thing better not worse. Anyone have this or got any ideas? Im getting ****** off with this,because I cant find it.

I just had to add that I drove this for a couple weeks after I replaced the bushings originally. I didnt reset the alignment until that time that I drove it and wondered what was wrong... In my post above I made it sound like I replaced the bushings and right away did an alignment..Not so..theres a couple weeks in between the two..

 

[Bully Bob]

Hi Mike.,

NOT being an expert on fronts., I can only try to give you some things to ponder..!

"I put new bushings in which toed in my front wheels."

I don't get how this is possible. I would think re-built kingpins would correct mostly camber.

There should be some amount of toe-in? (D-60)....

"I re-aligned it."

This seems to be where the prob. started.

With 9" of lift..., how did you rotate the axle back to stock (or nearly so) position.

 

[muddrivermike]

"I don't get how this is possible. I would think re-built kingpins would correct mostly camber"

Your %100 right.. So think of it this way. My king pin bushings were worn tilting the top of the wheels in,Which I originally set my toe. When I replaced the bushings it pulled the top of the wheel back out.Which at the same time pulled the front of my wheels in/toed them in. Because the bottom king pin bearing obviously doesnt move when I did that and the toe stays the same the front went in. When I went to drive it thats when I noticed the problem. So I re-aligned the toe,The camber is not adjustable with out special bushings. I dont need those kind because the camber IS correct.

"With 9" of lift..., how did you rotate the axle back to stock (or nearly so) position"

Im assuming your talking about the caster? The tilt of the axle with the driveshaft? I set all that when I installed the axle with the wedges for the radius arms...

But aside from all that,This problem didnt exist until the replacement king pin bushings.. So for sake of argument.If the alignment is correct and nothing is loose. How does this go from driving perfect, to this after the bushings being replaced? I just cant figure this out. Im going to work on it over the weekend and let everyone know if I found anything or corrected it.

 

[muddrivermike]

Just an update. Found out both outer tie rods have more play than I thought. I replaced the shock bushings. And my 1 Radius arm bushing is bad..So tomorrow Im replacing the tied rod ends and radius bushings..Ill post up what happens...

 

[muddrivermike]

Ok I replaced the radius arm bushings, Both Outer tie rod ends( I have an aftermarket steering set up on mine)Set the alignment. Adjusted the sector shaft ***** on top of the gear box. First test drive was great. BIG difference..I will see tomorrow when I take my usual route to work. So far so good.. /

 

[muddrivermike]

I know its been a while for this thread. So I figured Id update this..Ive added 4 more inches to my suspension and it threw my steering all over the road..I figured out that my caster was wayyyyy out..I ended up taking the 'C's off my axle tube and reclocking them to the correct caster. Not a fun job. That has made my steering back to normal. Im now running 44 inch tires and could barely keep the truck driving down the road straight. It was dangerous. Because of how wide my tires are, An alignment machine cant read the sensors.  So I end up measuring the toe with a tape measure and set it from there. Works good now.   /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[miesk5]

Yo muddrivermike,

Great!

Ty for the update.

Al

 

[johnnyreb]

I know its been a while for this thread. So I figured Id update this..Ive added 4 more inches to my suspension and it threw my steering all over the road..I figured out that my caster was wayyyyy out..I ended up taking the 'C's off my axle tube and reclocking them to the correct caster. Not a fun job. That has made my steering back to normal. Im now running 44 inch tires and could barely keep the truck driving down the road straight. It was dangerous. Because of how wide my tires are, An alignment machine cant read the sensors. So I end up measuring the toe with a tape measure and set it from there. Works good now. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Thanks for the update Muddin Mike--appreciate it.