Steering Problems

How many miles on the truck?
Did you visually inspect tie rods, steering box for any visible problems?

 

what is the age/mileage of the truck??

many things can be wrong, from a worn drag link, worn tie rod ends, worn center link, worn steering box.

steering boxes used to have an adjustment screw on top of them. can;t say if they still do, but then someone with knowledge should only be the one to adjust a steering box.

back in my days of turning wrenches, that was something i did, long before rack and pinion steering came along.

to avoid any misunderstandings, that can lead to you or your driver's death, i will not explain how to adjust a steering box.

 

Start at the steering wheel and work your way down. Check all points where you could have wear. Steering column u-joints are common for wear. Check your power steering fluid level and visually check your steering box. Have some one hop in the cab with the truck off and aggressively jerk the steering wheel left and right (doesn't have to be fast, just hard) while you inspect the drag link and tie rod ends. If you see any side to side slop or if it looks like the rod end is popping up, it's no good. You should see next to no slop in the drag link or tie rod ends. Also ensure your tire pressures are good. It wouldn't hurt to check your front springs for broken leaves or broken center bolts, loose u-bolts and caster shims either. A bad bearing or an oddly worn tire can cause wandering as well. If tightening the kingpin, replacing the bearings and new tires don't correct it, my vote is for a bad drag link as I've seen that cause a lot of wandering issues.

 

It pulls to the left but the right wheel bearing is bad?

What you describe a typical wheel bearing problem, only if it pulls to the left it should be the left wheel bearing that is bad. Probably both wheel bearings are shot and have been for a while. And white they have been bad they went to work screwing up other parts like kingpins.

Way to many drivers go pay for an alignment and/or tires without considering what would be causing the truck to be out of line or tires to wear. Fix both of your bearings and all the kingpins and then take a good hard look at all the rest of the front end components. You probably not going to find all your front end demons in just one trip to the mechanic.

 

Figured it out.

Wire up a 2500watt Inverter with single 5 Gauge wires and then plug it up to a TV and Fridge and leave it on until the truck catches fire.

Then collect the insurance money and get another truck.

Or, you could listen to these guys above, but what do they know?

 

Methyl Hydrate in the alternator works just as good..... so I've been told anyways

 

Whoa, you're a little too knowledgeable. (Backs away slowly)

 

My vote is the drag link also .

I've seen them wear on the splines on the big shaft coming out of steering box.
Truck will wander like crazy with just the smallest bit of play.