wandering?

[JB4020]

I have a 71 f100 2wd and i recently put new springs, shocks, radius arm bushings, and axel pivot bushings on. The steering now seems to wander a bit. Will tightening the sector nut on the steering box improve this? The wheels seem to be sitting straight like it aligned ok. It just seemed to steer better before? Thanks for the help

[wt4speed#2]

Jack it up and get the weight off the king pins . Make sure all your grease fittings take grease . After greasing turn it wheel lock to wheel lock and shoot just a tad more .Sometimes a dry king pin will cause wandering (road walk).

[JB4020]

i will definately do that. Thanks

[theskytoucher]

IF greasing the pins doesnt help i would try ajusting the steering box!! BUt remember to do it very little at a time and for the first couple times you drive it carry the tools to ajust it with you incase you need to make minor ajustments!!!!

[wt4speed#2]

Thanks Troy ,I got off on the king pin thought and came back to edit no need to now.

[JB4020]

I adjusted the steering box a very small amount i try some more. I hope its not out of alignment

[RTG_RACING]

You can check the tow witch may cause your problem. Find a center line on the front of your front tires and the back of your front tires. Then measure with a tape between the two. adjust so the front of the front tires are 1/8 inch closer togeather than the back of the front tires.

[Jake11]

Replace the kingpin bushings and the 3 tie rods.If you tighten the box
just a little too much it will get worse.

The KP's are usually most of the problem. They bind up and the steering
won't self center any more.

[averagef250]

The twin I beam stuff is indestructible, but one thing I've noticed is once they're dead you should replace everything for a quality end result, this includes kingpins and the "good" bronze bushings. I drove my '70 F-100 300 miles home when I first got it for free. It actually drove pretty good, but when I started swapping an EFI motor in it and decided to swap in power steering too I took a close look at the suspension and realized not only was it shot, but it was a real miracle I drove the truck that far and lived. $400 in parts later it drives better, and I know my tie rods won't be falling off anytime soon.

[JB4020]

Thanks for all the help so fast! The guy i bought it from before i started the resto said he had new king pins put in. Also the steering seemed better before i put the new front end parts on. I have to look into it somemore thanks

[ezernut9mm]

if your runnning wide tires they will tend to "grab" the road. my 93 lighting and my buddies 2000 lighting-both with wide stock tires-did the same thing. my 68 with 275-60r-17's will "find the rut" too. when you run wide tieres you need a damper, if you're running stock sized tires i would check out alll the front end components.

[AlleyCat]

Here's something I've found a couple of times that you might want to look at. Crawl under your truck with the engine off and look straight up at the nut that holds the pitman arm to the steering box.Have someone rock the steering wheel a few inches in each direction.The nut should turn in a circular motion. If it seems rock side to side also then chances are the bushings in the steering box are worn out.Hope this helps.

[JB4020]

I will definately check all this out. Thanks for the fast and good help