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I Got steering issues

bison

bison

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Location
Near Peace River-Alberta
I was just motoring along on the highway today at a steady cruise when out of the blue the truck sharply veered to the right but my steering wheel didnt move :eek:,when i caught it back to straight and stopped on road side my steerwheel spokes where offset to the left about 20 % wheras before they where horizontal with the dash.

I looked the whole shebang over carefully and nothing was out of line or loose under there or in the engine compartmentso it must be the steering box itself that got an issue,something must've slipped in there,but WHAT!...:dunno:

PS pump is good,brakes work fine,trip back home was OK altough a bit nervous,no problems steering,no play no pulling either,BUTTT...the steering wheel is still offset :WTF:
 
What colour are your seatcovers, now?

Not cool, pal ... look for play in the steering box, loose idler arm will do that too. Check every single part under there... like an idiot just put it together and you really don't want to take any chances ... 'cause you don't.
 
It sounds like it has to be in the box if the tie rods are good.

If it was a hydraulic problem the steering wheel would move with the tires.

I have an old Dodge truck that turned my wife towards the ditch due to a valve issue. Thank God she was in town, I also heard of a Chevy truck or two doing the same thing as my Dodge.

Is your steering wheel loose on the splines? I'm sure you already checked that being old and dry behind the ears.;)
 
I would have guessed a real sharp gust of wind, or dip in the road, but that wouldnt account for the change in steering wheel alignment
 
Diesel -T said:
I would have guessed a real sharp gust of wind, or dip in the road, but that wouldnt account for the change in steering wheel alignment
Click to expand...

Up where Bison lives, they just run over Dips in the road. :) No harm, no foul.
images
 
The box is still orig(Its on the 98)as far as i can tell.
All linkage and rod ends/ball joints are tight.The box it self has a slight tight spot dead center(been that way since i got the truck)
I'm sure every part from the wheel to the box and the pitman arm is splined or keyed,so it can't move.How it is exactly put together In the box i don't know(never took one apart...yet).But i would guess its direct drive and only power assisted.

I got another box on my parts truck but i can't trust it being still good after the accident, cause it ripped a front wheel including the knuckle right off and it bend the frame where the box mounts before the tie rod broke(Semi's are strong buggers)

BTW no seat color change Jim,the old spinxter is in good condition ;)
 
If this is the 98, I know that there is a steering wheel speed sensor and a module which controls a solenoid that regulates P/S pump output flow. I don't know anything about it , but thought I 'DE toss it in the ring. Check for DTC's. Good luck.
 
Isn't that supposed to change the steering ratio depending on vehicle speed? I hadn't thought about that to new for me.
 
Yep EVO? sensor.

Its supposed to make it easy to move the wheel at lower speeds more power assist, but woulnd't change steering wheel position, gotta be inside that box if something is physically changed. You probably can't go all the way to one direction, and rub all the way the other too?

Unsafe. Even I would be sweatin driving that. You know what you felt, imagine on a 2 lane rd where oncoming traffic is fast and big.
 
Did you try to force it back to position with it sitting and off? If it's in the box, I'd suspect you might be able to feel it jump.
 
Matt Bachand said:
Yep EVO? sensor.

Its supposed to make it easy to move the wheel at lower speeds more power assist, but woulnd't change steering wheel position, gotta be inside that box if something is physically changed. You probably can't go all the way to one direction, and rub all the way the other too?

Unsafe. Even I would be sweatin driving that. You know what you felt, imagine on a 2 lane rd where oncoming traffic is fast and big.
Click to expand...

No kidding,it WAS on a 2 lane and plenty semi's,good thing it veered to the right,if it had gone the other way i could be history by now.

I tried correcting the wheel offset by turning it hard the other way against the stop,both engine on and off,but no go
I can still steer full swing both ways to the limit no loss in travel either direction.
 
vail426 said:
If this is the 98, I know that there is a steering wheel speed sensor and a module which controls a solenoid that regulates P/S pump output flow. I don't know anything about it , but thought I 'DE toss it in the ring. Check for DTC's. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thanks for bringing that up,i did not know that!
Jeez ,another G-damn electrical gadget to f"ck up,if there ain't enough of them already.

I knew there's a sensor of sort on the PS pump but figgured it was a low oil or pressure sensor,time to acces Alldata for that,maybe it tells me something.
 
Sounds like what my truck did when I first bought it. It would "skip" side to side, with steering wheel steady. Definitely scary! Luckily it didn't skip very far and as long as I was paying attention I could catch it before drifting into the other lane, but it was still bad. I believe it was the idler arm, but might have been both pitman and idler, can't remember now it was a few years ago. But changing the idler/pitman fixed it. There's still some play, but I think it's in the steering box, but definitely no "skipping" anymore.
 
Bushing fell apart and out? Broken stabilizer bar?

Steering wheel home position has changed. Something is bent, aliment collars slipped, or other part has changed to make the steering wheel move.

Think beyond the front end as you do a 4 wheel alignment. Springs or other rear end angle changes could do this.
 
Yea,i have to get the truck in the shop to do a thourough investigation,its got to wait,the shop is occupied with other stuff at the moment.
And it is to damn cold (-20c) + 3" snow to do it outside (its winter here fellows)
 
Yeah something shifted. A Arm joint bushing or something else. I like what Warwagon said could be other component not exactly between steering wheel and tie rods.

But figure its probable something like idler or balljoint(s). If they are marginal and packed good with grease it will hold up fine and align fairly good but when grease goes out and that last little bit deteriorates the alignment changes. And with a steady weight it shifts semi consistently or holds until fairly major change in weighted position/force loading. You'll have to jack up front end and test each component with different directions of force and different suspension travel direction ie weight download force vs wheel/suspension dropping weight. The idler seems to get the squirreliest when the front end comes upward. Balljoints will do similar. My front end will wear the tires a little different and when the tires wear uneven a change in footprint/road mating causes slight steering changes etc.

If it were the box I would think it would repeat and you would have sloppy steering.

I would further guess that maybe your one or more of your front shocks might have finally lessened their dampening and helped the shift. Even with smooth road and big ole tires with a little unbalance like some dampening.
 
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