Truck steering pretty loose

[ukiltmybrutha]

So I took her on her maiden voyage to the county dump and I was kind of scared. The steering seems slack especially when turning right.

I have issues with my brakes that I am working out to, so I am not sure if it is related to the spongy brake situation. (Problem happens when the brakes aren't being pressed though).

Since I am new to trucks, I was wondering if tie rod ends are like a cars. Can I simply jack the front wheels up one at a time and attempt to move the tire side to side?

If so, I have never seen play like this before. I am talking like 1 inch play in each direction.

If it could be tie rod ends, is it usually the outers that go bad and is it common for them to go bad on these trucks?

Is it a difficult job and can I count the turns to avoid an alignment?

Thanks for all!

 

[Fobroader]

Jack up the front end of the truck and wiggle the tires. Both on the horizontal and the vertical plane. Horizontal, steering system is buggered, vertical, your wheel bearings are shot. Also, open the hood, grab your steering shaft and see if there is any play in it, up and down and then when you rotate it. The tie rod ends are like any car.

 

[ukiltmybrutha]

Thank you! Up and down there are no issues. Side to side it's pretty rediculous. Could you clarify on the steering shaft? I am kind of thick lol. Do you mean the rack to the or the long part that connects to the rack from the steering wheel. Do the inners go bad often? Can I just jack up one wheel at a time or do I have to jack up the entire front end?

Jack up the front end of the truck and wiggle the tires. Both on the horizontal and the vertical plane. Horizontal, steering system is buggered, vertical, your wheel bearings are shot. Also, open the hood, grab your steering shaft and see if there is any play in it, up and down and then when you rotate it. The tie rod ends are like any car.

 

[Fobroader]

The shaft that goes from firewall to the steering rack or box (sorry, not familiar with the 2wd setup). Any steering component with as many miles as your truck has I would say has reached way beyond its service life. You can jack up one wheel at a time, but if you do both you can see if there is any play on both sides when you try to move one wheel.

 

[ukiltmybrutha]

Thank you...so what is the "play" I am looking for? I got the up and down part. The side to side part I am a little confused on. Once I turn it am I looking for the wheels to turn with absolutely no delay or is some play acceptable? I did watch the shaft as I turned the wheel closest to it and there was very little if any delay/play. Both wheels on the other hand have like an inch play in either direction if I rock them side to side.

How do I ultimately identify which component(s) are bad? I am little worried that the inner tie rod ends could be bad as well by this time.

 

[Southern Pride]

Yep I just got done doing this I was told horizontal is tie rods, vertical is balljoints and diagonal mvmt is hub bearings which I just did hub bearings ($300) and balljoints ($120) go up to Advance and get moog ball joints/ tie rods and temken hub bearings those are the best parts you won't regret spending the extra $

 

[ukiltmybrutha]

Thanks....still wondering the same things though. Amongst all of the questions I asked, the biggest is...how do I know that the inners are not bad too?

Don't want to spend on it since it is still in beater stage and has a braking issue.

 

[Southern Pride]

Man to be honest I just went through the same thing but the best thing is to go ahead and replace all of it @ once. It's alot easier to keep up with this way. It's gonna take a chunk of $ but you gotta keep up with em'

 

[ukiltmybrutha]

I know what you mean man....it's hard with all the other cars though.

So in your case you didn't replace the inner tie rods right? I don't see that on your list. I could get some outer tie rods and see how it goes but want to see whether or not you replaced the inners.

Thanks again.

Man to be honest I just went through the same thing but the best thing is to go ahead and replace all of it @ once. It's alot easier to keep up with this way. It's gonna take a chunk of $ but you gotta keep up with em'

 

[badazzbulldog]

your truck is 2wd correct?