Think that would happen on the original suspension? I'll check them out.
I drove it home(25 miles or so) with no issues.. stops straight, drives straight, and no weird vibes. Going to check things out tomorrow when it's day light. It seems when the wheel is straight, the driver's side tire is straight and the passenger side is pointed out a bit.
If the tierod was bent, the tires would toe IN, not OUT. (Unless somehow its threads were magically loosened, which is not gonna happen.)
If the wheel was bent, it would flop in and out as it rotated.
Put it up on stands ... if the passenger tire always points out in front, then A Really Bad Thing happened. Balljoints could be shot ... but I'm thinking the spindle itself got bent, or the knuckle is thrashed.
Read up on the procedure for replacing balljoints, as your teardown will be exactly the same. If the tire is visibly out of alignment, then the spindle or knuckle or other broken or bent parts should be obvious.
I would HIGHLY recommend NOT driving on the thing until you've torn it down and looked at it... if the knuckle is cracked, even, it could completely disintegrate just going over a bump on the highway, and that is a bad, if not fatal, accident waiting to happen.
OTOH, the parts aren't hard to come by; like, uh, post in the wanted section here for whatever you find is thrashed, and any of us who've upgraded to crossover steering and flat-top knuckles prolly have the old stuff laying around you could have for cheap.
Anyway, at the very least get the wheel off and *closely* examine the truck ... if you're not familiar with the axle, take both front wheels off and compare the driver's side to the passenger. The brake rotors should be parallel to each other, i.e. the sides of the truck when the steering wheel is point straight ahead, etc etc.
EDIT: Though I think it less likely than a bent spindle, it could be a suspension issue, like loose u-bolts or (more likely) a broken spring leaf, or the axle got bounced back off the center pin of the spring pack. Same advice: take off both wheels and compare left side to right. Use a measuring tape if you need to ... if the center of the wheel on one side is materially farther from the front of the truck than the other ... bad
-- A
I'm at work so I can't check the alignment but I'm going to assume something got bent or messed up. Give me some ideas? I've got tomorrow off to figure this out.. hopefully it's not a major break.
Never done that, ever. I just needed it back on the road ASAP because until July I don't have a back up car that's street legal(K5 runs great.. it's just not street legal!).
