steering correction problems. its a oddball i think

[mwood1985]

so after measuring like skyjackers tech told me to we figured out that I have an 8 inch lift. the recommended steering corrections was a raised steering arm and a drop pitman arm with the factory drag link. got everything re installed tonight and I have zero left turning and it still goes hard right. it seems to be a common problem when using a 8 inch lift that the drag link is too short and the fix is the pitman arm steering arm combo. ive figured out that my drag link is about a inch and a half too LONG. im assuming I may have overcorrected and the pitman arm steering arm combo was too much. no left turning at all but its already adjusted as short as it wil go. both end links are touching in the adjustment sleeve. any ideas on a quick fix? I previously ran the same lift and steering arm but Didn't have the pitman arm and my steering worked fine on the street. I plan on doing crossover at a later date (couple years) when I go to tons but for now the 10 bolts will get me cruising again.

 

[rebelgregory]

Definitely sounds odd.

Pics of the setup would be helpful. If the drag link is lengthened, you'd have to figure out how. Is it a longer sleeve or longer threaded tie rod ends? With it adjusted all the way in, like you have now, are the tie rod ends touching inside the sleeve? If so, you could cut them down to give yourself more adjustment.

Is the pitman arm mounted properly? i.e. are you SURE the steering wheel is centered when the pitman arm is installed. Ideally, the steering wheel is centered, the pitman arm is pointing outward perpendicular to the frame rail and the drag link is level.

A quick check would be count the number of steering wheel turns from lock to lock. Divide by two and bring the steering wheel back to center by turning it that many turns. Then look at ur linkage. It should be as stated above. If not, take a pic and post it.

 

[mwood1985]

the tire rod ends ARE touching inside the sleeve. without seeing moog masterpro and OE tie rod ends I have no clue if the masterpro brand I used is longer or not. if I can cut the tie rods threads about an inch shorter on both then I think ill get the length closer. is the drag link being too long causing the lack of steering? I kinda assumed that it would turn a lot with little input from the steering wheel. my steering wheel is centered correctly. 3.5 turns lock to lock and center is right at 1.75 turns in both directions to lock the new drop pitman arm can only go on one way I believe

 

[rebelgregory]

Crazy weird.

I went to look at mine. Tie rod end (TRE) from pitman to sleeve is about 6". Sleeve is about 4" and TRE from sleeve to steering arm is 8.5". I measured from the center of the ball joint (at the stud) to the end of the threads. Not overall length. If your TREs are touching, it is massively different than mine (which is set up correctly). My TREs stop just under the band clamps on the sleeve. Not even close to touching. Pic for reference.

Is your rig sitting on the suspension, or is it on jackstands on the frame?

 

[thearborbarber]

Your draglink is too long. The band aid fix is to cut some of the thread portion of the rod ends. I ran into the same this with a 6 inch lift.

 

[mwood1985]

its sitting as it would normally. I pulled the drive train suspension ect and swapped it from a 86 body to a 88 and made a bunch of changes to the setup that I had problems with with the 86. the lack of pitman arm was one of them. i was in the process of firing it back up tonight and last thing was to bleed the power steering and go for a test drive and when I cycled the steering to get the air out that's when I noticed the problem. so band aid fix is to cut the tie rods. im assuming I cant get a nut to thread on to fix the threads after cutting as one sides reverse threads

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

What axle and what truck?

Assuming it's an old straight axle Chevy, disconnect the draglink from the pitman arm. Turn the box to full lock right, then full lock left and count how many times the wheel turns. Then spin it back half that much, so it's centered (~1-3/4 turns IIRC).

Now, point the tires as straight forward as you can. Adjust the length of the draglink so it fits into the pitman arm. That should get everything pretty close, good enough to generally steer left/right. Minor adjustments have to be made to make the steering wheel straight when going straight down the road.

Lots of worn out parts can mess all this up too.

 

[mwood1985]

10 bolt and a 88 k5. I got it sorted out last night. did some tinkering and found that the drag link fully adjusted in was an inch two long. just trimmed the threads to fit on the steering arm side and used a Moog pitman arm side which appears to be half an inch shorter than the Orilleys Masterpro brand I was using originally. we grabbed a few off the shelf just to look for FYI and it appears that the masterpros are all longer than GM spec by about an inch. that I think was the original cause of the problem. ive got full left to right steering again and it was dang near perfect alignment wise. im gonna chock it up to crap China parts. lesson learned keep their grubby little crapola Asian made parts out of my 'Merika truck lol

 

[thearborbarber]

Glad you got it figured out. Moog is 3 times the price but 3 times the quality.

 

[mwood1985]

yeah im learning that the Chinese stuff worthless. now that the steerings fixed ive gotta move on the the other problem of a high at times and erratic idle and wanting to cut off when I pull up to lights.. the ol girls being a pain