Truck wanders all over

[Chadly]

Picked up my 82 Jimmy yesterday. It was a 3 hour drive down to San Diego, and a 4.5 hour drive home. The truck wanders all over the place. No lift and 31" tires.

Doesnt matter what speed I am going, or if I'm on the gas, coasting, or braking. Bumps seem to make it worse. Once its going straight its not to bad, but when I go around a turn, I turn the wheel a little and nothing, hold it there, and all of a sudden it takes off in that direction. Also the passenger side front tire is very worn on the inside.

According to what I could find on here its either the steering box, ball joints, or tie rods. With what I described what would you say it is? How do I test ball joints or tie rods? I also read something about a steering box brace? Any extra info on that?

Thanks, you guys are awesome.

 

[resurrected_jimmy]

The first thing to check is the frame where the steering box bolts up to it. This are is well known for cracking and allowing the steering box to walk away from the frame during steering input. Two types of braces are available, first is a weld in repair plate to fix the frame, second is a bolt in brace to distribute the load from the steering box.

You can have someone get in the vehicle and turn the steering wheel left/right and look for excessive slop in any of the steering components.

Jack the front end up and grab the tire at 12 and 6 to see if it will wobble to check for worn ball joints or wheel bearings.

Once you have done all this and repaired anything that is bad go have it aligned.

 

[Chadly]

Thank for your help, I'll try that out when I get home.

 

[ktmoutfront]

Check the u bolts also. I have seen them come loose and cause wandering.

 

[pseudomike]

It could also be the box itself, I just replaced one for a friend, truck was all over the road 155k miles.