My truck wanders all over the road even when im not moving the steering wheel. I was wondering what could be causing this. I know it needs lower ball joints. upper ties are good and i just replaced the driver side lower tie. Any suggestions?

 

Did you check the pitman and idler arms? Those are a common wear point. Also check your inner and outer tie rod ends. If those are tight then check wheel bearings and ball joints. And by lower tie do you mean the outer one(attached to the steering knuckle?) Mine wandered all over and i found the idler arm so worn it was about ready to come apart...

 

yeah i meant outer. sorry i had the ball joints on my mind. ok i will check those things out.

 

If all the ball joints, tie rods, idler and pitman arms are all new, then whatever play is left is normal. Gear box steering just isn't as tight as rack and pinion. My truck wanders on certain roads just because of the crown of the road and all the front end joints are less than a year old.

 

Could it also possibly be due to the fact that you removed the sway bar?

 

No, cause it was doing it before I removed the anti-sway bar and had the truck aligned after removing it. The anti-sway bar's sole job is to transfer the suspension's force/motion to the other side to prevent body roll.

 

Yeah I know the main purpose of the sway bar, but it was a thought. ya know how thinking goes LOL

 

Also, the power assist in the gearbox is super high so it doesn't take he-man strength to turn the wheel at low speed(i.e. parking lots.) The only disadvantage to this is the loose, disconnected feeling at high speed.

 

I went and bought new idler arm and pitman arm today. The lower ball joints need changing but the uppers are good. the outer tie rod end on driver side was just changed last month and the upper was good. I imagine the pass side is wore also. I plan on changing it all next week while im on a temporary LOW at the mill.

 

I have a 99 Dodge Ram bought new and had this problem for many years until I discovered on this forum the rock solid steering fix. I sent for the kit approximately 2 years ago and did nothing to install it until the truck was unsafe to drive. I didn't want to install it myself due to the awkward position it was in so I had my mechanic do it. He charged 3 hrs. labor which the kit said it would take. When I picked up the truck the mechanic told me I was right on in having the kit installed. The fix is like night and day. The truck tracks flawlessly down the road with no wander. In fact one of the mechanics employed at this place told me he worked at a Dodge dealership and told me this was a common problem and they would just replace the whole steering column and put in the OE part resulting in having the same problem down the road and the wandering would come back, most likely out of warranty. This is a fantastic fix and would recommend this fix before replacing parts ***** nilly. It works. Cost was about $57.00. I paid 3 hrs. labor @ $90.00 per hour to install. It was well worth it.