Would anyone have any experience, that while towing, why you would get a steering wheel shake. The truck actually feels like it is under a strain. I have the tow package. This happened yesterday, first time I towed my jetski in a year, and didn't experience this before that. Felt the problem as soon as I started driving with it after I put the trailer on. Drove the D around after unhitching the trailer, and everything seems fine without it. It's only a jetski, no weight at all. Is my D telling me something thats beginning to surface soon?
Thanks, Ray

 

Sounds like your aglinment is out. When you put any strin on a vehicle you can sure tell if something is out. Eater that or a wheel bearing is out. I would defenatly get a 4 wheel aglinment just to be sure that everthing is tight under there. They wont charge you unless something is wrong.

 

No doubt and I would agree with the alignment being out. Only 64K on her so far. Brought her in to the mechanic today and gave him the symptoms and the run down with my issues. Came back with ball joints needing to be replaced. I'm having them all done at this point. I did look at the control arms also and the bushings are dry rotted. Wanted to have them replaced but I got a little disappointing news on this when he told me that the bushings can't be replaced by themselves. They need to replace the entire control arm with the bushing being a part of the unit. A little hefty dollar value add on to the bill, I think, at a number somewhere around $650 each. So he was able to get another set of control arms that came from a D that had only 30K on it with the bushings that are in decent shape. Only $100 for each control arm, and the plan to install the ball joints on those. Didn't get her back tonight, so we'll see tomorrow. But now I have more questions and need to do a little research. First, of course, is the fact that you can't get bushings for a control arm? Second, you mentioned a 4 wheel alignment. Do the rear wheels really get an alignment? Always heard of front end alignment and is this a necessary, or should I say common precaution that you should take on a regular maintenance check?
Thanks
Ray

 

If you do ball joints you need to do a 4 wheel aglinment. Some of the back wheels will move but mainly your cambers will be out. You have to do a 4 wheel aglinment! You can buy front end parts cheap on ebay or at www.rockauto.com. Those parts are not that expensive! You have to replace the control arm. The bushings are part of them. Next time just buy the parts you need and have them installed it will save you about half.

 

Had the ball joints done, all 4, along with lower control arms. Also replaced the rear shocks, only because they were getting soft. Already did the fronts a month ago. Alignment done, but not sure if they did all 4. Will check tomorrow with them. If they didn't do it, I'll be able to leave it there and have them do it tomorrow. Still don't quite understand why rear alignment is needed. Thanks for the sight. Will definately come in handy.

 

Ok I'll give you the run down. The shop puts alignment cups on your wheels and matches the front to the back. The front can move to ride in the rear tracks. Sometimes the rear can move to run in the fronts tracks.

Have you ever seen a vehicle driving down the road diagonal? This is why you need a 4 wheel alignment. 2 wheels just plain suck and you get crappy wear out of your tires. Besides when you do your ball joints the camber is out. You have to make sure the vehicle is driving strait and that your tires are towed in correctly and you do this while making sure that your inline with the back. Some have rear wheel adjustments and a good slam can take them out making your vehicle drive diagonal wearing your tires and forcing you to play battle with the steering wheel. If you mess with your ball joints or anything in the front end or rear end you should have it 4 wheel alined.

 

I have a fairly similar problem I have a '99 D SLT 4x4 with a 5.9L and I consistantly play battle with the steering wheel infact to keep it straight I have to **** it off to the left and even then it's a bit of a challenge to keep it right because it feels like the front passengerside wheel has a mind of its own. it was like that before I got the hub assemblies and the upper ball joints replaced. Should I get the lowers (the mechanic says there are officially "smoked")? Because that was probably about 2-3 months and ~7,000 miles ago. No change in performance other than it doesn't feel like I'm gonna roll over when I take a turn at higher speeds. Any advice?

 

Get those ball joints done! If your wheel comes off going down the road your dead! You can get the front end checked out with a 4 wheel aglinment for free if something is bad. If not have the aglinment done anyway.

 

Thanks for the advice, I don't have the money right now I'm a full time student and can barely afford the gas as it is... I'm hoping it'll last till after the summer because I'll be getting about $2k from the Marine Corps. Might just take out a loan to fix EVERYTHING on it and do a few other lil things. It also is making a squeeking noise from the passengerside front wheel, the Brake and ABS light keep coming on as well. Going to try and snake it into Autozone or something for a free diagnostic.

 

As far as I know the only ones who can diano. the ABS is the dealer.