Need advice. Grand daughter just bought a 93 150 dw short bed 4x4 with 360. Cute and rather unique little truck, but has a problem. Owner had installed 33x10s and the steering is not right; wanders a lot. Have a feeling the oversized tires killed the original box, so do I replace it with a heavy duty box, rebuild the old one, or what? She won't be doing a lot of off-roading, other than roadways and mountain roads, and she wants to keep the big tires and wheels, otherwise it won't be bitchen, right? What to do.

 

It's been my experience with lifted rigs that there are a number of things that can cause the truck to wander once you've slapped on a lift and tires. The steering box is only one link in that chain, so that leads me to a few questions.

When you say wander, what do you mean? Does the truck pull to one side or the other? Does the steering feel vague? Is there a lot of play in the steering? Do the tires show any signs of uneven wear? Does the rest of the steering gear (drag link, pittman arm, etc.) seem in good shape?

 

Your grand daughter has good taste in trucks haha.

But the first thing I would check is the steering shaft, I bet the coupler is worn out. Thats a common problem even with no lift and bigger tires. Check the alignment aswell

 

I agree with this reply, I suspected my steering box but discovered the sliding coupler was worn out. There is a repair kit available from Dorman products. Part # 425-253. there is a tutorial on you tube. I bought mine from Advance Autu parts online for $11.00

 

The coupler in the link is the biggest problem with the steering in the trucks http://www.1aauto.com/1A/Steering-Sh...FaTm7AodtwoAgg
You can replace it but with large tire's, few thousand miles and you'll be doing it again.
This is a permanent fix http://www.borgeson.com/xcart/catalo...ck-p-1452.html
Found this article on how to replace it http://www.customclassictrucks.com/t...ering_upgrade/

Dave