I'm not sure what's wrong but I noticed when turning the wheel if I look under the truck the whole steering setup twists and moves around a lot. Not sure how to explain it but it seems to move around more than it should. I also noticed my breaks acting up and it's hard to push on the break pedal and it only goes down an inch or so then stops. Not sure if these are related or not.

 

If you've got good stopping power with just an inch of pedal travel, everything is as it rightly should be.

I can't say anything about your perception that the stuff moves more than it seems it ought to. Does your truck wander? Do you have to saw the steering wheel to keep it straight on a level road? Or are ya just looking up in there and wonderin' about it?

 

It does wander quite a bit. and the steering seems very loose feeling when driving. And the brakes just started doing this. It usually has a softer feel to it. And I noticed it seems to take longer to stop and needs more push to really get it to stop rather than the normal. It all changed after I drove about a half hr away and then got home and went to the store. That's when I noticed the feeling in the breaks which brought me to see the steering also

 

Okay then: The slop you're seeing is too much. It's probably the cumulative effect of several wear points rather than just one thing, but it may be that just one thing will resolve most of it. The trick is figuring out which one thing it might be, and then being smart enough to continue through the system afterward so that the slop in the other parts doesn't hammer away at the new one.

Are the brakes dragging? That can reduce pedal travel while increasing effort (due to glazed drums/rotors), but it's usually noticed from the driver's seat before it gets to that point. To check, just jack up one wheel at a time, place a jack stand appropriately, and spin the lifted wheel by hand both forward and backward. You'll want at least two grounded wheels chocked both in front and behind, and for the rears you want the parking brake off and transmission in neutral. The effort required to turn the tires shouldn't be great, and there should be no unusual noises.

 

I think all the rubber seats are junk. So I'm sure all the points of pivot are junk too. So I assume il be changing those some how lol. As for the breaks I'm not sure what's going on. Thought maybe it was some how connected

 

Not fun!

I can't think of even an implausible scenario in which they might be related. If I were going to plunk down a dollar, my bet would be on dragging brakes, likely on the front, with matching glazed rotors. If the bet had to be ten bucks, though, I'd just get out of the way.

 

Ok. Thanks for the help. What should I do next. Il look into my steering problem asap. But what about the breaks?

 

But what about just damn reading what I damn wrote?

I mean that in the best of humor. Just scroll on down the page and find the part about jacking the wheels up one at a time.

If you're feeling ambitious you can pull the calipers and look at the pads. If they're shiny (even if just in a band along the top) then glaze is positively confirmed. If the rotors have enough meat left on them, you can just have them deglazed, or fully turned if necessary. If you want to salvage the pads because they're still plenty thick, just plunk 'em face down on a sheet of face up medium grit sandpaper and wander 'em around in a circular motion with moderate downward pressure applied until the shine is gone. It's more or less the same for the rears, just get the drums off and look for shine on the shoes -- again, get the drums deglazed, turned, or replaced as necessary, and be a bit more careful about sanding the shine off of the shoes if you're not going to replace them. If you create a flat spot they'll either grab like hell or won't stop like they should, depending upon where the flat spot is.

If you dig in and find no glazing at all, then you've got a real stumper.

 

How easy are the tierods to change?

 

Oh ok. That's what I ment. What the next step was for the breaks. Il have to get it up on jacks tomorrow and take a look. Thanks