Idler arm! The drag (center) link is a non-wear part. Crawl under the truck have someone else move the wheel back and forth just a bit at a time and watch, if the arm moves up and down it is bad or weak. It is the one mounted to the frame on the passenger side. Dont take much at all to cause the problem. Part is about $70, and you can change it your self or have it done. Dont have to realign after words as you dont change any or remove any of the tie rods.


Oh it is not bump steer you are feeling, bump steer is when your tires either hit a bump or groove in the road and go towards that direction. What you are feeling is caused by a loose part, when you hit a bump the front end starts to viabrate back and forth, when there is no play your dont feel anything but a jerk, as the steering absorbs the rest of it. When you have a badly loose part, usually the idler arm, it starts a chain reaction of sorts and just keeps going till you slow down enough to let it stop.

 

Good call on the bump steer. I was throwing ideas out there to check. You are right the drag link is a non wear item but as stated the truck was in a wreck last year. I was think along the lines of it possibly being bent or tweaked a bit it may seem tight and still be tweaked. With any luck i hope it is just the idler arm.

 

Sorry didnt caatch about the wreck, guess he could go to a salvage yard and pick up a new(used) center link cheap, that way as long as he got it from a non wrecked truck, he would be sure to have a good straight one with out spending a bundle on it.

 

WELL ENDED UP CHANGING EVERY BALLJOINT ACROSS THE CENTER LINK, SHOCKS IN FRONT AND LOWER CONTROL ARM BALLJOINT ON DRIVER SIDE. DRIVING YESTERDAY AND THE TRUCK STARTED POPPING REAL BADFROM THE PASSENGER SIDE SUSP. SO I CRAWLED UNDERNEATH IT ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT THE LOWER CONTROL ON THE PASS. SIDE HAS COMPLETELY SNAPPED OFF FROM THE FRAME. THE PLATE THAT CONNECTS THE LOWER ARM TO THE INSIDE OF THE FRAME RAIL SNAPPED OFF. HOW F'D UP IS THAT. WELL HAD IT WELDED BACK ON AND ALL OF THE PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED. EXCEPT THAT THE TRUCK ISNT SAFE IN THE LONG RUN SO THATS WHY IM GETTING A DAKOTA NOW. THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP GUYS. MUCH APPRECIATED.



DOUG

 

I had a Jeep( I know four wheel drive) it came with a bad set of (cheap) tires and it would almost swap lanes. New tires and high speed balance never happened again. Also you may have a worped wheel from the wreck and got them mismatched so even when rotated you always have a worped wheel on the front..