What would cause my Bronco to steer more one way than the other?

[holeshot]

Just had a lift put on and the shop is having issues with it. They say it is steering more in one direction than the other. One way the tire is into the fender, and the other its not.

What would cause this??

Thanks!

 

[Earl43P]

Wow, get that truck away from those fools and go get it aligned, tell them the issue.

Could be adjusted out simply with equal and opposite turns on the tie rods, but it could also be the arm on the steering box, off a spline or two. Not positive whether the arms are keyed, I've only done a 76 F150 box seal change and didn't take that arm off. I know it takes a beefy puller.

But seriously, a SHOP that can't figure THAT out? Wow.

 

[Captain Ledd]

x2 on the splines being off. I also agree that based on your post, this shop is pretty questionable.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Both the pitman arms and the sector shafts on RBV have master splines, and can only be put on properly or 90 degrees off...which would be very noticeable.

 

[4x4junkie]

Is your steering wheel centered when the wheels are pointed straight ahead? If not, then that's probably your problem.

How tall is the lift?

 

[holeshot]

Is your steering wheel centered when the wheels are pointed straight ahead? If not, then that's probably your problem.

How tall is the lift?

Yes, the wheel is centered in what i will call the "home" position when the wheels are straight ahead. Its just when the wheels are turned towards the left, at full lock, the wheels turn about 4" more than when I turn the wheels to the right at full lock. On the drivers side it will get into the fender.

It is a 6" Skyjacker Class II lift. I am running 15X10 wheels with 33X12.50 MT Baja MTZ's.

I checked on my 86 Bronco and it doesnt steer nearly that sharp.

It has the extreme drop pitman arm as well. We are stumped!

 

[4x4junkie]

Yeah, doesn't sound like the pitman arm (a too short arm would cause the truck to turn less sharp to the left, at the same time screwing the ackerman angle all up as well).

Is anything binding in the linkage? Linkage hitting anything? (I've seen a couple times where the linkage would hit the drop bracket for the driverside beam)

 

[holeshot]

Yeah, doesn't sound like the pitman arm (a too short arm would cause the truck to turn less sharp to the left, at the same time screwing the ackerman angle all up as well).

Is anything binding in the linkage? Linkage hitting anything? (I've seen a couple times where the linkage would hit the drop bracket for the driverside beam)

In this case, it turns very sharp to the left. Nothing seems to be binding up and nothing is hitting anything.

It just doesnt make sense.

 

[Captain Ledd]

Did they take the steering shaft apart? Accidently put mine in backwards once (in a bit of a rush because I was quickly running out of sunlight) and I couldn't get the other parts to line up right (not even bolt in place, but it was close, I got a few bolts in). Did they take the box off to put the shaft on? They may have been able to actually get them all in.

The other option is that as a freak accident, the shaft may have been keyed wrong. Kind of a long shot but I've seen stuff machined weird before. An engine teacher of mine rebuilt an engine and when he went to degree the cam he found the factory replacement cam was 15° off!!! yay for degree wheels I guess.

 

[creepinjeepster]

Did your lift come with a new track bar? By the size of lift, it should have. Was it aligned under truck properly? Does axle look centered under truck or off to one side?

 

[holeshot]

Did they take the steering shaft apart? Accidently put mine in backwards once (in a bit of a rush because I was quickly running out of sunlight) and I couldn't get the other parts to line up right (not even bolt in place, but it was close, I got a few bolts in). Did they take the box off to put the shaft on? They may have been able to actually get them all in.

The other option is that as a freak accident, the shaft may have been keyed wrong. Kind of a long shot but I've seen stuff machined weird before. An engine teacher of mine rebuilt an engine and when he went to degree the cam he found the factory replacement cam was 15° off!!! yay for degree wheels I guess.

I dont know if they took the shaft apart. Sounds like it could be on wrong though to be steering that sharply in one direction.

Did your lift come with a new track bar? By the size of lift, it should have. Was it aligned under truck properly? Does axle look centered under truck or off to one side?

I got the Skyjacker Class II 6" lift...I dont think it came with one.
It was professionally aligned back to factory specs with the adjustable camber bushings. The axle looks centered from side to side, as well as in the wheel wells.

 

[4x4junkie]

Did your lift come with a new track bar? By the size of lift, it should have. Was it aligned under truck properly? Does axle look centered under truck or off to one side?

There is no track bar on this suspension.

Holeshot, maybe post some pictures of the suspension & steering, maybe someone here will recognize something amiss under there (try to get some of the box, column and pitman arm too, if possible).

 

[holeshot]

My uncle has an 86 with a 6" skyjacker, but it has the factory radius arms. I looked at his steering and he has the extreme drop pitman arm as well (so everything should be identical). However, I noticed on his, that the linkage is more towards the front of the Bronco...whereas mine is closer towards the axle. I dont know if that has anything to do with it or not.

Also, I drove by the shop today and noticed that it looks like the axle is not centered in the wheel wells. It could have been turned a bit, but it definitely looked like the wheels were closer to the rear of the vehicle.

Mine has the skyjacker radius arms on it, so could they possibly be why the front axle is more towards the center of the bronco? Is there a way they can be installed wrong to cause this? I dont know if they had to drill into the frame or anything to put them on.

 

[holeshot]

Well, I think we figured it out. The tie rods/drag links appear to be bent!! The shorter one is bent in almost an S shape. and the longer one is bent at the far end. It almost looks like the previous owner either hit something, or they tried to pull it from hooking to the drag link.

I dont know how we overlooked something so obvious! When you look at it straight on, you cant tell, but when you look at it from the side, it is clearly bent all to hell. Anyway, I hope that is what the problem was.

 

[4x4junkie]

Good deal, sounds like you may have found it.

FWIW, the driverside tierod is supposed to have a slight S-bend stock, but the passengerside should not have any bends other than right next to where the driverside tierod attaches to it.

 

[holeshot]

Well that sucks! That is the exact same description as how its bent. So I wonder what else could be the issue now?

 

[4x4junkie]

?

You said it was bent "at the far end". To me this meant out by the knuckle. Is that not so? Did you compare it to the other truck?

 

[holeshot]

?

You said it was bent "at the far end". To me this meant out by the knuckle. Is that not so? Did you compare it to the other truck?

Sorry for the confusion...but it is bent right where it connects around the pitman arm...not the knuckle. Its bent so that the tie rod is pointing to the front of the bronco at the end by the pitman arm.

Yep, comparing it to the other bronco ii, that one had straight tie rods. It was an 86 though.

 

[4x4junkie]

If the passengerside tierod was not curved at all, it's probably not stock steering on it.

So... How about some pics of this thing?

 

[holeshot]

thanks for all your help guys!...we finally got it figured out.

turned out the first alignment shop didnt do it right, so we took it to a better one and had it laser aligned. then welded on some steering stops to prevent it from turning so far. all that and a little fender trimming, she drives like new!!