pulls to right quickly if you let go wheel,zero tire wear for 18yrs.

[greyghost]

I Have all new front parts from bushings, to ball joints, tie rods, pitman arm, shocks, everything new, and still after 2 frontend alignments truck still pulls to right bad. been like this for 18 yrs. still has same tires that never get rotated, wear pattern is even clear across tread, absolutely zero run out, which has always baffled me why, caliper not dragging step on brakes and it holds straight. doesn't dog walk, but its something in steering system, when turning tight to right i can feel tire skidding as it is outta sync with left, when turning left tight, its not as sharp radius, cud both tie rod connectors be longer or shorter than they're suppose to be? or wrong steering box that wants to center up n pushes more to right. i've gotten used to it over yrs. not big deal to me as tires dont wear, brake pads dont wear, doesn't leak steering fluid. it was like this before why i replaced everything, only things not changed those connectors n gearbox...powersteering valve leaking to one side cause that?

 

[Mr Clean]

2WD, or 4WD?

 

[greyghost]

C10 '81 SWB same one n profile 3spw/OD

 

[JoeR Jr]

Have you got an alignment sheet that shows the numbers on your truck?
Joe

 

[TotalyHucked]

It's a long shot but could the crossbars (I forget their actual name) for the lower control arms be offset? Some aftermarket versions have 2 sets of dimples to help gain caster.

 

[85K304SPD]

Maybe a bad steering gear. Maybe somebody took it apart and got it out of "timing" when they put it back together. They are pretty easy to change, and since you changed everything else, why not update that as well.

 

[67ventwindow]

Are you centered front stop to stop left and right? How does your control arm bushings look?

 

[fast 99]

It isn't very common, but a box can do that.

Assume alignment shop didn't see anything, what are the readings?

Belt shift within the tires can cause it, swap the front tires side to side.

Tires scrubbing, are the visible threads on the tie rods somewhat even?

Front tires reasonably close to centered in the wheel well? Reason I ask that is if the control arms are wrong or swapped it is sometimes visible there.

Front wheels same offset?

 

[animal]

If you have never rotated the tires and they are still the same ones it "could" be a radial pull. Swap straight front to back just to see if it changes. Fairly quick and easy check.

 

[greyghost]

pickup is in town, i'll go by there and grab it. everything i saw was in tolerances, bushes looked brand new last time i checked, 10 yrs ago. this is why i changed all parts, nothing left to chance. steering wheel back to center each way. pitman arm wrong length maybe? not tires, its been doing this when i first bought it, and tires wud show signs of wear, its a smooth ride, always has been, until i let go wheel, its not a hard pull, i can just hold ten oclock position and relax arm on window opening, winter kinda suks no arm rest up high, anyone know off hand length off tie rods are center to center? yes wheels are same , tires same, never checked threads on tie rods , good call i'll do that , can somebody measure theirs, including center link, Totally hucked torsion bar is that what your referring to, or stabilizer bar.. chevy has stabilizer to help keep downward pressure on A-arms in turns, fords use twin Ibeams with torsion bars to hold them in place, i'm gonna run to town snap pics , gets measurements, alignment page if there that was like 18 yrs ago, thats great tire wear, probly less 30k miles , i'll get back late tonite or early morning, thanx guys for possible situations

 

[TotalyHucked]

Nope, not a torsion bar or sway bar. This is what I'm talking about, there's little "heads" in the crossmember that those recessed divets center on. Some of the aftermarket ones have 2 sets of holes so you can adjust the LCA forward or back to help caster.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Bextreme04]

The difference in turning center left to right makes me think that someone got the steering box off center at some point. I would suggest you put the front end in the air and turn it full lock to the right while counting the number of turns of the steering wheel from center. Then check to make sure the spindle stops are actually touching the lockout. Then do the same to the left and see if it is touching the stops. Standard procedure on a steering gear change is to have the steering arm off the box and turn the wheel full stop to the left. Then turn the wheel all the way full stop to the right while counting the number of turns it takes. Then halve that number and turn the wheel that number of turns back to the left to find the true center of the steering gear. The gear will naturally try to return to that position, so you want to make sure the steering gear and the suspension are both in the centered position when they are connected together. I would bet that when your wheels are centered straight ahead, your steering gear is actually offset to the left, so when you let go of the steering wheel it tries to pull it to the right to center the steering gear.

To fix this, I would pull the truck straight into a shop so that I know the wheels are centered. Then disconnect the steering arm and find center on the steering gear by either of the methods mentioned in my post above. Then once the steering gear is centered, see if the steering gear lines up without moving the wheels at all. I bet they won't line up anymore. Then you just need to adjust the tie rods equal and opposite on both sides to maintain your alignment but move the actual steering position over to where the steering gear now lines up with the centered steering gear.

 

[CalSgt]

The difference in turning center left to right makes me think that someone got the steering box off center at some point. I would suggest you put the front end in the air and turn it full lock to the right while counting the number of turns of the steering wheel from center. Then check to make sure the spindle stops are actually touching the lockout. Then do the same to the left and see if it is touching the stops. Standard procedure on a steering gear change is to have the steering arm off the box and turn the wheel full stop to the left. Then turn the wheel all the way full stop to the right while counting the number of turns it takes. Then halve that number and turn the wheel that number of turns back to the left to find the true center of the steering gear. The gear will naturally try to return to that position, so you want to make sure the steering gear and the suspension are both in the centered position when they are connected together. I would bet that when your wheels are centered straight ahead, your steering gear is actually offset to the left, so when you let go of the steering wheel it tries to pull it to the right to center the steering gear.

To fix this, I would pull the truck straight into a shop so that I know the wheels are centered. Then disconnect the steering arm and find center on the steering gear by either of the methods mentioned in my post above. Then once the steering gear is centered, see if the steering gear lines up without moving the wheels at all. I bet they won't line up anymore. Then you just need to adjust the tie rods equal and opposite on both sides to maintain your alignment but move the actual steering position over to where the steering gear now lines up with the centered steering gear.

I would assume trueing the steering wheel at the column would be needed as well?

 

[Snoots]

There should be a mark on both the steering wheel and the shaft to align them.

 

[Frankenchevy]

Once the steering gear is centered, if the steering wheel isn’t pointing straight—don’t center the steering wheel using the drag link. Only adjust the drag link to line up with the pitman arm. If you adjust the steering wheel alignment via drag link adjustment, you are pulling the steering gear off center all over again.