Sloppy steering

[Tony Mele]

Can someone advise me on the various steps I can take to improve the slop and wander in my steering?

I just got this truck (73 Bronco ) and the steering slop is the #1 issue that makes me think twice about driving it!

 

[bronconut73]

Can someone advise me on the various steps I can take to improve the slop and wander in my steering?

I just got this truck (73 Bronco ) and the steering slop is the #1 issue that makes me think twice about driving it!

Get a bunch of Good photos of the front steering linkage.
State exactly what you got. Tires, lift, track bar drop bracket, dropped Pitman arm, Etc...

Make sure your contributor status is paid up then start posting pictures.

 

[Tony Mele]

Oh...bye the way, it's not death wobble. Just slop and wander and oversteer.

 

[bronconut73]

Oh...bye the way, it's not death wobble. Just slop and wander and oversteer.

Photos will get these boys interested.
Then they will start jumping in.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yep, just said the same thing to a customer on the phone (also a member here by the way) and he's going to text me some photos to see if I can see anything obvious.

Reason being is that there are many potential reasons for slop in a Bronco steering setup Tony. And as we've found out, most of those "potentials" end up being the "actual" problem!

Then there's the fact that old trucks steering linkage is just sloppy compared to a new car or truck, but we don't overlook the fact that they also wear out and get worse along the way.

But I'm sure we can steer you in the right direction no matter what the issue is. Someone has probably encountered it before.

I might as well say it again though, a great tool for determining if there is something actually loose or amiss in the front of a Bronco is "the test" where a helper saws the steering wheel back and forth about a half-turn in each direction continuously. Just enough movement to get the tires to turn a bit on the ground.
With the full weight of the vehicle on the tires, and the full torque of the steering system fighting it, there is pretty much nothing loose that you won't see.

With this test you can see anything from a loose tie-rod end or ball joint or wheel bearing, all the way up to loose or wobbly trackbar mounts, cracked frames behind a steering box or trackbar bracket, or a loose steering column yoke.
It'll even flex your wheels and tires right in front of your eyes.

But pics are a great start.
You can certainly pony up the 13 bucks to become a contributor, which lets you post images directly from your computer to this site. And we definitely appreciate the support to keep things up and running. Or you can sign on to one of the free image hosting sites and keep your images there and post up links for us to click on.
Direct imaging is better of course, but since you're new-ish here, you may not be ready to fork over money yet either.
Up to you, but we love pics!

Oh, and you can also message one of us with the yellow "contributor" below their screen name and we can post them up for you. Not sure about all the others, but I'm happy to do that for you as well.
If you want to do that, send me a PM and I'll give you my direct e-mail address to send images to.

Paul

 

[Tony Mele]

I'll gladly join as a contributor! I'm heading out of town until July 15, but will update and add pics when I get back.

Thanks!

 

[DirtDonk]

Thanks Tony!
Anyone remember where the link to become a contributor is?%)
Wonder how many years being a member it will take me to remember that without searching!

I mentioned he can find it in the Control Panel under Paid Subscriptions, but it seems to me there's a handy link or sticky on one of these pages.
If you remember, post it up here.

Then we'll both know!

Thanks

Paul

 

[Slowleak]

There is a link on the main page in the "What's New?" section. It takes you to a page with a "become a site contributor" link and photo upload instructions.

 

[DirtDonk]

Thanks. I checked out the What's New page briefly, but must've had my eyes closed or something.

Appreciate it.

Paul