Steering wobble…possible steering box upgrade?

[Minderbinder3]

My ‘66 has a pretty severe front steering wobble when it gets to about 30mph and the road is bumpy. I can “float” through it with a little more speed, but it really isn’t very safe right now and has been like that since I acquired it.

I just finished working on all the brakes, replaced shocks and springs all around, and new tires. Trying to keep everything pretty much stock.

Underneath…the tie rods and pitman arm all seem good and tight.

I think the issue is the original manual steering gear box. I can spin the steering shaft by hand in either direction with little to no resistance.

I’m thinking I will just replace it, but they also sell a power steering conversion kit that sounds tempting. I know that I would have to replace the single crank pulley with a double but not sure if my motor has needed holes for mounting the pump.

Anybody have any suggestions on which direction I should go? I don’t mind the manual steering because it is just going to be a weekend cruiser but now would be the time to upgrade to power steering.

Here are some pics of the underside steering components and the side of the engine where the pump would need to be installed.

 

[DirtDonk]

Clean and stock can be fun. And easier!
I wonder if your box has been replaced previously. I thought the 66 models all came with the steering box with the aluminum top cover.
Maybe that was only on some thought?
Do you know what month yours was built-in?

The first thing I would do is perform the Steering test. It is practically mandatory on all vehicles and especially Broncos.
That’s where you have a helper sit behind the steering wheel and turn it back-and-forth continuously. Don’t have to go full turn in each direction though, just a half turn or quarter turn in each direction is usually enough depending upon the amount of play.
They are doing this while you are laying under the front of the vehicle looking at everything and seeing what is moving and when.
If something moves in a direction that it’s not supposed to, or you see other things around it moving and it’s not, there is excessive play. All these things should be extremely tight, and the only actual place should be in the steering box itself.

You have to do this with the weight of the vehicle on the ground though, so that the power of the steering box is working against the weight of the vehicle.
This way anything that is loose will show up. Where just checking stuff by hand is usually not enough.

While you are having this done, you can look at everything, from where the steering box mounts to the frame, to the upper and lower draglink ends, to the tie rod ends, to the upper and lower trackbar mounts, and even wheel bearings.
You’re looking and/or feeling for any play that shouldn’t be there.
Sometimes the movement in the trackbar is so slight that you need to put a finger up between the mountain and the bolt just to be sure that you’re seeing it correctly.
A tiny bit of movement is OK there because it has bushings. But the tighter the track bar is, the better.

 

[DirtDonk]

About your wobble, that’s interesting. What kind of tires do you have?
And it did it wobble exactly the same with the old tires and the new? Or a little different?
Any change at all, even minor, between the two sets?

The fact that you can actually drive through it and, you don’t mention it literally shaking the steering wheel out of your hand, makes it slightly different from a normal tire induced death wobble.
But the coming on at 30 miles an hour with a bumpy road is a similar characteristic.

Even though the tires are new, you might just play with it and rotate one or both tires from the back.
Up to you, of course, and it is a little extra work. But you’re going to be going through a lot of work to do this anyway.

The test I described above is extremely easy however and you don’t even have to jack vehicle up. You just need a helper to turn the wheel.

And speaking of new tires, what tire pressures are you running in all four corners?

 

[Minderbinder3]

Thank you for the advice. I have tested the steering but only when lifted so I will check under weight now.

Tires are same size and style as it had before. The last ones were dry rotted. The wobble is the same with the new as it was with the old. I was hoping that it would solve the issue but it didn’t.

It was made in Oct. ‘65.

I have worked on death wobble before with some Jeep Wranglers that I have had but none had manual steering.

 

[DirtDonk]

Sounds good.
Even though air pressure alone won’t cause a wobble, it can certainly enhance it. So don’t forget to double check your air pressures and lower them as needed.
I said “lower“ because most tires can support the weight of the bronco safely without being inflated to their maximum.
We often do the “chalk test“ to determine optimum pressures. Works really well in the rear tires, but a little more finicky on the front.

 

[Don Quixote de La Mancha]

'Same problem with my 66 U15, which does NOT have power steering.

So much just changed--Currie 44 in front, Currie 9" in back, new BFGoodrich All Terrains, 4-wheel disc brake conversion, ARBs front-&-rear, and eight new shocks (Weird--the mounts for two shocks at each wheel were there, but only one shock was at each wheel--Go figure?).
I have driven maybe 25 miles since all these upgrades, and it was quite puckering at first. I'll deal with it soon--I just finished a driver's door window fix yesterday and need a break before I tackle the spooky steering wobble--it is hard to keep it in one lane on the straights and downright OMG keeping it in one lane on the curves!

Is there a source for the order in which steering problems corrections should be tackled?

Usually, there is a "Try this first--and if that doesn't fix the problem then try this...(and so forth)" protocol for diagnosing and correcting many automotive problems. Please share it if any of you have a step-by-step process by which you determine the order in which possible steering wobble fixes should be tried!

Thank you! DQdLM

 

[DirtDonk]

Lots of places to go from here, I think. But let’s narrow it down a little if we can.
And if it runs too long, maybe start your own thread about it. Even though jumping in here might help solve both problems, so I’m all for discussing it here in Minderbinder’s thread.

Are you saying it literally wobbles all the time? No difference based on speed or road conditions?
Other than it’s scarier when you turn, is it basically acting the same way left and right?
Has it been basically aligned yet? And no matter what, maybe the first thing would be to jack the wheels up off the ground and see what’s going on.
If all the wheels are off the ground and you can spin them and not see anything, put it in the four-wheel-drive and let the wheels turn by the engine.
See if any of them have a visible wobble just by themselves.

And speaking of 4-wheel Drive, make sure you’re not in four-wheel-drive now, or have the hubs locked.
Did you happen to replace the front axle steering you joints during all this work?
One, or maybe both of the axle joints, being frozen or partially frozen could definitely give you a wobble coming from the front that would get worse when turning the wheel.

 

[DirtDonk]

Oh, and there’s absolutely nothing unusual, unheard of, or unexpected about dual shock mounts and single shocks.
How many owners has your bronco gone through? Maybe one wanted dual shocks, and another did not.
Maybe one had the money for dual shocks, and another did not.
Maybe the same owner had money at one point for dual shocks, but not at another time when he needed to replace them.
Maybe the same owner used dual shocks only under certain circumstances, and single shocks the rest of the time for a better city ride.
Those are just some of the scenarios I can think of off the top of my head quickly.

So lots of reasons for it potentially. Hard to say what the real reason was for your particular bronco.

Now that I think about it, my 68 has dual shock mounts all the way around and only single shocks.
That was just circumstances during the build, and after. I actually intend to run dual shocks eventually just to see if I like it or not.
I have liked it in the past on other Broncos, but I was younger and shocks were different.
So I’ll be doing it purely for entertainment and education value.

 

[Madgyver]

check tracbar bushings and related parts. wobble can be from loose steering box bolts and/or all other steering components. it could be the worn steering rag joint on the the steering column if there is one.