The bronco only has 39k miles on it and has always had a wandering issue. Of course, this got worse after adding the lift, wheels and tires.
Then that's where you need to look.
First the lift will do it, but more on that later. The tires and wheels, what size did you switch from, to? And what size wheels with what offset?
I thought I had it figured out. The stock manual box was sloppy so I replaced it with an aftermarket new box and cut the steering shaft to add a collapsible shaft.
Probably needed it, but there are many things on a Bronco that can cause or make wandering worse.
Other than some minor wandering, all was good. Until last weekend. I drove it to the grocery store and back which is about 4 miles round trip. A few times during the trip the bronco would veer to the left.
Not only is that not good, it's dangerous! Figure that out before you start driving it again.
What exactly did it do, and when? And how severe was the veering?
I got home and noted that the sloppy feeling in the steering was mostly to the left.
I don't see anything that has obviously changed.
Define sloppy and under what circumstances? All of this talk about how to get rid of wandering may have nothing to do with another underlying problem with a component that you need to correct.
I know this has been covered here several times. I've read tons of threads but I can't find a straight answer.
That's because you were not looking for a straight answer. Like many of us, you were probably looking for a single one-size-fits-all definitive answer to your problem. But without knowing what your problem is, that answer does not exist. So you won't find it here.
Otherwise, the answers really are out there.
I've seen drop pitman and no drop pitman. Track bar drops and risers, as well as tro/tru.
Which direction do I need to be looking here?
That's because history dictates that earlier Early Bronco owners as a general group were cheap. And the vendors just followed suit for the last 50 years or so.
Back in the day, nobody wanted to hear that their lift was going to cost another $75 bucks for a dropped pitman arm and trackbar bracket, so they didn't listen and didn't buy them. And to most, it was perfectly fine with their modest lift. Heck, in the beginning there weren't even any dropped pitman arms unless you found one off of another vehicle that fit the bill. And adding just a trackbar drop without a pitman arm just made things worse.
In fact, we still see to this day (right here on this forum a few weeks ago I think?) Broncos with 3.5" of lift without the drops.
Despite the fact that you "only" lifted yours 2.5" you still radically changed the angle of the steering and suspension linkage outside of their stock settings. This might be acceptable to some, but not if you're trying to keep it (and you) happy on the street.
Most say you don't need them for 2" or less. Well, you don't have less, you have more! I know it's only a 1/2" more, but it's still more. And frankly, even 2" is borderline and while we might have accepted it back in the day, most of us would find it completely unacceptable today.
So you are probably going to have to get a dropped pitman arm and trackbar bracket because that's what's needed at a minimum to bring the angles of the draglink and trackbar back down to near-stock.
I know that's primarily stated to be for reducing bumpsteer, but wandering can be related to bumpsteer and those same components get rid of some of the newly installed vagueness of steering feel that you get after a lift. Lowering the angles back down should impart a more direct feel to your steering. Which in itself helps with wander.
I guess I should also add, I haven't had an alignment yet.
You can play with toe-in without even measuring, but it's best to do it right and measure consistently.
However, a full alignment readout is helpful and getting them to set your toe-in to a known value is a great starting point for all the fiddling you're going to do in the driveway.
Again, what size tires? Someone just posted up an alignment sheet showing toe-in measured in inches, but most racks these days use degrees as their reference, which does not give an accurate real world measurement if you have changed your tire size.
But it's still a great starting point, and you can convert it with math, or one of the charts that does it for you.
I've lowered the air pressure all around to 27.
Keep playing with pressure. Depending on the tires and wheels, you might be able to go even lower and still drive at high speed safely.
And like so many settings, you can easily go back up if needed.
I just pushed up and down on the front bumper as hard as I can I don't see any movement on the steering wheel.
Good to know, but not a definitive test.
I've manually pulled on each tre, drag link and track bar and nothing appears loose or moves.
Can't do it that way. Period...
You will never see the fine movements in a loose component that can cause minor wandering by hand. You need to do the test that Timmy described above.
For this test you need the full weight of the truck on the ground, and a helper up at the steering wheel turning it back and forth while you watch for movement. Literally watching everything and everywhere. Even in the back!
The helper does not have to turn the wheel lock to lock either. Can be done with just a quarter to half turn in each direction, but they need to do it continuously while you're under there looking at trackbar bushings AND brackets AND bolts, steering box mounting to the frame, rod ends, wheels and knuckles (king-pin bearings) and all that.
With manual steering you rarely see a cracked frame. But it's not impossible, so it's a good thing to watch the box and how it flexes on the frame.
The only thing I'm down to is the steering box which is new. I get about an 1/8 of a turn on the wheel before anything moves.
Pretty normal and probably good. Not great, but not out of line for an old component. You might be able to tighten it up some, but I would not touch the preload adjuster until there is nothing else left.
The box had a centered mark on the output shaft and body that the company said to make sure was aligned for install. It is.
That's good, because that's more important than most realize.
When the lines are aligned and wheels straight, the pitman arm is pointing slightly right looking from the front.
Is it the original pitman arm? The '66 through about '74 arms did point one spline (10 degrees) to the driver's side. So that sounds normal.
After that the arms were oriented straight back. The offset never seemed to cause any trouble in itself, but either way is fine as AS LONG AS THE BOX REMAINS CENTERED.
I guess I could remove it and tighten up the drag link to see if anything improves.
Not sure what you mean by "tighten up the draglink" but removing the arm sounds unnecessary at this point.
But do the test outlined above and see if anything is truly loose.
Hopefully on the short list.
Or just do it yourself in the driveway/garage. You only need to set toe-in for the moment, but an alignment on a rack by a professional is always a good thing so that you can at least get a printout of what all your settings are and you can move on from there. Maybe it's perfect, maybe not.
Probably not...
Speaking of lists, here's a short list of things that can cause wandering in a short wheelbase vehicle like ours.
1. Tires:
Tire age (not wear, but age), tire pressure, tire wear, tire tread pattern, tire width.
2. Wheels:
Wheel width, wheel offset.
Trackbar:
Bushings, bolts, brackets, and bolts. The lower one can break it's weld underneath and get slightly loose. Just enough to cause minor wandering.
3. Wheel bearings improperly adjusted or worn out.
4. King-pin bearings improperly set or worn out.
5. Taller lifts leading to improper steering linkage angles.
6. Loose steering box or cracked frame.
7. Other "stuff"
8. ALL OF THE ABOVE ADDED TOGETHER!
Sounds like you have many of the parts replaced or dialed in, but as you can see by this discussion (that someone in the future will read and think there was no straight answer either!) there are still plenty of areas to check.
Lucky you...
good luck.
Paul
