69 ford with k member road walks

[49leadsled]

so i got the crown vic under my boys 69 ranger. got power steering hooked up and working. we took the truck out for a drive and it road walks left to right a good amount. the rack dont feel loose. if you move the wheel the slightest little bit it moves the tires. my question is, i dont have the back lowered yet so its way up in the air. can this make them road walk? also can the steering shaft from the column to the rack do this? i didnt have 2 u joints on hand so i used the stock end from the vic and used a u joint from a later model 1/2 way up the shaft then bolted it the the column flange where the rag joint went. it has a bow in it 1/2 way down. should this be almost strait down? i would post a pic but it said the file is to large and i dont know how to fix that.



thanks guys

[cep62]

If the back end is way high compared to the stock Crown Vic it will affect your caster , which affects handling.

Also the ball joints on my mothers car were tight and it caused memory steer , bad.

thats when you turn the wheel a little and it wont come back to center , so you turn a little the other way then you drift too far back .

you can get used to it, (she did) but it's not a good thing.
I should really drive her car more.

[MadMike]

If the back end is way high compared to the stock Crown Vic it will affect your caster , which affects handling.:

This.

If the truck has excessive negative caster the wheels will try to follow the road, also you will note your steering returning to center may be lazy or slow.
Try different tires if you can borrow a set, some tires are prone to tram-lining on certain road surfaces. Such as old concrete freeways that have been grooved(to flatten).

If the column is binding up due to lack of flex joints, it would cause more of a stiff steering issues, but not wandering.