death wobble with 35's ????????????

[1971ford]

Still getting wobble. Not anything near as bad as it was before. The wheel just starts "jerking" back and forth a little when i get around 50mph, like it did before but it doesn't get any worse than a little wobble. Still annoying, and not sure if i'd feel safe driving it on the highway to the trail i'm going to pretty soon.

Is the steering being really loose contributing to the wobble?
I am going to check out the steering joints on the tie rod and drag link tomorrow. I THINK the pitman arm might be slightly loose (would that do it?). When i was attempting to tighten up the steering box, I noticed the pitman didn't look real tight on the box, and forgot to check it out.

Just trying to check everything i can before paying for an alignment

[averagef250]

The two gears wear mostly in the near straight ahead position. If you tighten the adjuster screw too much, it will be over-tight at full-lock where the gears are not worn. In some cases this can crack the gear box housing.

There are shops that can rebuild steering gear boxes. I think I saw some on the O'Reilly web site. Possibly you can find another used box with less wear. New might be available, but I bet it's not cost effective.

The highboy steering boxes don't work this way. They don't use a ballnut/screw. They are easy to work on, the factory manuals cover them in great detail. They are an archaic design, like turn of the last century technology inside, but as time as shown that wasn't a bad way to go because they're still working. When they do go out it's usually a matter of not having any lube in them for a decade or more.

I like to measure my front end stuff out and take it to an alignment shop or two or three. If they've found something wrong I overlooked I take it home, fix it and bring it back before paying for anything. I didn't know there were shops that charged for not doing an alignment.

[1971ford]

Interesting info Dustin.


Today my dad took a look at the steering box and he cranked the screw on the side in a couple more times, and it took away A LOT of slack, pretty happy about that!!

Then i took the greese gun and i greesed every zerk on the truck. Ever steering zerk got pumped full (did all driveshaft u-joint and slip joint zerks as well).
Then I drove it...

I simply can not believe the difference a little greased made.
After making the longer shackles, giving the axle more negative caster, the steering was to the point where I moved power steering up on my list of things to do, it was pretty hard to steer with these 35's and the shackles made it a little harder.
Now with the grease/steering box tightening, It's like i have the 31's back on, and i never did the shackles. It's amazing.
I won't be doing power steering any time.

Anyways. This didn't help the wobble. Can't really call it a death wobble anymore because it's much smaller but it's still there. Today after greasing and tightening, on my wamy home from work the wobble was still there, at about 50 mph, like always.
One thing i keep fogettting to mention. The tires are BFG T/A's. If you arn't familiar with these desert racing tires, they flat spot LIKE CRAZY. If the truck sits for a couple hours you get a bumpy ride for a couple miles. And, the tires are not balanced. Although, none of these tires are balanced on the race truck and it doesn't get any vibration at all around 60+
Today the wobble was a little different. If i hold the steering wheel perfectly straight, it doesn't wobble. If i turn the wheel just a little to the left or the right, the truck starts shaking, but does not grow to be a death wobble, and is manageable, just really annoying and not good for anything...
I can finally check steering off the list, i think.

[Racer Z]

One thing i keep fogettting to mention. The tires are BFG T/A's. If you arn't familiar with these desert racing tires, they flat spot LIKE CRAZY. If the truck sits for a couple hours you get a bumpy ride for a couple miles. And, the tires are not balanced.

I haven't heard off tires flat-spotting in years. They (the tire manufactures) learned how to avoid that over 30 years ago. Typically, that only happened with fabric radials (not steel radials). The good news is that after you drive a few miles the tires warm up and the lumpity-lump-lump goes away.

[1971ford]

yeah, only tire i know of that gets flatspots are the BFG T/A Project style tires, which I have. And boy do they get flatspots
On a cold morning I'll get the bumps all the way to school. I'm assuming that whatever is in the compound that makes the tires good for desert racing, also comes with flat spotting

[CrypticRacer13]

Ryan have you found any info on rebuild kits or new/used manual boxes? im in the same boat with my box being super loose,althogh i havnt had a chance to look at all the parts for wear.

[1971ford]

Nope haven't looked into it. But I had a ridiculous amount of play in the steering and then after tightening the screw on the box it is WAY tighter, but still a couple inches of play. I haven't even tried turning the screw another turn yet though!

Cryptic, I suggest you tighten up the screw on the side of the box a few turns, then grab the grease gun and greese all the steering zerks. Theres one on the shaft u-joint, and a few on the draglink/tie-rod. let me know how it feels afterwards. If it's anything like mine, you won't believe it's the same truck.

[CrypticRacer13]

ive tightend the screw in the side,but it made no diff. that am im not sure if i did it right, i jacked the front of the truck up, tightend the screw in till its stoped then turned the wheel lock to lock, i only got a 1/4 turn of the screw before it stoped. put it back on the ground an made no diff. If someone is sitting in the cab an truns the wheel back an forth while its on the ground it looks to be all in the box, but im going to grease everything up tonight when i get off work.

[Racer Z]

Not all U-joints have a zerk fittings. Replacements come both ways, depending on how much you pay. You have one guess as to which costs more.