I'm trying to "baseline" this problem since we've ruled out caster, the ball joints, etc.

I still feel that the new steering box might be a contributing factor --- did the problem become more evident post install of the steering box? (it may be whacky geometry in the rebuild, "off center", damaged internals (e.g sector shaft) , needs alignment/centering prior to installation)

 

The truck had brutal memory steer before the new box and ball joints. When I tightened the adjusting nut on top of the box all the slack was gone but it had memory steer really bad again. I am suspicious that cardone just slapped some new seals and cheap paint on a crappy box. The truck had the same/similar symptoms before the alignment. Maybe when I am back in town next week I will take the tie rods out of the knuckles and reseat/retorque them. I would be happy to get a refund from cardone and try a motorcraft box since it's my only other option. I have a very minor power steering leak too. I seem to have a lot of very small leaks. I'm not sure if it contributes anything to my problems though, because the wheel feels right and the pump is quiet.

Before I did the box/balljoints the steering was the worst thing in the world. I did the ball joints first then test drove it and after I installed the steering box it got better but was still pretty bad. Overall I'm not happy with the way it drives and am stumped as to what could be the problem other than the box. If I can prove its the cardone box I will shame them everywhere until I get a refund/replacement.

I strapped the steering wheel down when I pulled the box and with the truck in the air it goes 1, 3/4 turns lock to lock both directions so I'm pretty sure everything is the way its supposed to be and the pitman arm can only go on one way.

 

I hear good things about the RedHed boxes. My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that once the screw for the sector shaft is tightened too far is that it can actually damage the box and it won't go back to how it was before it was tightened. That being said, these trucks didn't have the best steering to begin with and most have vague on-center feel even new.

 

It's been awhile since i even looked but do you have a rag gasket on your steering column....last time i had major slop in steering it was that gasket.

 

New rag joint. You can bugger up the box by tightening it but mine was buggered before that. Therce is no change after all that fiddling. Redhead boxes are great but the cost to ship it to Canada is absurd then I lose 20% to the exchange rate. Keep in mind my Cardone box which I am extremely suspicious of cost me 250 and that was supposed to be some kind of deal. Also I think it is the box because when you tighten the adjuster it gets brutal memory steer but no slop not even a millimeter, none at all.

 

Problem solved! It seems the slight drag on my ball joints was causing my memory steer problems. It really doesn't take much to bugger up the way a truck drives. The passenger side bottom stud couldn't be torqued without the whole weight of the truck on it from jacking it. My thoughts on this are that jacking a steering knuckle to tighten a ball joint preloads it and putting 35 foot lbs on it to start was more like 120 when combined with jacking on it.

Anyways after tearing the passenger side apart for the third time pull the ball joints out of the knuckle, wirewheeling the holes and sanding the insides and re installing the ball joints I got it to work. I didn't use a torque wrench for my final torque of the bottom joints, I used a breaker bar. You really shouldn't have any resistance in ball joints or anything on the front end when replacing parts. I adjusted the steering box a final time and now she steers nearly perfect after much misery.

I also noticed upon closer inspection that my near new radius arm bushings were installed incorrectly. I'm probably going to get a lift kit with extended radius arms sometime so I'm not going to worry about it, for now the truck drives great.

 

That's great! Thanks for coming back and posting the fix. It just might help someone out in the future.

 

Seems that the truck is still somewhat sloppier than it should be. It's really noticeable on the highway and now it's pulling left and right at different times. I probably have the steering box adjusted looser than it should be. I found one radius arm bushing half obliterated and thought they were recent but they were really old and the brackets were oblonged in the hole.

So I decided to replace the brackets and bushings. Cost 230$ for the parts and took about 7 hours. It was a bear to wrestle the new brackets on. I have one Ford bracket and one mystery bracket. The ford one was much easier to line up lol. Go figure anyways I'm going to take it on the highway tomorrow and see if it's any better.

Oh also I replaced pads on both front brakes and the passenger side caliper since the piston was cracked. Didn't help. It used to pull left now it just seems to go wherever it wants to. I wish I had a bigger space to work in so I could've done the pivot bushings too but I wouldn't have been able to get the beams out to get my bj press on em.

 

Just an FYI, the beams don't have to come out, neither does the drive shaft, at least not on my 95 F250 4x4, I did both of my pivot bushings in about a total of 8 - 9 hours over 2 days. With 2 jack stands and a 3.5 ton floor jack, on the driveway. I had to use the sawzall and a chisel to get them out, once the bolts were removed and my electric impact gun ran the BJ tool all the way in until the last 3/8 inch then I had to use the breaker bar and muscle to finish seating them. Replacing them took out 95% of the slop and wandering from side to side, I still have a left side tie rod that needs to be changed. Also, I found out that when hitting the brakes it was pulling from one side to the other. I discovered that the rubber brake lines were collapsing inside acting as a one way valve. Changed them and no more pulling.

 

Mike your truck is a lot different as it's a leaf sprung truck without coils or radius arms and I imagine would be easier to do. I unfortunately don't have a driveway only a 1 car garage that's quite narrow. I wonder what labor on this job would be. If I had somewhere to do this I would blast it all apart but I don't so.

Kinda getting miffed that every bushing or part on these trucks can cause them to drive like absolute garbage.


I just took the truck for a drive and it's definitely taken out a lot of the slack out of the steering, seems to have helped with the wandering under braking.

 

Suppose I should do an update. Truck still has memory steer ie it won't return to center on the highway. Replaced pivot bushings, radius arm brackets and bushings, ball joints as mentioned earlier and the steering box last year. Getting pretty tired of this. I'm pretty much lost as to where to look now. My thoughts are possibly defective tie rods? I also did all the brakes and it stops to straight/whatever direction the sloppy steering wheel is pointing.

I'm tempted to take it to an alignment shop and see what they say. I found one near me that was recommended as a ttb specialist shop of sorts. Does anyone have an idea about this? Something I may not have thought of?

How would I even go about diagnosing if it were say the steering box? I put the truck on stands and tried turning the steering wheel engine off and it seems pretty reasonable. If I recall I only had about 3 degrees of caster. Would getting bushings for 6 degrees solve my problem? This truck is almost where it needs to be just not quite.

 

The steering gear on my '94 Bronco had a leak. Since it already had almost 200K miles on it I replaced it with a box from Napa and it was worse than the OEM box I took off. The steering was heavy and didn't have very good on center feel. Since you have already replaced the ball joints and installed with the proper tightening sequence then replacing the steering gear would be my next step. As you already determined there should not be much resistance to turning the wheels with the tie rod disconnected. How did you determine that the u-joints are good? Did you remove the axle shafts from the truck and check them?

 

When I had the ball joints out I decided to check them. They are old and a little crusty but move freely and have no play. I run the 4wd on the highway at 70 miles an hour sometimes it doesn't have any problems.

 

Personally, I don't think your caster is enough. My experience is that the short wheel base on the Broncos requires more caster than an equally setup pickup.

On my '79 Bronco I had all new Moog ball joints and tie rod ends, Borgeson steering shaft, Redhead steering gear, polyurethane bushings, and it still handled like crap at 4 degrees of caster. It didn't get to what I thought was acceptable handling until I got between 6-7 degrees of caster on it.

 

Do you think I'll be able to get it with caster camber bushings in the upper ball joint? Or will I end up using adjustable radius arm bushings?