I've got a dangerous steering/braking problem that forces or pulls to one side and when I try to correct it, it flips and pulls to the other side. Eventually going back and forth until it either goes away or I stop completely and hope it's goes away.

I've replaced, both unit bearings, every piece of the steering system after the pitman arm, ball joints, steering dampener, shocks, sway bar link/bushings, drag link and bushings, axle shaft u-joints within the last 1000 miles with two alignments by two different shops. Brake rotors and pads where replaced less than 200 miles ago. I've adjust the steering box 3/8ths a turn and it has tightened up the steering but the glitch still remains. Truck has 2wheel ABS and has just under 150k.

The first time this happen was about 1,500 miles ago, I was on I-35 North bound on a right hand curve and coming out of the turn the traffic was dead stop so I had to slam the brakes and it was forcing to the right, I'd force it left then it would take off to the left and back and fourth until it smoothed out and was normal.

Now sometimes when I brake into a turn(normally a right hand 90 degree turn) half way through the turn, it feels like the whole front end shifts to one side making it feel like the tires have turned further than I have spun the steering wheel. Then coming out of the turn after it does this little front end shift thing it goes back and forth. I've tried mounting my gopro onto the shock to see wtf is going on under the front of the truck but every time it's recording it never does it, like it knows I'm going to fix that *****.

Yesterday, I almost got T-boned by an 18 wheeler because it wouldn't turn left at a stop light, had 3 times the spacing and time to turn but because the wheel wouldn't go left I had to turn it right halfway thru the first lane and almost ended up on the left side of the median. Man oh man, never want to be on the receiving end of an 18wheeler.

I'm going to replace both front calipers because it seems like this is happening when ever brakes are being applied and I noticed both my calipers seem like they are the ORIGINAL calipers, heavy rust flacking off and they seemed a little hard to collapse when doing the brake job.

While I'm in there do any of you brake guru's know what else I can check?

 

Be sure your axle isn't shifting around (due to broken spring pins), but it sounds like your calipers are hanging up at odd times. Either lube the slide pins or replace the calipers. Check your rear brakes, too, if they have been neglected to the point where they could be rusty or not in the best of shape.

 

That is what i would check. the center pins shear off and will let the axle housing shift back and forth. jack up the truck and loosen the u-bolts and see if the head of the pins are sheared off. jack it up by the frame not the axle. also if you have a sticky caliper pins OR sticking caliper pistons, that will happen..

 

I wonder if you don't have some sticky valving in the steering box itself.

When was the last time you serviced the hydraulic system, i.e.changed the oil?

Pop

 

Steve, Sand and Pop thanks for the replies

I'll be sure to check the spring pins, I did visually inspect the spring pack and drop brackets. There is dirt left over from a few weeks ago on the axle/spring surface but i'll buzz the u bolts off to be sure.

Caliper Pins where in good shape and greased when I did the brakes, but the problem was there before brake job. The pistons on both of them where pretty difficult to get in even with a big c-clamp so I'm going to try and flush the whole dang brake system and throw on new front brake hoses when I do the front caliper's.

Pop-Last time I flushed the power steering system was when I threw a ford reman-pump on there...oh say 3-4 years ago? It's probably time to flush it again but dang I hate messing with that system because it's not whinnying right now lol.
I remember putting full syn atf in there but I heard they discontinued making it, what a good brand/blend?

I'll be sure to use some clean jugs when flushing both systems and see if I can't find any possible culprits in the fluid.

 

I used Mobil 1 synthetic ATF the last time I did mine.

For a short time, roughly three years ago, P.R. Kalifornia banned it for some "labeling" concern, but I'm almost certain it's back on the shelves again. I suspect Texas had it all along.....

Pop

 

You swapped out every part of the steering linkage but not the steering box. R+R that bad boy. It'd be odd for your left caliper to be sticking until you force it left and then your right caliper begins to stick. I'd suspect that gear box.

 

Thanks for the reminder pop, I did find 2 1qts of un-opened hidden in my tool box. I think I knew I was going to need some more at some point lol.

Josh, steering box is will be the next thing I replace after the calipers I've been tracking the redneck ram kit for awhile which will give me a rebuilt box and that lovely ram assist.

 

Update

Well I threw on new calipers, brake hoses and flushed the brake system with 2 qts of fluid. Nothing big to note about the fluid, was a little darker than the new fluid.

Flushed the power steering with 3 qts of Mobil 1 syn. Old fluid(3yrs) looked darker than the fresh fluid.

It brakes like a beast now but pulling still remains, it's kind of worse now. It will do it at every stop-turn now, before it would be hit and miss every 3-4 stop-turn.

Now im going to replace the Box.

I could get a reman autoparts box for $190 with lifetime, 5 minutes away so there would be no core-charge.

Anyone used the cardone remans with success?

I've been drooling over the redhead box's, their pricey to say the least but from what I gather it fixes the sloppiness. But that doesn't fix the other "issue" with running bigger tires.

Been tracking the Redneck system for awhile, which would cure both issues(hopefully)

Anyone have the Redneck ram on their trucks?

EDIT: New problem with oil consumption....3 weeks ago I checked the oil, was just above the fill line. Added 2 qts which brought it up. Checked it today after doing the brakes and flush job and it was below fill line. No external leaks, no smoke on cold/warm startup. Did notice some blue smoke on hard acceleration, in the past few weeks currently running stock tune. Turbo O-rings?