This might have been covered? Not much good with the search feature.

My truck is pulling both ways. The steering wheel kind of has a mind if it's own. Mostly it pulls to the right, so I compensate to keep it straight, then it'll let go and I go left because i'm pulling that way. Then it pulls right again and I compensate again.
But it's just as happy to do the exact opposite. Seems like it does one for a few hundred yards or so, then mainly does the other. Meaning it's not R-L-R-L-R-L, generally it goes R for a while and then goes L for a while.

I say a few hundred yards because above 30 or so miles an hour it doesn't do it as much. Getting out of my neighborhood though it does it quite a bit.

I have access to a lift but it's across town and I just haven't got there yet to put it in the air and see the condition of the front end components.

What i'm asking here is where to start looking. Does that sound like a gearbox issue? I haven't driven a manual steering car for a while.

Thanks!

 

Either something is worn/loose, or it's toed out. You can check toe with a tape measure pretty easily, you want 1/16 to 1/8 toe in.

 

2X Ford Six's comments. And check to make sure that the air pressure is the same in the front tires. But I'd check it on that lift sooner than later. It would be a real bad day to have something break off in the middle of a turn.

 

Besides worn suspension/steering parts, worn down tire treads or old hard tires can also do this. The vehicle can also tramline (dart back and forth) if there are ruts worn into the pavement. This is usually more noticeable if driving in the right lane of a divided highway, because that's the lane all the overloaded 18-wheelers run in to cause these ruts.

 

lots of play in the wheel also ? have to turn wheel half a turn to get wheels to move?
check the rag joint that connects steering column to the steering box .

 

I'm going to agree with all of the above. Worn out stuff in the front end will cause drivability problems. Don't rule out wheel bearings, hung up brakes and bad or missing front shocks. What is really puzzling to me is its more of a slow speed problem. Please keep us advised as to what you find out.

 

Tires and toe angle are my first guess. Make sure tire pressures are up to snuff. Then check toe angle as described above.

Even with a loose gearbox, the truck will go straight if the rest of it is good.

 

My bet is on the drag link. But you need to check all the steering linkage, king pins, rag joint, and steering gear box for wear and looseness. If all are a little loose these add up to a bunch. Check these out as soon as possible. If I am right and most of the problem is a worn out drag link, you can lose your steering if it falls apart.
I think at higher speeds the toe in is helping.
Safety Buddy, Safety.

 

The only thing I would add to all of the above is that if your steering gearbox has been adjusted too tightly it will be miserable to drive. You will have to constantly over correct it. They need a little slack to maintain straight ahead drivability. This is one reason for the caster.

 

I have all the tires at the same pressure but i'm also about to swap on some different ones that are practically brand new. The reason for the swap is because the PO put on some dinky little 195's off of a car. I know those sidewalls are way too thin. This steering issue is more serious than thin sidewalls though, it moves quite a lot.

I also had my kids move the wheel back and forth so I could watch the rag joint. It appeared to be tight and working fine. Looks like all the input from the wheel is getting to the gearbox.

As far as play in the wheel, yes, some but not any more than I would expect in an old pickup. It's not any worse than any old suburban i've ever driven. Maybe 1/16th of the steering wheel or less. When I saw the wheel back and forth at say 20mph, i'm pretty happy with how it responds. Not tight exactly but pretty good.

I will hopefully get it on the lift tomorrow. I haven't ventured there (all the way across town) yet because my water pump is falling apart but i'm replacing that tomorrow so then we should be good.

I'm also a little confused about the mostly at slow speeds part of this, I guess we'll see.

Let me ask you this, when checking the toe in on a pickup with I-beams, will the drop it will have on the lift affect the measurement of the toe in or no it should be the same as a loaded suspension?

 

Many of our highways here now have rain grooves ground into them and they will often aggravate the condition but I also go with loose parts and toed out.

 

Yes the front tires need to be loaded by the weight of the truck to accurately check the toe.

 

It has to be loaded and should be driven straight ahead a couple rotations of the tires so the suspension settles.

 

I haven't checked the toe yet. Actually i'm just reading your replies now. But I did get it up on the lift today.

And I really didn't find much. The king pins have a little play but nothing bad at all. Tie rods, drag link etc is actually tight. The only thing I found broken is the driver's side spring. It's broken completely but only about a 6" chunk off the top. So half a coil is broken off. The part that's broken has the tab bolted to it to hold it to the vehicle so everything is still there, no piece missing or anything.

The bushings on the... I'm seeing them called Radius arms and/or Strut arms at the rear suck, they're dry and rotted but that connection still appears to be tight.

I'm going to check toe tomorrow and if that checks out i'm going to lean towards overtightened steering box I think?

What do you think?

Meanwhile i'm getting better at driving it And it's still not an issue over 30mph.

 

I remember when I first got my 69 F250 with manual everything, it was a handful to drive. It would wander all over, follow any minor defect in the road, and I'd have to stay so on top of it it was stressful to drive, until I learned to relax. I would basically just rest my hand on the wheel and let the truck do it's thing, give it a loose rein and it was much more pleasurable to drive. These old trucks need that, you don't so much precisely guide them and just kind of show them which way you want to go.