I have an 4x4 89 Ranger w/ 2.3 that was sent to me by my cousin to work on. Deal is her ex put the lift on it and ever since then you cant drive it. When I first got the truck it was in bad shape and this is the last of a huge list of items I fixed. Right now what happens is when you get out on the road and get over 10-15 mph the front (left, I believe) tire will sqeul and it will violently swerve left and right, but it doesnt really affect the steering wheel. Sometimes though it will be ok for a little ways then it will do it again. Tonight I was driving and gently swerving back and forth with the steering wheel and it didnt happen while I was swerving but when i tried driving straight it still does it.

He put what I believe is a 5.5 inch James Duff Lift on it. She said he spent a bunch of money to get different coils for it as well. He did not add a drop pitman arm. I put a 4" drop skyjacker arm on it, but the angle of the draglink and tie rod is still pretty big.

Could the problem be that I need a larger drop pitman arm?

A friend of mine that used to work as a mechanic helped me get it closer to aligned and that helped out some, but before that it was toed in really bad.

The balljoints dont look very good, but with it in the air I could not get them to move a lot, but I could get a little out of them. Anyone every have this type of problem with ball joints?

My other guess is the axle pivot bushing but with the tires off the ground and the frame supporting the truck i cant get any movement out of them with a prybar.

I have also replaced the radius arm bushings.

Sorry for the long post, but it feels better to vent a little. Ive been working on this truck over a year now, and I'd like to get it done.

Thanks,
Dave

 

get the truck to an alignment shop

 

if you can move the ball joint losely in the socket, even the slightest, replace them now!!! yes worn ball joints will cause your ranger too roam all over the road, and bigger tires will make it more pronounced, especially if you live in jersey/ penn where the roads look like furrows of a bean field.. this i know from experience with my 81 bronco, also if the drag link and tie rod have very steep angles this will add to the effect

 

I completely concur.
. . though, I haven't a clue about the roads in either state he mentions.

 

also check the drop down brackets...i'm not to sure about rangers ,but on f150/broncos the right axle drop bracket is notorious for wiggling itself loose . i, like many others had to weld the bracket to the OEM mount. does'nt sound like her X was much of a mechanic...
P.S... Remember to use greasable ball joints , the #1 reason the OEM jointswear out other than large tires.they were greaseless nylon.

 

Yeah her Ex was not a very good mechanic. This is only one of the screwups he did. The funniest was when I got the truck he had taken the rear brakes apart and then lost some of the pieces. So he just hooked the rear brake part of the master cylinder to the left front disc and the front part to the right front disc.

The other day I was backing out of the drive and I heard a pop. Started going down the road and it drove much better. So what ever it was popped back into place. I drove it up and down the road and it was ok. So I decided to try backing up with the wheels cut both ways and then it started doing it again. After watching the ball joints before and after Im pretty sure that is what it is. Im going to replace them next week, and the axle pivot bushings as well they dont look really good and I figure it cant hurt anything.

I live in the middle of nowhere Illinois, my house is actually surrounded by bean fields, but the roads there arent too bad.

Thanks,
Dave

 

W.T.F.??? That dude needs to be locked away!!! sounds like he tried too put your sis in a deadly situation... hope she's thru with him.
Good luck on the repairs...
..my bronco use to "pop" when i backed out of the drive ... found out it was the radius arm. where it bolts to the axle , the bottom bolt had come loose tightend it up cured the "pop".