I have a 1997 Ranger supercab, 2wd, 2.3, 5-speed with 3.73 gears (I think) and no limited slip. For the last few months, the truck hasn't felt "right" on the highway, but it wasn't too bad, and I was too busy to figure out the problem. Lately, it has become significantly worse. The truck "wanders" a bit, pulls slightly to the right, and has now developed a fairly severe vibration in the rear end. The wandering feels sort of like too little toe in, maybe even toe out, so I will definately be getting it aligned. I swapped tires front to rear (temporarily, because I have two snow tires), but the vibration didn't change and the steering was worse. While I was swapping tires, I tried spinning the rear wheels. In the right rear wheel, there was a "rough spot" once per wheel revolution, both audible and harder to turn the wheel. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere inside the brake drum, but I couldn't tell for sure. Later, I had my friend come over to take a look and see if he could tell whether it was a bearing or the brake dragging. When we jacked it up again, the driveshaft was turning in addition to the wheel we were spinning, and the noise was gone. There was a sort of gear lash noise from the differential if we turned the wheel fast enough, though. When I put the truck into gear to stop the driveshaft, the noise and rough spot returned.

Anybody got any theories before I take it somewhere, or ideas what I might end up spending if I do?

 

sounds like the rear brakes are dragging on the drum. pull the drum and inspect to start off with.