Okay, so I had something happen to me yesterday that scared the hell out of me. We had a storm come through Michigan that brought about 12-14 inches in my neck of the woods. Roads were pretty nasty and full of snow on my way home from work, so I has my truck in four wheel drive. Stopped on the way and pulled a couple trucks out of the ditch that slid into ditches and were buried. Had no problems, but something felt a little squirmy in the front end. I get to my street which had about 8 inches of snow and some tracks from other people. I'm getting up to speed and my truck is pulling me ALL over the place, constantly fighting the wheel left and right. Luckily I'm a good driver or I would have been in the ditch a few times. Mind that I'm doing 30-40 max. It's like I'm holding the wheel perfectly straight and the front wheels have a complete mind of their own giving me very little control, going left, right, requiring constant correcting of the wheel. Same thing again today even with the road plowed. Put it in 4x4 just to see how it would handle and it did the same thing.

6 months ago the front end was completely overhauled. Wheel bearings, upper and lower ball joints, axle joints, tie rod ends, sway bar links and bushings, shocks. Passenger hub was bad so replaced it with an OEM one. I put a lot of miles on, and it drives perfectly normal on the highway, straight as an arrow. It has not had an alignment since the front end work, I thought I might add. It has Goodyear Duratracs with about 7,000 miles on it with I believe 55-60 psi were just rotated for the first time less than 2 weeks ago. Didn't have this problem in earlier snow falls this year, or EVER in the past that I noticed anyways. But if it were to keep it up my trucks gonna kill me on snowy back roads. PS I had the passenger side brake caliper seized on me about a month ago so replaced it, I don't know if brakes could have something to do with it or not.

Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JB

 

1st thing I would look at is the steering knuckle u-joints, it sounds like 1 or both are starting to bind up, I have seen even brand new ones do this.

 

Are you referring to the u-joints leading from the steering column, or the axle joints connected to the hubs?

 

Could the steering gear also be a possible culprit? Like I said, the front end is pretty darn tight in 2wd, other than maybe needing a slight adjustment in the steering gear.

 

Sounds weird to me.. The axle ujoints will do weird things if they start binding but its usually on a turn. loose steering makes more sense. Get under there and have someone rock the wheel and see whats up if anything. Check bearings or something loose.

 

My first thought is the front axle U-joints too, I think that's what jetjockey99 is referring to. It's odd they would act up within 6 months of replacement, but it sounds like one may be binding. Have your hubs been left unlocked for an extended period before this happened?

It's also possible that the ABS system is acting up. Get yourself an infrared thermometer, they're pretty cheap at Harbor Freight and the next time it happens stop the truck without using the brakes and shoot the front rotors for temperature, they should be about even under normal conditions. If one is significantly hotter than the other it's dragging and could cause the symptoms you describe.

 

Check your brakes too. Build up of snow, salt, and other grime could be locking them up.

 

trade it in!

 

On a rear drive 2 wheel drive I would say the toe in is set to a toe out. Not sure how the 4wd components affect the affects of the toe in. Yours sounds extreme. But an improperly set toe in can give similar results. The snow on the road could compound the wondering.

 

are the hubs manual or auto.

 

I'd make sure both front hubs are manually locked. It may be that one side is not locking automatically.

 

Any time i have ever had this problem it was the axle joints going bad. I just replaced another one on my jeep that didn't have 5000 miles and was dry and seized. I would bet that it the problem. Steering almost feels as if it is rolling from side to side. Good Luck and replace them with ones with zerks. Grease is your friend