have someone move the steering wheel side to side while you have the hood open. look for movement in the steering shaft prior to the wheels moving. this will determine if the play is in the box or in the steering shaft itself.

bushings are a huge role like Grey is saying. i am going to run polybushings for both my radius arms and pivot bushings. I want longevity and durability. My steering is also messed. I have movement at the pitman arm tierod and play in the box. I will also be puting my steering above the knuckle.

 

That's what I am saying. Any little thing out of place on the suspension and it's magnified like 10 time on our Broncs. Even though mine is as tight as it was the day it left the car lot new. I am still gonna grab the first straight axle I find handy that will adapt to her. And keep it around till I need to swap it in. Or find the 78/79 of my dreams.

 

I am using poly Moogs in my track bar, and will look for the same for other bushings i replace. As with you guys i too have a lot of steering issues, looks stuff and worn out parts. I am just a bit intimidated to try to fix most of it cause i haven never done it before and don't want to screw up and lose more money.

 

Dylan it's just like anything. It's unbolts and bolts back together. It's that simple. Sometimes ya may need a come along winch to pull things back enough to get like radius arm bushings in. Get a manual and dive in.

 

I've got a chilton manual and i realize that it bolt back together, my problem is remembering how it unbolted. Or not being able to understand directions. Once i get a second vehicle to drive when the bronco is down, that will help a lot. I am just afraid i will start working on something i can't handle and run into a problem i cannot overcome without a ton of money. I also don't have a garage to use for extended periods of time :P My step-dad and mom use our garage for their cars and don't particularly like when my truck is in there for a long time. (got nagged at when my tranny was out being rebuilt)

 

Careful what you wish for there, Gruesome.

The D44 solid front axle has a total of FOURTEEN (14) pivot points/points of attachment to the truck.

2 - track bar mounts which are a through-bolt-and-bushing design that only allow the axle to travel up and down by pivoting on the bolts/bushings while keeping it centered under the truck. There is one at the frame end and one at the axle end of the track bar.

2 - radius arm and bushings which are a bayonet-type mount that allows the radius arm to follow the arc of the axle as it articulates. So, this setup allows for both linear (up and down) motion of the arms while ALSO allowing them to rotate slightly as the axle articulates since the radius arms are semi-rigidly attached to the axle.

2 - pairs of "C" bushings (a total of four) with one pair at the front of each radius arm. Unlike the TTB axle which uses a completely rigid attachment between the axle housing and the radius arms, the solid axle REQUIRES the "C" bushings to maintain caster. LIfted truck often require the use of modified "C" bushings to keep the caster alignment correct after lifting the truck.

2 - upper ball joints which are press-fit into the knuckle and bolted to the axle housing.

2 - lower ball joints which are press-fit into the knuckle and bolted to the axle housing. Both sets of ball joints are typical ball-and-socket assemblies that allow the steering knuckle and wheel to remain perpendicular with the pavement while the suspension articulates while also allowing the knuckle to rotate as the steering angle is changed.

2- outer tie-rod ends which perform the same function they do in every other conventional steering system.

1 - inner tie-rod that attaches to the mid-point of the other inner tie-rod.

1 - inner tie-rod that attaches to the pitman arm on the steering gear. Together these two components make up the rather contrived Ford "inverted Y" steering system.

As obnoxious as folks would have you believe the TTB axle to be, it still has fewer rubber parts to go bad.

 

As I told you in the other thread: check the bolts that attach the steering box to the frame. I lost one washer of one of them and that was all it took for everything to start getting loose, thank god I found out before it hurted anything. Even if they look fine take a ratchet in there and see if they're tight.

 

So who wants to do an inspection on my front end I bet you would find all those parts need replacing ACCEPT the track bar bushings. Dun those mahself, I pretty much know all those mounts you listed, the only ones i don't understand yet are the tierod ends and the ball joints. I have seen the ones on my 2wd Ranger taken off and replaced which was cake, but when i look at my system of bars and grease and dirt and whatever else i have hit.. I get in that state of no longer wanting to work on anything...

 

The ball-and-socket components are some of the more tedious to replace and also the most frequently MIS-diagnosed point of concern. Bad ball joints often manifest in the form of premature wearing of the inboard side of the front tire tread. If they no longer can maintain camber they will let the tires sit like this /---\ causing the inboard side of the tread to wear faster than normal. Bad rod ends will manifest as loose steering and wander along with cupping of the tread edges on the tires. The tire is no longer held dead straight while the truck is rolling and the edges of the tread are actually dragged slightly sideways causing the tread lugs to wear in a sawtooth manner (cupping) around the face of the tire.

 

It is likely the steering gear......I have replaced everything.....radius bushings and pivot bushings with polyurethane...all tie rods ....ball joints.....all the wheel bearings.....added a steering stabilizer......replaced the gear 3 times with cheap remans fro advance auto and Oreilly's was tight for 3 weeks.....hoping the redhead don't let me down

 

Ya, my track bar was causing my wobble and my old tires were cupped pretty bad. all my joints appear ok, they just look worn. My steering feels really tight now after the track bar work BUT when i worked at the dealership i had a free inspection done by a tech who does a lot of offroading and stuff and he found out that my driverside ball joint was loose or worn out. We lifted the front axle and wiggled the tire. It doesn't seem to hurt anything yet but it is on the back of my mind and i know i have to get it taken care of. I just want to do that and the brakes all in one swing so it doesn't have to be taken apart a bunch of times. This same tech also told me about my radius arm bracket on the frame being loose and missing bolts. after replacing all 4 nuts and bolts i already lost one and the bracket came loose again but i tightened the remaining bolts and when i am not busy being lazy i will swing by Napa and get another bolt. I bought some threadlocker for them this time, i just have to get under there and do it.

 

I have a 91 bronco I just picked up a few weeks ago. Its doing the same thing! wanders,tracks ruts, jumps from side to side after the slightest of bumps and pulls to either side when breaks are applied. I noticed the steering wheel had to be turned to the right to keep it going stright down the highway! Today I got under it and inspected every componet. It has new Radius bushings, wheelbearings,shocks. Tierods, steering box/shaft,balljoints are tight. My pivot bushing on the driver side is loose and causing my problems. I had the rig up on the lift and couldnt find anything wrong. I was rotating my tires and noticed some play in the pivot bushing. My best guess on this is with the truck on the lift it had the waight of everything hanging and was putting tension on the bushing,thus making it harder to spot the play. While swapping the tires around I used a floorjack on the dif to lift the dr front leaving the pas side tire on the ground. Wiggling the dr tire back and forth revealed the bad bushing. I am going to install poly bushings and tighten the mounts this weekend. Ill post my results.

 

Hopefully this will fix your problems. Never fun having your truck drive where it wants to go.

 

Redhead gear and a tie rod flip.....
Red-Head Steering Gears
Welcome to GOFERIT Offroad!

 

whats required to do the tierod flip?