I just bought a 80 manual pickup with a 20 R engine. The truck had steering issues when I bought it. I would be driving down the road and it would out of the blue jerk to one side. I looked at the steering system and noticed that the tie rod was bowed up and someone had put rims on that caused the ends of the tie rod arms to rub on the inside of the rims. I bought a parts truck for 300 and swaped out everything from the pit arm down that was connected to the tie rod. It was 30 below her in Alaska today and pulling parts off the parts truck was not fun. Anyways after the swap in a warm garage everything felt smooth and it stirred great for about 5 miles. Then it started jumping around again. Its leaking oil around the front dif. It has really gotten bad since it got cold. Any Help or links to related posts would be greatly appreciated. Not looking forward to pulling more parts.

 

i had the same problem with my 94, but it was a steering dampner. not really familiar with the pre 84's but it would be a start.

 

hello
anybody out there?

 

My 83 did that when I got it. Rebuilt the front end, knuckle bearing was gone! Just the race was left... My steering stabilizer was just a rod going into a can, it's still gone so I know it wasn't causing my problem.

It usually started jumping around after I got on the brakes kinda hard and then would slowly go away.

Sounds like some more parts to pull in that chilly weather, heck it's been cold in Florida.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f114...ctures-223729/

 

So far I have replace spark plugs and wires , cap and rotor, some air hoses, and yesterday I rebuilt the Carb. I still need to adjust it. I thought the jumping was from a cylinder missing so that is why I replaced cap and rotor etc. Then I thought it might be a fuel problem hence carb rebuild (i took lots of pics if any one needs them). Today I headed into town and it was still jumping around and I couldn't accelerate past 45. turned around and went back home. Could this still possibly be a timing issue? Could one of the cylinders not be firing? Any Help would be much appreciated.

 

I would inspect the wheel bearings and hubs.
if the wheel bearings are shot itll cause excessive drag.
inspect brakes, too

 

i would say check wheel bearings and knuckle bearings. and do a compression test

 

Thanks for the advice, doing a compression test tomorrow. Will check others tomorrow as well.

 

well compression test was good. replace starter coil, changed out fluid in front and rear difs with 75 w and changed spark plug gaps to .032. same problem after being on the road for about 10 min. After all of this Im ashamed and happy to say that I had different tires sizes between the front and back. Didn't think to check that. I put it in 2wd and everything was fine ( This is something I should have done alot earlier as well). Kind of strange how it wouldn't act up right away though.
My truck doesn't seem to like this cold weather. Went to start it this morning and a squealing noise was coming from drivers side right around master cylinder. More trouble shooting . Im ready to build a shed with a stove inside to park this thing in.
Thanks again for all the help.

 

sounds like you need to thoroughly rebuilt the front end, knuckle service kit, TRE etc..

and I feel for you...I was stationed at Ft. Richardson for 4 years....working on the truck in december and January was always fun