so 2 weeks ago after lifting my truck i took it in for an alignment. while on the rack the tech showed me that the idler arm, and drag link were both shot and needed to be replaced before he could align it properly. so i came home and found a good deal on some parts and bought them. they got here about a week later and i put them on 2 days ago. i ended replacing the idler arm, drag link, both inner and outer tie rods and and while under there i found out that the passenger side sway bar end link was bent like ) so i got new energy suspension end links too. the only things i didnt replace were the ball joints because there isnt any play in them. took it back today and had the alignment done and now it seems like the truck wanders all over the road and is squirrelly when i hit a bump. it also has a slight pull to the right now. it didnt wander or anything before the bad parts were replaced so is this from the aligment being set wrong is there something else wrong that needs to be replaced?

 

Did you get a printout with your alignment? If so post up the numbers for caster and camber. Take it back and have them do it again, make sure to get a printout with before and after specs.

 

Hell yeah! If it's worse than before, sounds like they screwed up.

 

here is the printout i got.

everything is in the green.
i have an appt. on monday to have it redone though.

 

At the top it states: 1992-95: Standard Cab 4x2: Standard Bed
Maybe it's the same for 4x4, I wouldn't necessarily think it would be though.
It isn't that way for 83-88, which I have the specs for here. 2wd different.

 

but i have a 2wd truck....

 

well i might have found part of the problem. after the truck sat in the driveway for a little bit, i noticed that there was a drip under the truck. i got under there to investagate because my truck doesnt leak anything and noticed that my steering stabilizer is leaking oil. so i ordered a new one from napa and hopfuly it cures some of the problem.
also can someone tell me if i replace my upper and lower ball joins, would i need to get it realigned again after? im starting to think they might have something to do with the wandering over bumps and the groove tracking.

 

depending on how high you lifted you have to make sure your steering geometry is the same as it was before you lifted it. i can't recall their PC names but there are 2 bars going from your chassis to your steering; they have to be paralell or you'll "walk" down the road in normal driving conditions

 

did the stabilizer and it solved nothing. i also replaced the upper ball joints and it still does the same thing. i didnt do the lowers because there is no play in them at all. it still feels like there is a big gust of wind that pushed the truck around after going over bumps. anyone got any ideas?

 

are u sure the bottoms have no play?? u need to unload the balls joints first.. so if u didnt already then jack the car up and put a jack stand under the lower control arm and then see if theres play in the unloaded ball joint.

 

ok, tried that ^ (put the jack stands under the control arms, put a block of wood behind the tire and used a bar to pry up) and i still got no play. im about to just give up and take it to a shop to see what they say which will just hurt because i have always done all my own work. this is just baffling me.

 

just got back from getting it realigned and he said he got it as close to spec as possible but, because of my balljoint spacers he cant get in totally in. and the reason its squirrelly is because it lifted up abit. so i think im going to take it to another shop and see what they say.

 

Did you get it fixed? I think I've got the same problem. Small ruts or bumps in the road seem to toss my truck around. I've heard it being called bump steering.

Troy