Ive had my 83' for about two years now. I'm pretty sure Ive had this problem all along- When I'm trying to maintain a slow speed (between 15 and 40 mph) it gets very jerky back and forth, not side to side. When I accelerate quickly I don't notice it much if at all. Initially, I thought it might be excessive play between gears in the tranny and drive line. I read on another forum on this site that it could be the wires or plugs. I replaced the wires, but the problem still exists. Someone told me it might be a carburetor issue. With so many possibilities, I was wondering if anyone else has had similar problems with this year range. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

I'd look at the fuel filter and fuel pump first...

 

I agree. Sounds fuel related

 

I had the same thing going on with my truck. I took the gas tank off had it cleaned and sealed. I then put on a new fuel filter and cleaned out the fuel lines and then put a new weber on it. My problem was rust in the fuel tank. At this point I am wishing I would have just put a new tank on cause I am nervous the tank may still have some rust in there that wasn't taken care of. Time will tell I guess.

good luck...

 

Thank you guys very much! I will check the fuel filter next. I sure hope I don't have to replace my fuel tank. It is one of the features on my truck that I love the most because it's a 30-gallon tank. I couldn't find one that big in my Chilton's manual so I assume that a previous owner put it in at some point. Again, thank you very much for the input.

 

If it turns out to be a Carb issue I just went through some myself. Not your exact problem however when my carb would crap out I would have to back off the pedal this would cause the fuel to start flowing and engine to rev which I would then feel in the car kinda a forward backward movement as you described. I would do what was recommended above regardless. Tank, Lines, Filter, and then I would check all your vacuum lines for leaks or just replace all as I did. Check The springs on the back of the carb make sure they are not worn out/sticking w/e.

If you get into the carb reference my pics for potential problem areas. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f114...67/index2.html

Also I would check your Ujoints in the rear. My Ujoints were the original joints from 1982. They had never been replaced and they were basically gone when I got the truck this made normally small jerks feel like rough POPs when going between gears, downshifting, you name it. If you get the joints replaced I would go ahead and do both drive shafts. I only did the rear and this past weekend I went out and used 4wd the whole time and now my fronts need to be replaced as well.

Hope that helps. GOOD LUCK!

 

Sounds like a fuel problem, My truck has something similiar going on withit. it craps out on takeoff then just darts out. but the surge of power makes it buck back and forth. I'm still working out my problem so i'll be keeping an eye on this thread... good luck to you and me!

 

I've been crunched for time this week, but I replaced the fuel filter. It did need to be replaced, but that still hasn't solved my problem. It did however give me some more power, especially going over the pass from California to Oregon the other day. I didn't have to downshift to 4th almost the entire way. Normally there are about 3 places where I need to for a while. I will check the carb and the U-joints next. Thanks for the help. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

I also put a bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner in the tank, as I have in the past. So far no improvement after around 70 miles.

 

sea foam

 

I've seen that a lot on this site. I will give it a shot. Thanks!

 

If you didn't do it yet I still recommend cleaning the gas tank, replacing all soft fuel lines, getting a compressor and blowing out the hard lines, and then running that sea foam straight through the carb. After that check the new fuel filter and make sure it is still looking good.

Not sure if it was mentioned yet or not but take some starter fluid and spray spurts of it around your vacuum line fittings and if the motor revs up then you know you have yourself a leak there. I had a leak where the large vacuum line comes off the brake master cylinder unit and it was really making my engine run funky.

Really you just need to find yourself some time to get in there and diagnose the problem.

Hope i am not going over the top here but I just went through so much of this bs and I got a lot of help from people on this forum. So I would like to return the favor if I can!

good luck.

 

I looked under the hood this morning while it was still dark and found that the coil is arcing. I'm not sure if that is related, but it doesn't seem like a good thing. The pics of the carburetor are very helpful, jcm151. I'll get in there as soon as I have a bit of time.

 

arching coil is DEFINITELY an issue! WTF?!

 

Sooooo, did you fix it?

 

I took everyone's advice and got a bottle of Seafoam, which smoothed out my idle nicely. I still have the same problem though when I'm driving. I got a carb rebuild kit a couple of days ago, but I still have to bust it out.

For the card gaskets, should I use some gaskacinch or just put them on dry?

Once again, I'll let you know what I find- probably later this week.

 

i just put them on dry and it works great.

 

What about the arching, though??

 

I haven't replaced the coil yet. I was planning on testing the coil resistance before replacing it. I found on some online forums that coil arcing is okay, but some also said it was bad. It is arcing to the ring that surrounds it, not to the body. I also checked for vacuum leaks and found none.

 

Gotta be careful with what you hear on the internet