Truck tried to kill me!

[lukecp]

I was driving along a dirt road on Saturday, which was turned into mud due to the rains we have been having almost continusilouy since Friday. I hit a patch of mud, and tried to turn left to get out of it, but i kept going straight. The truck had no steering response at all. It was dark and i was without a flashlight, so i got out to look for a problem (maybe a flat tire?) but i couldn't see very much. I drove it all the way home (like 40 miles) with alot of slack in the steering and very poor steering response when i was on muddy roads. I woke up yesterday and went and took a look at the truck in the daylight. First thing i noticed was that each front tire was pointing in a different direction. I got underneath the front and found that one of the passenger side tie rods had pulled out of the adjustment sleeve and was allowing the passenger side tire to go wherever it wanted.

I am amazed that i was able to drive it 40 miles like that on curvy roads and not loose control of the truck. I find myself lucky that i didn't run off the road and wreck my truck. I fixed the problem and now i need an front end allignment, but that is better than having no truck

Be careful out there!