truck sways and wanders over road

[lowrollin70gmc]

What year is the truck?

There is never a need for three stabilizers, you're only covering up a real problem. One problem is those leaf spring bushings, there should be no space between the bushing, spring, and hanger. I often need to use a dead blow hammer to install springs with poly bushings into their mounts. You can either get the correct bushings/springs or spacers to take up the gap between the bushing and mount.

Your draglink also goes up from the pitman arm to steering arm, it should be parallel to the ground at ride height. It looks like you have both a dropped pitman arm and a raised steering arm; at 6 inches you shouldn't need both.

[spencer2986]

Its a 72. Yea your right about the pitman arm and raised steering arm. I will try to get spacers for the gap.

[wilkin250r]

Would a new front driveshaft, something like a double-cardan style that is capable of more severe angles, allow you to eliminate the shims and correct the caster problem?

[BLAZERMAN]

I can see a few problems here, the springs dont need spacers but the correct shouldered bushings...aftermarket lift springs are sometimes made more narrow than the stock spring but make up for it with a wide shouldered poly bushing..it looks like yours have been replaced with the wrong ones. Those angled shims under your springs are causing most of your wandering problems..get rid of them! And you should never have bolts holding your steering arm in place espicially a raised arm with that much stress on it. It needs studs and special cone washers and nuts that will not allow any movement at all..with regular bolts you run the chance of some slack and movement of that arm that can cause it to shear those bolts off with the kind of load its under, I would consider it very dangerous.

[BLAZERMAN]

And I agree with lowrollin70gmc, that steering setup has been over corrected, it looks like a 4" drop pitman and 4" raised steer arm.. if it were me I would go back to a stock steering arm with the correct studs and cones like i mentioned.

[y5mgisi]

BLAZERMAN covered most of it. You need to get the right bushings in the springs. Then you need to get rid of the angled shims between the axle and springs. then you need to switch to a stock pitman arm to replace the drop pitman arm to get the draglink angle better. . That should get you going down the road with relative control. I can tell just by looking at it that it drives horrible.

[y5mgisi]

Originally Posted by BLAZERMAN

And I agree with lowrollin70gmc, that steering setup has been over corrected, it looks like a 4" drop pitman and 4" raised steer arm.. if it were me I would go back to a stock steering arm with the correct studs and cones like i mentioned.

That would also work. I forgot to second the fact that bolts on the steering arm are a no no! Those have to be studs.

[spencer2986]

LOL, alright thank you so much for all the info. Yea its pretty dangerous driving at even 35 MPH. I will get right on fixing this mess-up that somebody did.

[19684x4]

My very first time on hear so bear with me. I have the same problem. I have a 1970 blazer with a 8" super lift. Every thing is new. Steering box, rod ends, ball joints, front end alignment. Wanders all over the road. Its not safe. Alignment shop said not able to put enough caster. I'm at a loss. It's a Dana 44 front. 14FF rear. 383, th350, np205, four wheel disc.
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And Dual steering stabilizers

[LONGHAIR]

Not able to put enough caster? I wonder why they would say that?
They just aren't willing to do it.
I would bet that the front springs have the tapered shims that tilt the pinion up. This helps with drive shaft fitment.
The problem is this this kills the steering. To make it steer safely, it is as easy as removing those shims. The downside it the driveshaft. You will have to deal with the increased angle, maybe length too?
There are companies that specialize in u-joints that work at greater angles or you can get more extreme with cutting and rotating the housing.

Quick and easy: take the shims out and remove the driveshaft.
It will be much more stable and safe, you can work out the driveshaft later. It gains you some time to figure out how you want to go about it.

[y5mgisi]

What Longhair said. To get it driving decent down the road, pull those tapered shims out, and swap to a stock pitman arm or steering arm. Those two fairly simple items should get you to be able to at least not kill anybody in it!

[19684x4]

Longhair; They maxxed the caster. They even added the biggest caster (shim???). We just received over a foot of snow here so I won't be able to mess with blazer for a while. I will definitely check front springs for tapered shims. I do believe it does have them. But without them the drive shaft will be pointing down not up. I spoke with a old timer and he said my only option was to spend lots of money and have axle tubes turned so caster is correct and pinion is pointed up. Or something like that.
Y5mgisi; I understand taking the shim out like you and longhair are suggesting. I don't understand putting in stock pitman arm and steering arm though? Why would a reputable company like superlift sell kit with pinion shims, pitman arm and steering arm if they mess things up so bad? I have a Dana 44 in it now. Would a Dana 60 swap change, help or hurt the caster? Thank you for your help.
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[61K10]

start your own thread so only one truck is being talked about.

[BLAZERMAN]

I agree 100% with Longhair on this, any tapered shims under your axle need to come out and with that much lift your going to need to keep both the raised steering arm and dropped pitman arm. As far as driveshaft there's no easy way around it...either have the pumpkin tilted up or spend the bucks on a new shaft, High Angle Driveline should be able to set you up, http://www.highangledriveline.com/.
And no a Dana 60 will not help you to handle any better, probably would be even worse till you get the real problem corrected. It's not cheap when you get into the 8" and over lifts.
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[LONGHAIR]

They "maxed the caster"....? I seriously doubt that. There is no "adjustment" for that like a typical 2 wheel drive. So if they did something to correct the caster, the shims would be gone....and it would steer properly

The only way for it to get "wrong" in the first place is because of tilting it up to help the driveline angle.
The two are opposing and it is rather serious surgery to cut the housing apart to tilt the pinion up and leave the caster alone at the same time.

[spencer2986]

SOrry for the late bump however I finally had a nice day here in Ohio and pulled out the angled shims. It drives much better now but still not perfect. It seems as if I'm correcting the steering ever second, literally. I am running 42 PSI in the tires which are 315x75x16 BFG All-Terrains. Is that a normal PSI for these? Also, I still need to get the right bushings for the springs, I really hope that will solve the problem of it still not driving straight. An alignment is next but not sure if that would really do me much good.

[y5mgisi]

Dont forget you still need to correct the steering arm situation.

[spencer2986]

Originally Posted by y5mgisi

Dont forget you still need to correct the steering arm situation.

Yes I was going to do that. Do you think that would help my situation as far as handling goes or is it more of a precaution. TY in advance.

[y5mgisi]

It will absolutely help your situation! Your setup now is the opposite of ideal for driveability!

[spencer2986]

Alright TY

[spencer2986]

I meant to ask, is it normal to make a hard turn while going slow when you have bigger tires? It has Power steering but feels like it doesn't when turning sharp at low speeds.

[argonaut]

You really need to be making measurements before you make changes. Put an angle finder on the base of your lower balljoint and compare to the angle of the ground level that the truck is sitting on to determine your actual caster angle. If you have too much caster it will be heavy to steer.
Next put the angle finder on the end of your pinion yoke to determine pinion angle. Also measure the angle of the front output yoke on your transfer case. If are able to, bolt in the front axle and measure the axle angle too. Report back here and we'll let you know what to do next.
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[spencer2986]

Will do!

[travis.vaughan]

you may need caster plus some models or years have a leaf spring stop on the drivers side rear leaf eye needs to be adjusted 1/8 " from spring eye.

[spencer2986]

cool, TY