Power steering - how to stiffen it up?

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by GRADYS Performance

Fixing your Caster is the way to make the truck drive the way you want it. You can keep nibbling at the edges or dig in and do it right.

I ordered a pair of 2 degree shims yesterday as well. The plan is, whichever shows up first (shims or stabilizer) will get installed and tested first. The second will just be added.

[akart]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

I ordered a pair of 2 degree shims yesterday as well. The plan is, whichever shows up first (shims or stabilizer) will get installed and tested first. The second will just be added.

Good on you the stabilizer won't do much but you will have a new stabilizer.
The lift put your castor out of spec. The thick part of the shim will go to the back. Good luck

[rgunlock]

The shims and stabilizers showed up and I had time this weekend to do the installs. The shims were a major pain to install, but actually improved my steering handling quite a bit. Still nothing like the feel of a modern truck's steering, but certainly made it where I felt in control of the steering.

[rgunlock]

After a test drive with just the shims, I installed the dual steering stabilizers. This job wouldn't have been too bad, but it did take a lot of effort to compress the shocks (at a tough angle) and get them lined up in the mounting bracket. Also, the instructions weren't too good as far as where to mount the brackets. They didn't take into account that the toe adjustments were taking 8" or so of the passenger side so I had to move everything to get it reasonably well centered.

This also made a further improvement in steering. It now takes "intent" to turn the wheel which is one thing I was looking for. The downside is after a turn, you can't just let the wheel slip past your palm to get centered again. You have to steer it back straight. Not sure I like this but I'll see if I can get used to it. I'm thinking that the shims and an upgraded single stabilizer may have been just about right. That's the original O'Reilly's stabilizer at the top of the picture.

Thanks to those who gave advice in this thread. At least I feel safe driving the truck at some speed now on rough/uneven pavement.