So I went trough the bronco at my mechanics shop. Checked everything again for any slope in the ball joints, tie rods all the steering components, gear box, shaft, and everything is tight!
But how did you check? There is no hand-work strong enough to test those things in the air with the precision needed for a Bronco.
Yes, you can check ball joints and wheel bearings that way and get good results, but trackbars and tie-rods? Not so much...
Way too many very tiny things that can add up to make a Bronco steer weird.
I ordered some new C bushings from Wild Horses and will be putting them on in the next week or so.
I’m hoping that’s my problem.
Thank you very muchly. But they alone will not be the cause of your problem. Can't hurt to try, and new ones can help especially if the old ones are in wrong. But what you're describing is much more than C-bushings. Normally anyway...
Cause if the the C bushings are worn that could cause the axle to roll making the tie rods shift side to side causing the radical steering..
Axle roll? Just how is this going on? Got pictures, or better yet, video you can post up on YouTube so we can see what's going on?
It certainly could cause trouble like you say. But wondering where it's actually coming from.
...but looking at the C bushings on the bronco now,they look good from the outside and don’t seem to have any play when trying to get them to move. Wish me luck.
C-bushings would be hard to make move without using the steering input test while the rig is on the ground.
Even the old stock rubber ones that were worn out would still be tight and squeezed in good.
You said they looked good, but not if they look like old rubber or newer poly. I get the impression they're polyurethane aftermarket already, but pics would be worth a couple of thousand words at this point.
Couple things. The steering stabilizer was moved because it wasn’t allowing the full steering movement to the right. But looking at every single bronco I’ve seen no one ever moves the stabilizer like that. I’ll prolly put it back stock when I get it back (just don’t tell my mechanic) lol
I hear 'ya. But for now just remove it completely as it's possibly causing some monkey motion already. Just leave it off for testing. Many of us never use one at all.
once c bushings are installed I’ll get it aligned again and will post the numbers.
Great. Looking forward to seeing all the numbers.
Either ask them for a full printout or get a screen shot with your phone. We like to see all the numbers even when the tech says "you don't need them because you can't adjust those parameters" which is a common mistake the techs make these days.
Death wobble.. they way you described death wobble really doesn’t sound like what I have. From what I remember the steering wheel was just loose not pulling all over. It only pulls at first and then just bam it’s loose and heading off the road then bam heading in the other lane. Not a good feeling lol
I can imagine! But yes, does not sound like traditional Death Wobble which is a different beast altogether.
so is there anything that could be slipping from the rag joint up to the steering wheel? Cause as I said before it’s got a new rag joint that came with the $300 shaft that I bought with the borgeson steering box..
Not that I can think of. Other than the wheel coming loose! It's a solid shaft between the rag joint at the bottom splines and the steering wheel at the upper splines.
But is it a stock wheel, or aftermarket?
And for the new lower shaft, did you use Locktite when you installed it? You must, as those set-screws can and will come loose.
Doesn't hurt to double check the shaft's tightness and condition though, even if you did use the thread-locker.
the first steering box I got from them was faulty so got a replacement. I’m gonna go look at the bronco tomorrow again and go through all of it one more time.
Hmm, bad box is not good. And nobody likes shipping things twice to and from Hawai'i!
Another thing that happened in changing all the front end parts was we had to cut the trac bar and the drag link to straighten it all.. is that normal?
Holy crap NOOOO!!!
What on earth was that all about? Did you need to cut the bolts to get them off, or did you cut the bars for some reason? And with an adjustable draglink, I can't imagine anything being needed to modify it. Just loosen the clamps and adjust it to fit after the lift.
Nobody cuts their trackbar OR draglink to make them fit normally. At least not without there being a lot of other custom stuff done to a suspension to make it fit a particular need.
But just for alignment? No.
Just for a lift? Again, no.
Just for replacing parts? Three times no.
Only reason I can think of is if your truck was damaged in an accident and you're tryin g to make other things fit the damage, rather than fix the damage to fit the correct parts.
This is another big reason we need to see lots of pics please.
So far I got new tie rods new drag link new steering box new steering shaft new trac bar bushings... ball joints are tight , rear end is tight.. except the leaf springs do squeak cause the plastic spacers are worn out..
Yep, common issue. Do you know if they're factory or aftermarket springs? Not all factory springs even came with spacers.
A temporary fix (as in, a week or less per application) would be to spray with water or WD 40 or some other lube. Just in case it really bothers you.
A longer fix would be to pull the packs apart, smooth the leaves out where they're worn and rusty, clean them up and re-assemble them. Maybe even with nylon/Teflon/polyethylene rubbing sleeves you add.
Over all the geometry of the front end looks good.
Well let us see it then! Haha! Great looking Bronco, and with all the new stuff under it, we'd like to see some of this stuff anyway.
Maybe we'll see something not-so-obvious that was missed. Or jog our own memories to bring up something else.
Good luck.
Paul