steering wheel not straight
Hi; This is an easy vehicle to do an alignment on by yourself. There is only one adjustment on the actual alignment and the other is for the steering linkage. Before you actually do an alignment yo need to see if your pull is due to a dragging disc brake or a bad wheel bearing. I will add that if you are not comfortable doing front end work on your truck then take it to a shop for this. If you do not mind getting your hands dirty and you have some abilities in repairing things, then proceed with the next steps.
1) Jack up the front end and put it on jack stands for safety. Check to see if both front wheels actually have the same resistance to turning. If they do not, fix that first whatever it may be. Also check and make sure your wheel bearings are ok. There should be no slop in the bearing and the hub should not move on the spindle at all. I have found that when I get a pull it is usually due to a loose bearing allowing the wheel to track offline from the desired alignment. Check and make sure the tie rod ends are tight and do not have any play left and right. The lower ball joint is also a problem on these as that will cause wandering when you drive it and also a pull. Use a prybar to make sure the knuckle does not have any play at the bottom forward and back on the ball joint. If all is well, or after you fix whatever is not right, you can proceed to step two which is actually setting the alignment.
2) I generally find a nice smooth dry paved parking lot but also have done this at home. You will need a helper for this too. You need to scribe, or mark a reference point on your tire in front and in back where you can get a measuring tape through. It is not as easy as it may sound as the rear of the differential is in the way. I have jacked up a tire, spun the wheel and made a mark with alight colored marker, or have also put masking tape on and marked that. Once I have two marks on each tire that I can measure and compare, I carefully put the vehicle back on the ground and roll back about 12 feet and back forward the same. This allows the steering to assume its "normal" position moving forward. With your helper carefully measure the distance between the front marks and then between the rear. The toe-in (narrower in front than the back) should be between 0" and 1/8" . (Radial tires like 0") Once you have figured out what your setup has and it does need to be adjusted then loosen the bolts that clamp the adjusting sleeve on the connecting tierod assembly that runs between the left and right sides and then turn the adjusting sleeve carefully a little at a time as one whole turn is about .5 inch. Repeat the moving the vehicle thing after you make an adjustment to make sure the setting is what you want and once it is where you want it to be, lock it down.
3) Your sterring box is connected to the left front knuckle by a drag link which is adjustable. Park the vehicle with the wheels straight and the column unlocked. Loosen the clamp that locks the adjusting sleeve in place and turn it in or out until your steering wheel is where it should be. Again, small amounts of adjustment will yield large changes in where the wheel is so work carefully. Once you have the wheel straight you tighten the bolts that lock the clamp and you are done. The torque spec on the adjusting sleeves is 40 ft lbs on the clamp bolts. You may have to spray some penetrating oil on the threads to loosen things up a bit. PM me if you have any questions.
