Steering weirdness

[wiscburb]

OK, so I've got this bizarre steering problem I'm trying to diagnose in my 89 Suburban. On the highway it rides down the road happy as a clam, steering is straight and nice and tight. Once I get to city streets, though, things start getting funny. Sometimes (not always), when I enter a turn, the steering works great until the steering wheel gets to about 90 degrees -- then there's a sudden lurch in the direction of the turn.

When I had first bought the truck, I drove it on a rutted dirt road, and ended up zig-zagging down the road, barely under control, due to this problem.

A couple of other things which may or may not be factors

1. When I lock the hubs in front (selector in 2wd) and go around a corner, the front tires bind up and the front end hops around. I'm thinking maybe this is an unrelated U-joint problem

2. In messing around with it to try to figure it out, I discovered that if I have my front hubs unlocked, but shift into 4HI, the steering gets crazy even if I'm driving in a straight line. This happens DURING the shift, but is fine once I'm in 4HI. i.e. if I hold a little back pressure on the 4wd shifter, the steering goes crazy.

Any ideas? I'M going a little crazy myself with this issue...

Thanks!

[Kalashnikov46]

could one of the hubs be broke and just staying locked in regardless of the turn dial? But thats odd that it would affect your steering when its in the nutral position, cause there should be no binding. What is your transfer case?

[LONGHAIR]

It is a 99% probability that it is one of the front axle joints. They get rusted-up and "freeze" in one axis while the other stays "bend-able". So as long as the joint stays aligned the right way, everything "seems" fine. When it is forced out of the way it can turn, it goes crazy. You really need to deal with this pretty quickly. It can be distructive to several internal parts. It can beat-up the locking hub, the internal spindle bearing, and even the spindle itself in extreme cases.

[wiscburb]

Yikes! That would not be good. Thanks for the tip -- I'll look at the joints first.

[Wincks2]

Would this also cause an 85 two wheel drive crew cab to drop or skate or lurch to one side or the other unpredictably when going over manhole covers or pot holes?

If so, are the axle joints inside the axle assembly?

My manual deals with axle joint component repair with it after front axle assembly removal and dissasembly, but doesn't include diagrams with the parts labeled.

[wiscburb]

Wincks - that's probably a steering issue, since you don't have a front axle on a 2WD. If you have some looseness in the front end, you'll get that kind of lurching when you go over a bump. It could be your steering gear, tie rod ends, ball joints or other front end parts. I had an old 2WD Ford pickup that did that horribly... One minute I would be headed in the right direction, then I would go over a bump and voila! New direction. I replaced the steering gear and it was markedly better.

Is your steering at all loose when you drive down the highway? Can you wiggle the wheel back and forth at all without changing course? If so, it would be a front end issue.

[Wincks2]

Yes I can wiggle the wheel a bit.

Will take a closer look at the steering, suspension and wheels chapter.

Thanks