Got in the Disco this morning and the steering wheel made a ratchet sound when I was trying to turn away from the curb. Now the wheel spins but the wheels don't turn. The shaft going into the steering box turns, but the output doesn't move. Fluid is full.. Tires were not up against the curb, What the heck happened?? have not had any problems that I know of...

More importantly , is there an easy fix or am I looking at replacing the steering box??

Worse time for it to happen as we have a funeral/wake today and tomorrow, and I need to pick up parts for my other 2 cars that were damaged by hitting deer. I am out of vehicles again!!

 

At least I was at home, and not driving down the road when this happened...

 

OK, so you have input into the steering box. It is pretty unlikely (but possible) that the entire guts of the box gave up all at once. I'd look on the output side. Is the drop arm moving?

 

Emailing to Paul Grant, I took a closer look and found that the lower u-joint was slipping on the steering gear input. Tightened the heck out of it and it seems to be working now. Also noticed the 2 front bolts on the exhaust manifold were loose too.

 

Ran fine, only problem is the steering wheel is ff by about 15 degrees when the truck is going straight down the road. Easy fix once it stops snowing out...

 

Also replaced the drivers headlight as it was burned out now some guy blinked his lights at me when I was driving home the other night. Lights are aimed correctly, he probably wasn't used to a real truck on the road. If they bother me too much, I use the off road lights...

 

found out why the bolt came loose on my steering. +I have noticed I am getting a pretty bad shimmy at around 60-65 mph, and it gets less if I go faster or slower. I re-checked wheel bearings and pivot bearings, front tie rods, etc and it got a little better. I wend t down to the tire place where I got the new tires 4 months ago and had then m re-check the tire balance... every tire was out of balance from 3/4 to 1 oz.... yup that would do it.

Also found one wheel had lose lug nuts.. After they re-balanced the tires, I noticed one tire looked low. 22 psi and the rest were up around 40 (where I normally run them) I think I need a new tire place!!

 

40 psi? The handling on my truck gets pretty 'squirrely' above 36psi.

Times and tires have changed but recall that original spec was 26psi-front / 36psi-rear.

 

Hmmmm.. still having issues, I will try lower PSI in the tires!

 

WOW!! lowered the tire pressure to 37 PSI and it got MUCH better!! Can't believe the difference!! I went by the sidewall markings , thinking of the weight of the truck and how much junk I haul around in it, I went with the max pressure thinking it would handle the load better.

I think 26\36 might be a bit low but I will have to give it a try now...