Will dual steering stabilizers help the "hunt"?

chaselee

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Ever since I did the d60 swap and 4" lift about 6 months ago my truck hunts/wanders going down the road. It's manageable but annoying, especially since it didn't do it in stock configuration. I went through the d60 and replaced everything before install, so nothing is worn out. I'm wondering if doing a dual steering stabilizer setup will help some. Any insight is appreciated fellas.
 

sootie

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likely has more to do with tire width than anything...swap stock wheels on and see if it still does it
 

Jtreece

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Good looking OBS. My 04 has a 4" and 35's 13.5 wide and duel dual stabilizer's and it still likes to wander sometimes. My whole front end is rebuilt as well, its just the wider tires pulling on grooves in the road. But if you added them it won't hurt anything and should help some.
 

chaselee

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I had 37x13.50s on 12" wide wheels on my 2012 model and it drove straight as an arrow and didn't hunt at all. I know it was a whole lot newer truck, but by theory it should have done it too then right?

When I took it down to the 4x4 shop after we did the swap and lift. The alignment guy told me "I got your steering wheel as close as I could, but when driving it one second the it's off to the left, then the next second it's off to the right".
 

chaselee

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Unfortunately I don't have any stock wheels to try. And all my buds have super dutys.
 

co04cobra

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Track bar new also? What brand ball joints? Were they torqued? Axle joints new?


Your 12 is a apples to oranges comparison.
 

Denver

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How many miles on the nittos and are they terra grapplers? When I ran terra grapplers it would takes 3k miles the break them in. They would wonder all over the road. Check your track bar. Steering stabilizers are just band aids.
 
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One more possibility is tie rod roll. Have someone cycle the steering left right while you watch the tie rod. If it "rolls" each time direction is changed that is contributing. I'm a firm believer that the stabilizers are for absorbing big impacts without damage to components, not correcting wandering or feel.
Should drive fine without a stabilizer. I would bet play or caster are the issues.

No hunt on the 96. I do have a tie rod roll fix on it though.

Good steering quality on these stone simple trucks relies on:

No play

No binding ball joints

Steering box reasonably tight and having center "tight" area adjusted correctly.

Caster Caster Caster
 

Mhatlen

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I am going to throw one more thing out there. I have tried several different brands of steering stabilizers Rancho, Pro Comp, Along with some no namers and they were all almost identical
I have 38” x 15.50 tires on the truck and they are hard on the steering components.

I went with a set of Fabtech Dirt Logic 2.25 and let me assure you the difference is undeniable. I can’t even begin to compress those things and my steering since has been in a whole different class. Hard to turn in the mornings a bit at idle but truck feels like it’s on stockers.

Downfall is they are much more expensive. Yes they are worth it.
 

chaselee

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Track bar new also? What brand ball joints? Were they torqued? Axle joints new?


Your 12 is a apples to oranges comparison.

Sorry guys I actually forgot about this thread. Track bar is new and all front end components were replaced with either motorcraft or moog
 

Maniacal_Mark

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And your steering box is fresh? I had duratracs on stocks with a tired steering box and i held the wheel quite tight on roads with lots of cracks and grooves.
 

chaselee

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Steering box is factory as far as I know, but as said before it never did this in stock configuration.

I did look yesterday and the tie rods and tie rod ends are Moog. My Terra grapplers have probably 10k on them.
 

JCart

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Borgeson mid steering shaft will a big difference if yours is old. Open hood, engine off, key in ignition. Grab mid steering shaft and see how much play you have as well as play in steering box. My guess if these items are stock will be a large contributor to steering like chasing cats...

You can adjust your steering box too, just be careful not to over tighten (wheel will not recenter after cornering).

Ideally Boregeson mid steering shaft and aftermarket box like Red head or think it’s Blue top boxes are purported to be excellent choices. You could even, when getting either of these boxes install a hydro steering system to aid when running large tires.

Cheers,

jrc
 

chaselee

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I do k ow that it has tie rod roll, when you turn the wheel back and forth. I've been reading that this could be a contributor...
 

Sbriggs

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Most people just get used to it but the track bars your culprit 50% of the time if you went through the steering joints. The axle as been rolled fwd from its stock setting. There was an after market company that made a track bar adjustment pin that's not fixed and gets the axle rolled back with a camber adjustment after she will roll straight hands free. This is a superduty specific issue I think but call a few lift manufacturers to get that adjustable pin. They can provide specifics on camber required. I hope this helps you. But all steering must be good for this dog to hunt!
 

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