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Sharp left turn-steering wheel jerks back and forth. '89

4K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  Danski 
#1 ·
This morning, when making a left hand U-turn, I noticed that when I had the steering wheel cranked all the way to the left, the steering wheel jerked back and forth, like I was driving over a bunch of little curbs or something. Like it was being forced to the right a little, and then snap back to the left real quick. It was kind of weird, because it had never done that before. This is a stock rig, and it seems to drive fine otherwise (steering is a little loose, but nothing major).

I had someone hop in and do the same thing, and they felt it. I watched the front wheels, and they didn't seem to jerk or make any noise.

What should I do to try and determine what is wrong? Any ideas?

Like I said...stock, no lift or oversized tires.
 
#9 ·
Not locked.
Not locked as in you spun the driveshaft and made sure both steering u joints spun confirming the hubs where unlocked? :thumbup

Or not locked as in you looked at the hubs and the dial says free so they must be unlocked, because a hub could never fail locked? :doh0715:
 
#10 ·
yep Gacknar may be right. I had the same thing going on with my 89. Hub said free but I couldnt rotate the steering ujoint. Replaced the hubs with warn hubs and no more problem. It was the manual lock that wasn't disengaging when you turned it to free. That would be worth checking into.
 
#11 ·
This morning, when making a left hand U-turn, I noticed that when I had the steering wheel cranked all the way to the left, the steering wheel jerked back and forth, like I was driving over a bunch of little curbs or something. Like it was being forced to the right a little, and then snap back to the left real quick. It was kind of weird, because it had never done that before. This is a stock rig, and it seems to drive fine otherwise (steering is a little loose, but nothing major).

I had someone hop in and do the same thing, and they felt it. I watched the front wheels, and they didn't seem to jerk or make any noise.

What should I do to try and determine what is wrong? Any ideas?

Like I said...stock, no lift or oversized tires.


Just had the same issue on my 90. Did you figure it out? I'm stock as well
 
#12 ·
I'm going to suggest as the others did to check and be sure your hubs aren't locked in. I have lived with a power steering leak on my 92 for years and low fluid would would just make it harder to turn, greater whining of the pump than normal, and try to bog the engine down more so at idle.

The idea for the hub being locked (either through automatic or an issue with manual hubs, as transfer case engagement doesn't matter in regards to this) is that the front axle doesn't use CV joints, like FWD cars, as the U shaped ends of the axle try to push past each other to rotate. It isn't something that happens for most of your day to day driving, but when you make a sharp enough turn, it will show itself. Have had this happen to me once in my 90 after I got stuck crossing a median and left my hubs locked in after I got back on the road heading down to a grocery store a couple of miles down on the left, and also stock setup.
 
#13 ·
I guess this is my first time experiencing it. This bronco, that I absolutely love, is my first legitimate four-wheel drive vehicle. It does have warn locking hubs and I just noticed that it started throwing the steering wheel when it was in lock in 4-wheel drive. As soon as I pop them out a four-wheel drive and lock, it drives like a dream. But this is my first time feeling it, other times when I put it in 4-wheel drive it hasn't done this
 
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