Worn bushings (pics)

[yotav8]

I have been having a lot of slop in the steering recently though only at highway steeds. Below 55mph it is very composed and tight, but at highway speeds and over bumps there is a definite bounce or jarring in the steering. I have recently had the truck aligned and it tracks straight unless the road in on an angle whereupon it will track in the direction slant causing the need to constantly steer to correct. The attached image shows what looks like a warn bushing, could it be the culprit, my next thought would be front shocks to combat the high speed jarring.

 

[yotav8]

picture

picture

 

[HokieRunner]

I have been having a lot of slop in the steering recently though only at highway steeds. Below 55mph it is very composed and tight, but at highway speeds and over bumps there is a definite bounce or jarring in the steering. I have recently had the truck aligned and it tracks straight unless the road in on an angle whereupon it will track in the direction slant causing the need to constantly steer to correct. The attached image shows what looks like a warn bushing, could it be the culprit, my next thought would be front shocks to combat the high speed jarring.

If it's not the tie rods...try the LCA bushings. They were the cause of my highway steering slop.

Hopefully it is the tie rods as they're a much easier fix.

 

[morphious]

The pic you show is of the front sway bar link. That maybe an issue, but doubtful as that should not affect the tracking. Do you have a pic of your alignment sheets? I do not run a front sway bar and because of my lift I have lost Caster which is sounding like your problem, however I may be wrong. I am running about 1.5 of Caster and yes it tracks the road more easily as you should be at about I believe a 3.5-4.5 in caster. The jarring could be the sway bar being loose and causing noise but should not affect alignment.

 

[yotav8]

Thanks for the responses, how do check the sway bar?

 

[morphious]

Thanks for the responses, how do check the sway bar?

I am sure other will chime in, but I would think if your bushing are worn you should be able to grab the sway bar and jerk on it and see if there is any movement or play in the end links or bushings under the frame.