Steering pulling to one side

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toomanytoys

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My 98 Expy pulls hard to the left when on the expressway. Alignment right? Nope. Read on. If I hold the wheel straight while driving the truck goes straight however if I let the wheel go it rotates left and the truck goes left. I have put new tires, brakes, hub bearings and an alignment with no change. To make matters worse every now and then while driving I get a pop in the wheel and the problem goes away for about 10 minutes.

What do you think? Power steering pump? Steering box?

Is there a pressure equalization valve that might be sticking?
 

docraymund

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It could be one of the ff:
1. The road itself. Not all roads are flat, most are crowned at the center.
2. A brake pad that is binding.
3. Tire defects. (conicity)
4. Tire pressure
5. Worn lower control arm.
6. Torque steer -a pull to one side when accelerating.
 
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toomanytoys

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The pull is constant and it does it on all roads. All the front end parts and tires are new
 

Bedrck47

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Jack up both front wheels and turn them by had See if there is any difference in the way they turn If one has more drag than the other.
 

1955moose

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The pop sound that makes it steers straight afterwards, sounds like something in one of front axles, engaging, or not. You didn't state two or four wheel drive. I don't know if you have the vacuum controlled activation of the 4 wheel drive, if you do check all the vacuum hoses and sensors, theirs a procedure online to do just that. I know this is going to sound dumb, but you had a full front and back suspension inspection? Was this vehicle in an accident? Normally a pulling like yours is a caster/ camber problem, but what tends me to believe axles engaging when their not supposed to is the popping sound, possible disengaging the one that activated.


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toomanytoys

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The truck is 4wd and no air suspension. I have owned this truck for 11 years now and am the second owner. It had 60k on it when I bought it and is at 140k now and has not been in any accidents as long as I've owned it. This problem started about 10 months ago. It's really hard to diagnose when the problem only happens at highway speeds. When the problem does occur the truck becomes extremely sensitive to steering input. It gets "twitchy" if you will. When the problem goes away the steering softens up as well.
 

1955moose

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You might also check the steering box pitman arm as well as idler arm. I'm still thinking it's something with the front 4 wheel drive somehow. You didn't mention does the front end make any bearing noise. Time to shake everything down, as usual it's probably simple, just going to take time to diagnose. Are you going to do the diagnostic/ repair, or a shop? Of all the noise/ steering situations, yours is the first on this forum with these symptoms. Please keep in touch what you find.


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