Wandering Jeepster

My Jeepster wanders a bit going down the road. Been trying to sell it and it seems to be an issue.
It's got new u joint and bell joint in the intermediate shaft, new manual steering box, tie rod ends and shackles.
When moving the wheel back and forth I can't see any noticable play.
Any ideas?

 

Check your toe-in.

Caster shims can help a lot too.

 

Forgot to mention I had it to the alignment shop for alignment.

 

look real close at steering box . when someone wiggles steering wheel
just a little movement . can give you that floatee feel going down the road

 

Did you get a printout?

 

How are the kingpin and wheel bearings?
Spring bushings...

 

No print out. It was an older machine.

 

New wheel bearings. The ball joints are tight, maybe a little to tight. When I have it on the lift it's hard to grab hold of the tire and turn the steering lock to lock.
Spring bushings may be a little worn.

 

I'll check it out.

 

Curious what you find, my commando wanders at speed also. I've replaced the saginaw box, springs, lower and upper steering shafts, tie rod ends. Ball joints feel good, but haven't changed them yet. Measured my caster and found it at 2.3 deg, I'm going to measure again and consider increasing my caster. My steering wheel doesn't go back to center on it's own, which is why I'm probably going to increase the caster before I replace the ball joints.

 

Your caster should ideally be 6-7 degrees for highway driving. It will probably make your front driveshaft u-joint angles less than ideal but it's been worth the tradeoff on both of my Jeeps.

 

I have the same problem. After doing a lot of reading I.m pretty sure it is the caster adj. Going to replace the ball joints just to make sure 1st.
https://www.jeepforum.com/threads/why-your-steering-wanders-or-seems-loose.445430/

 

I would ask first and then find another shop that has a printer and will provide the printout.

 

Good download in this thread about steering and suspension.
http://jeepstercommandoclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=22331&p=172018&hilit=caster#p172018

 

Do you have the numbers even without a printout? If not we have no starting point. As was mentioned above most Jeeps prefer 5-7 degrees positive caster depending on width and diameter of tires. Wheel offset can make a difference as well. Many factory specs call for 3 degrees positive caster but that simply isn’t enough considering the age and modifications most of these Jeeps see.

Honestly, I’d find another shop to check it. At work I have a machine that is probably 15-17 years old and it does very nice printouts for the customer. (I also have a new state of the art machine that also prints).

 

I'll schedule another alignment and go from there.

 

I have had vehicles that wanted to not return to center by it's self after replacing ball joints. There is a particular sequence of installing the ball joint nuts to help prevent them from being too tight.

 

Bought a magnetic angle meter and put it on top the ball joint and it shows 6-8 degrees. Can there be to much caster?

 

Yes there can be. Any more than 7* in these Jeeps can cause high speed instability, hard to turn the wheels at slow speeds, and accelerated tire shoulder wear in turns.