ok so ever since i replaced my rack and pinion my truck has been weird. so when im driving and i hit a bump it steers really bad. it turns the wheel over every bump i hit. and since i had not aligned it since i figured my toe out was too much. also my tires wore REALLY fast on the out side. so i go measure it and its an inch toe in. would that cause it to wear on the out side. also wile i was down there my dad turned my wheels back and forth with the truck off(which after wards leaked power steering...normal?) and the upper ball joints were moving up and down. the pass side was worse than the driver. so i got new moog upper control arms and ball joints with the one piece pass side one and started doing those. (its not supposed to move is it) and that cost me $300....o'rileys....could have got rockauto but wanted today and warranty that's down the street. so should i replace the lower ball joints wile at it or not. they don't appear to be bad. also after i moved the steering with the truck off it bump steered even worse and kinda shook and vibrated the steering wheel around long turns. was this from turning it wile it was off or from the ball joints being forced to move a lot. thanks for any help. sorry for the long post.

 

So basically you swapped out the rack and pinion and didn't get it aligned? And your wondering why your tires are wearing badly and it drives horribly?

 

and if i needed ball joints and if i should replace the lowers wile im in there. and the thing was it drove great and just bump steered a little but my tires wore really fast on the out side. also at times when i parked my tires were like this / \ and at times like this \ / and mostly like this l l

 

So have you still not gotten it aligned?

 

alot of times you cant just "eyeball" your alignment and think its good.

easy test to check balljoints... jack front tires 2-3 inches off the ground, stick prybar or anything long that wont break under the tire and gently lift up. watch balljoint for movement, if balljoint moves when you lift your prybar, its bad. if not, leave it be. i'd still get my alignment checked at least. most places do the check for free. and while they've got it on the rack... they'll check your balljoints for you upon request.

 

no im in the middle of doing my upper control arms....aka its on jackstands for now and im going to get it aligned after i finish and am wondering if i need to do lowers also and what else i asked up there .....im lazy and dont want to type it again.

 

ok cool my ball joints were moving a lot when i did that exact thing earlyer now do i HAVE to do lowers also?

 

if the lowers move when you do that test, yes. if they dont... no.

 

ok cool

 

Oh I gotcha now, I would go ahead and do lowers if theres movement. Better safe than sorry

 

Since your already have half of the ball joints done just do them all and not worry about them IMO

 

lowers are cheap as hell just do them

 

Tell your dad he shouldn't be turning the wheel back and forth with the truck off.
What happened is normal. He forced the power steering fluid out of the pump and let air in, causing the shuddering.
If I remember right, just keeping refilling the ATF in the power steering pump, keep turning the wheel back and forth full lock (with it RUNNING) until it warms up, it should burp some, just keep refilling.

 

X2

Also doing some figure 8's from lock to lock in a big wide open space (ie: parking lot) also gets the air out. Had to do that a few times the first time replaced my rotors and pads.