I have essentially replaced the entire front end on my truck. Leaf springs, shackles, tie rod ends, center link, steering box, axle pivot bushings.
While the steering is nice and tight now after all that work, i'm having a weird binding issue. When driving, The steering will occasionally bind, and it will feel difficult to turn one direction, but not the other. When I force it to turn, I get what feels like a shift in the front end, and the problem goes away.
At first I thought this was the axle pivot bushings. So those were replaced. Then, the problem persisted and continued to get worse, to the point where I could not drive it 2 blocks without a major binding event. I had the steering box replaced (with a reman from advance auto parts). I picked the truck up after steering box replacement and drove it locally 2-3 times without experiencing this issue again. I thought the new steering box solved the problem.
Today I drove the truck to work for the first time since steering box replacement, a much longer drive. Unfortunately, I had the binding issue come back 2-3 times on my trip. It happens at any speed.
Did I get a bad replacement steering box? The new box greatly reduced the severity of the problem, but did not eliminate it.
The only other thing I have not replaced is the balljoints. According to the mechanic who did the rest of the front end work, they seem fine. But they are of unknown age (probably really old) I assume he jacked the front end up and checked for play.
