Ashamed to admit it but the drivers side u joint had been trashed for a while until I put a new one in it 2 days ago.
I was almost certain the u joint was binding and causing the erratic “turning-turning-still going straight-WOOP jerks and turns” issue that had progressively gotten worse. However, the problem still persists and is still relatively spontaneous though frequent.
Truck has new drag link and good wheel bearings. Sometimes it turns fine and also tracks straight with a centered steering wheel. Other times I have to maintain 10 o clock or 2 o clock with the wheel just to drive straight.
At one point today it was bad enough that trying to take slow sweeping curves then straightening out would yield a “fighting the wheel as it tries to track left, the wheel “catches” and I’m fighting the wheel from the other way”
This is hard to describe in text, and I wouldn’t normally let a problem like this get so far but my Tacoma has simultaneously decided to make a hole in its radiator and the starter took a dump. So I’m trying to keep at least ONE of my two vehicles mobile
What does the above steering issue sound like to y’all, besides a healthy dose of dumbass-ery on my part?