The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline '51 3100 starting to pull to the right. Tie rods?

I started noticing the outer edge of my front drivers side tire starting to wear smooth earlier this Spring, and in the last week or so, I'm starting to get (occasionally) what feels like wandering or a pull to the right. Before I dig in and get it up on the stands, I'm curious as to where would be the first place(s) to check. Tie rod ends? King pin? It hasn't been bad and it doesn't pull fast and hard, just sort of a wandering as if I crossed over the crown of the road. And as soon as I pull it back, it's gone again. Any ideas or suggestions on where to start, or where not to bother looking? BTW, the other tires have all held up great and show no sign of uneven wear, even after 24k on them. Thanks for any help on this. Butch

Hy showme, Did you ever have the truck aligned? Have you checked your tire pressures? Look for anything loose in the front suspension and in the steering box adjustment. Hope that helps.

Tread wear to the outside of the tire center is usually caused by excessive positive camber (top of the tire tipped outward). That can be caused by worn king pins and/or king pin bushings. Stand back from the front of the vehicle a few feet and eyeball the tires. If my guess is correct, you should be able to see a slight tipping of the tire out at the top. Jack up one side of the front at a time, grab the tire top and bottom, and try to rock it back and forth. If it moves, check the wheel bearings and the king pins and bushings for looseness. Changing camber involves bending the axle, so be sure all the possible loose spots are covered before looking for someone to do that. A few heavy duty truck alignment shops still bend axles, but some of them won't work on small trucks.
Jerry

Never had an alignment done on it in the 5 years I've had it. The tires had 1,000 miles when I bought it, and I've never had any problem with drifting or pulling until now. I should have had it done this spring when I started noticing the wear, but I was waiting for the cold and rain to break into spring weather so I could get under it and check the front end and do spring maintenance on it, then it turned hot and humid here in Missouri overnight, and I've been putting it off till now. It's my daily driver. If I'm not on my bike, I'm in it. Drive it 75 miles to St. Louis every week or two, and I usually let the wheel go for a bit to check it's tracking. Up till the last week or so, it's been fine.
I keep a close check on tire pressure and that's ok too. The steering box was going to be next on the list to check out. This truck has always had very easy steering (unless I'm backing out of a tight spot, of course.)
HL, I will check that. As much as I would rather redo the tie rods, I've been thinking the king pin is the culprit, so I will follow your lead on that. I knew the camber on these were set in the factory, so I don't even want to think about how I'd get that fixed. There are a few good trucking companies, and truck service guys around here though. Are there any parts houses that are, how should I say this, selling good grade parts for the front end? Being from Missouri, I usually go with classic parts, jim clark or lmc, but I've found that although most of their stuff is good/ok, I don't want to put junk parts in critical (and hard to get to) places. Thanks, you guys, I'll keep you posted as soon as I can get under it.

You can contact Sid at droppedaxle.com. He put my king pins in mine when he bent my axle. Just a thought.

Chris

Check Rock Auto before you buy anything. They have plenty of parts for these.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/chevrolet,1951,truck,3.8l+235cid+l6,1487279,steering,king+pin+set,7340

Moog and AC Delco are both fine. I don't know anything about the other maker they show.

Good luck.