I went to Shop #4 to test my steering and ... finally ... someone did find something! Carrier Trucks, an International dealer in Woodstock, Ontario was able to determine that the steering gear was out of the recommended specks by measuring the oil pressure inside and how much movement was transmitted through the gear when I turned the wheel.

I'm in New Jersey and I found a shop that will give me a factory-remanned steering box for $555 plus $250 labor for dismantling/installation. I'll also ask them to adjust the steering wheel turns... Right now I have 2 turns to the right and 2.5 to the left

I'll report here if anything will change in my steering after I get the new box.

 

I hope that solves your prooblem but something doesn't sound right here. Some trucks have steering stops on each spindle that set the max angle each wheel can turn. It's possible one has been played with. They can centre the steering box but usually that only gets out of whack if there is major repairs done to the truck. Like a new steering box being put in or maybe a pitman arm or drag link.You can get the steering wheel cocked a few degrees off by miss aligning the splines when doiong a steering shaft U-Joint but that doesn't usually cause your problem. IMO As far as Carrier goes I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them and I wouldn't take my wheelbarrow to them to get fixed.

 

As Jack Nicholson said in the movie Chinatown, "Well, when you're right you're right; and you're right!"

Just drove back from the International dealer (New Jersey) with the new steering gear under the hood. Cost me $1,000 with labor... But the only thing that has changed is steering has became tighter. It's not as easy as it used to be to turn the steering wheel. But:

1. the truck still pulls to the right in the curb lane
2. the steering wheel does 2 turns to the right (to the max) and 2 3/4 to the left (was 2.5 before)
3. the steering wheel now sits at an angle even when I drive on a perfectly straight - no crown - road.

As soon as I pulled in the Flying J, I called the Service Dept back and told them to expect me back first thing tomorrow morning. The thing is I had asked them more than once - "Please make sure the steering wheel makes the same amount of turns in each direction." They couldn't do even that.

I'm afraid to think what the REAL REASON for the truck wandering might be ... Since the steering box didn't fix it, must be one of those poker like thingies that trasfer the turning motion from the steering gear to the wheel :withstupid:

 

They will need to reset the axle stops. Then, re-adjust the relief poppets in the steering gear.

When the steering is turned all the way in each direction, you might hear a hissing noise that indicates you are at the end of steering travel. When this occurs, the steering knuckle stop adjustment should be abt 1/8" away from the stop pad on the I-beam.

When you're on the other side of the crown, does it then pull to the left??

 

Yep, when I'm on the other side of the road - the truck tries to go into that other ditch not the one on the right. Well, I just came back from the dealer. They re-centered the steering wheel and checked again everything on the front end - at least they confirmed again that I have no damaged components on the front end :lol:

So, what the heck - I gave them another 3 bills to replace the steering shaft. They said the one I have on my truck (long and thin) has been known to cause problems. And I have been wanting to replace that sucker for a long time because it was so flimsy and had some freeplay. The steering feels much tighter now, but the truck is still not perfect. The drift in the direction of the crown remains (pulls to the right in the curb lane; to the left - in the hammer lane).

2 possibilities still remain: (1) try to adjust the CASTER more and (2) switch to the original tires that came on the truck from the factory (295 low profile).

Thanks to everyone for the comments!

 

What is the current caster angle ?

 

Generally the more caster the more stable the truck is. Going to shorter tires would would lower the front of the truck thereby decreasing caster. So I would stay with the current tires You can get more caster put in but you might find your tires getting some irregular wear on the the outer edges because the wheel will lean into the turn a hair when you crank the wheel over hard thereby loading up the outside edge of the tire. I think you'd be better off to borrow one of MacKinnons company trucks to see if this isn't just an Int thing before throwing more money at your truck.

 

Okay, here's how the story ends. If someone runs into problems with steering, take note: the biggest improvement I got was from switching to low profile tires - the original size the truck came with.

I now have Yokohama 295/75/R22.5 on the drives, and Michelin 275/80/R22.5 on the steers (our tire guy said Michelin didn't make 295 tires!). The truck steers way way way better. The fact that the steers are pumped up to 110 psi might be helping a bit too.