Whole truck kicks left on acceleration.

[CT720RAT]

something must be busted, but i cant really see what. when i get into the gas, my whole truck shifts to the left about 4 inches (kind of a clockwise rotating motion but its JUST THE BODY), it feels like the rear end is sliding on the springs but everything is tight. could it be in my front end? any ideas?

[Rev_D21]

You might have really worn out suspension bushings. I'd also check the torque on the tension rods, those can cause adverse steering if the nuts back off, and some do back off over time. I am willing to bet a large pizza that the leaf spring bushings on your 83 are shot. I would also say that your centerlink might be shot as well as tie rod ends. Best thing to do is jack the front of the truck up and check the front end for loose components. Check your tire pressures as well. Let us know what you find.

[CT720RAT]

Thats kind of what i was thinking, i remembered last night i heard a bang from the front left side near the beginning of the week, but i thought it was a chunk of ice or something breaking off, its been pretty snowy out here. maybe thats where my problem is. Tire pressures are good.

[Rev_D21]

One of my tension rod nuts loosened up last summer. I didn't realize what was going on at first. I noticed I would get a bad banging sound sometimes over bumps. I also noticed a lot of bump steer and erratic steering on grooved roads. I spoke with a Datsun 620 guru who mentioned checking the tension rods. Wouldn't you know it he was spot on. One of nuts had backed off a few threads which allowed play at the control arm and would slam against the front bracket when I hit bumps. Once I torqued it back down steering improved greatly.

One other thing I did which really made a difference in steering was replace my worn idler arm bushings with brass units from Bandit4x4. I thought my steering box was shot until I replaced those bushings. If you have anything over 100k on your truck and you haven't replaced those...you will probably have to no doubt. You are not required to use brass, OEM Nissan bushings are good and they are not expensive. I went with brass I think it will last forever on a street truck that doesn't go off road.

Bad leaf bushings can cause all kinds of wandering problems. I am replacing mine this Spring.

[CT720RAT]

ill have to check those nuts, i jacked the whole truck off the ground, wiggled everything front and back, and all seemed tight. I didnt think to check the tension rod nuts though, actually i think those are the only thing i didnt look at. My truck just hit 100k, so nothing is too worn, my idler arm bushings has a little play but they did before this started, and they're not too bad.

[flinterman2000]

I changed the complete idle arm with bushings. Alignment was a real problem for me. The truck had the wrong model idle arm, which caused the steering cross member to be at an angle. All steering noises stopped after the change out and alignment is good now.