Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
The usual issue with "wandering" is not so much with the radius rods/ball as with the shaft for the steering sector having worn. Steering sector shaft "shucks" back and forth. This can also cause "free play" at the steering wheel.
The check for this is to raise the front wheels (both) and then grab a tire between the two hands and with steering wheel stationary (you might need to rope it down) see if the pitman arm top (where attached to the shaft) moves. It should be as tight as can be made.
Making it tighter usually means new steering sector/shaft, possibly but not necessarily a new worm, and new bushings in the housing.
Many vendors now sell "rebuilt" sector shaft/housings using Torrington needle bearings and seals. The consensus among many is that this is a defective fix in that the sector shaft is not hardened, and the needles "brinnell" the shaft and create a "lumpy" feel to the wheel. Torrington needles are good in a rolling application, but the needles are largely stationary and the unit pressure is too high in this application.
Joe K