Steering problems with my Mazda

My truck is driving really shi**y. It darts from left to right, it bumpsteers, sometimes the wheel is hard to turn, sometimes really easy. I don't know what's going on. It's got 4 new tie rods and adjusters, new (flipped) balljoints, new idler and pitman arm. I completely cut off my bumpstop brackets, re-indexed the torsions, put on shorter shocks and trimmed the upper shock mount to keep the upper control arm from hitting it. I have one of the inner fenders cut out and I'm working on getting the other one out I can see where the pitman and idler have been rubbing my strut rods. It also looks like my shocks are leaning but I can't remember which way. I'll get some pics of the front suspension from different angles tomorrow.

When I had it aligned the camber was pretty close to being even on both sides. He said the caster was off very little too. It's pretty scary to drive because you never know what to expect. Sometimes it seems fine though. The only things I can think of are maybe something with the strut rods or the control arm bushings. Or maybe something with my steering box? Anybody have any other ideas?

did you look and see if the upper arm is hitting the steering shaft? happens when you lower mazdas a lot

I didn't check that. Here's a pic so you guys can see my ride height. It feels like it understeers, and then oversteers in curves.

I had sort of the same problem on my tahoe...I thought it was my steering components. It would drive fine some times and then randomly during a turn or just driving the steering would go to shit and feel really loose like it all disconnected at once. Turned out my power steering box was fucked and not getting enough pressure to work right. Just a thought for ya and a free bump.

did you make sure when you flipped the balljoints that you didnt actually flip it, you just moved it from one side to the other? thats a common misconception, that you flip them.

and what lug nuts did you use? you need different lug nuts (called bulge seat lug nuts) and to have the wheels bored for the mazda hub, or it will steer all porked up too.

Yeah I just moved the balljoints instead of actually "flipping them." I have tapered lug nuts. I tried different ones til I found ones that seat good in the rims. I bought the truck completely stock and it's alway driven kind of weird. But after I replaced the tie rods, balljoints, pitman, and idler and lowered it some more it seems to have aggravated the problem. I went out and looked at it after you posted about the upper c.a. hitting the steering shaft and it looks like it has a little but not much. There aren't any marks on the shaft but you can see on the c.a. where it's rubbed. As soon as my wife gets back with the camera I'll snap some pics to see if you can see anything. It rides good, plenty of travel but the steering is horrible.

Ok, I've got some pics now.

Here's the passenger side with the wheel cut all the way to right. You can see were the idler arm is rubbing the strut rod.





Here's were the upper c.a. has rubbed the steering shaft. You can hardly tell but it's there.



Here's what I was saying about the shock looking like it's leaning.



Here's some shots of the driver's side with the wheel cut all the way to the left.



Here's where the pitman has been rubbing the strut rod.



I need to make a trip to the car wash in the worst way. Everythings covered in oil and grease.

did you check your upper controll arm bushings, my truck did almost the same thing i did'nt realize that they were bad because the bolts cover the bushings. when i replaced them there was no rubber left at in the bushing so when I would hit a bump really hard my steering would lock up, I would have to lock up the brakes to knock it loose. It was'nt on a mazda but i hope this helps

Thats next on my list to check. I'd say triangulating my lowers and doing away with the strut rods would help too. I'm sure strut rods were never meant to handle this angle. I wonder if that might be why my shocks look like they're leaning? When I had it aligned he sad the caster was good though. Maybe my lower control arm bushings are bad?