the pictures in memory lane of my dodge wrecker show what can happen towing a ford van with the steering locked up on it in a full left position.

best do it yourself method is to lay down in front of vehicle and have someone move streering wheel back and forth.starting with left tierod end ,work your way accross the tierods to the right wheel looking formovement that is sloppy.the idler arm will move up and down if bad.also check the shaft that gose to the wheel making sure the output shaft from streering box moves in a tight movement .these boxes are a problem most of the time