2003 F250 7.3 crew cab 4x4, 107K miles. Taking the kids to school this morning, and bam. No steering.

Good thing no one died from the 7000+ lb truck in the on coming lane with no steering.

This is one of those parts that is never suppose to fail. It cant fail.

Ford, they don't care. Truck is out of warranty.. so its no sweat off their sack.

So, I'm out $454.10.

Nice.

 

The darker part of the shaft shown in the upper left shows that the shaft was cracked long before it snapped.

It may be out of warranty, but that doesn't mean Ford isn't liable. I would be in contact with a doctor of jurisprudence ASAP.

 

This is the third case of this I have seen in as many months...
Glad youre okay.

 

fords gotta out on this one iam not saying this is not verey scarey but lifted with over size tires thats what they will point out

 

I think the scarier thing is that in less than 4 months there have been 3 separate users who had the same severe issue. Did you do much off-road driving with the truck?

 

Thanks for the replies.

The truck is lifted about 4 inches. Not much, and it does not have a drop Pittman arm.
I have done exactly zero, (ok.. maybe 2 dirt roads) worth of off roading with it.

The guys told me that it had been cracked previously, as evident by the rust/discoloration.

 

They are right.

 

Makes me wonder why you could not make up a steering box stabilizer like they have for the Dodge Cummins.
Solid Steel Industries Steering Stabilizer 03-09 5.9L/6.7L Dodge Cummins 2500/3500
I have not put one on my Dodge but would love to, to see if it would tighten up the steering. (it has never been the same since that "one" trip off road)
I can't think of a reason that we could not do the same thing on a Superduty. If it supported on the end of the shaft, I would think that it would help keep it from breaking. I a guessing that the dropped pitman arm from the lift really puts some stress on the sector shaft. If you could remove that stress and only have to deal with the normal steering forces I bet it would last a lot longer. I will have to look into this further as i have the same dropped arm on my Excursion. It is the family ride so, it breaking is not an option.

 

I would have said take Ford to court and they would instantly buy you a new box but you are dead in the water with that 4" lift and 35's.

 

If his truck was under warranty they would have to fix it. Federal law states that an automotive company cannot require the use of any particular product, or brand of product with their vehicles as long as it is within specification and is not the failure you are trying to claim warranty on.

For example:

1) Run large tires, steering box breaks; Ford is legally required to fix it (but they will try to worm out of it) because the tires didnt fail, the steering box did.

2) Buy aftermarket coolant bottle cap, and coolant bottle cap doesnt hold pressure, causing an overheat situation damaging the motor. Ford does NOT have to warranty this claim because the non-Ford approved item is the item that failed.

 

That appears to strengthen the frame around the the steering gearbox mounting points. I don't think that is the issue with the Super Duty trucks.

 

Those examples are not really true, and only a small piece of a much larger story.

As soon as you modify the vehicle out of the specs it was designed with, you will have a tough time with warranty or lawsuits.
Even 35's can put more stress on parts, depending on roads, driving habits, offset, tires etc.
Wether you think it's 1% more stress than stock, or ford thinks it's 100% more stress, it doesn't matter because they can easily prove that you modified it outside of it's intended spec, even if that is only 1%.

I do think that a part such as that should have had a touch more quality put into it though.

Ford should have put a little more cash into the steering on these trucks.

 

Where did you come from, and welcome to FTE.

 

Yep, not a leg to stand on.

 

I agree that modifying a vehicle will make it tough to have parts warrantied. In this case, the vehicle is well past warranty.

However, liability is a completely different issue.

For example, manufacturers crash test their vehicles at 45 MPH. Does that mean if you crash at 75 MPH and the airbags malfunction that Ford is not liable? I don't think so.