i have a 6" skyjacker lift on my '92 f350 with 109,000 miles on the odometer. After installing the lift the truck developed a large amount of play in the steering wheel. I installed the drop pitman arm (app.-5 1/2 ") when i installed the lift. The tie rod ends have no "left to right" play and the ball joints have no play. it appears the drag link being attatched to the leading side of the tie rod causes the tie rod to roll or twist up and down on the ***** of the tie rod ends. Do new tie rods have more resistance to this roll? Its not that expensive to replace the whole assembly but i dont think it would be that much stiffer. I have clocked the rod ends in there opposing limits of travel and it helped minimally. i only drive this truck during hunting seasons and occasionally for errands (< 1500 miles per year) so i would prefer to keep this resolution pretty low buck. Any ideas or constructive comments would be appreciated.

 

I lifted mine 2" and created the tie rod roll you mention. I have not added a drop pitman arm.

The problem is that the drag link connects to the tie rod in the front. As the drag link pushes and pulls the tie rod left and right it also pushes it down and pulls it up.

I haven't figured out the solution yet.

Bump for others to comment...

 

i had thought of creating a bracket that would connect to the back side of the tie rod nut where the drag link attaches. Then clamp or weld it to the drag link. Controlling the roll by capturing both sides of the tie rod.

 

I had this happen a couple of times. Both times it was el-cheapo tie rod ends that did it. I replaced them with better ones and had no more problems.

 

Thank you for your input kind sir. What would you consider good? Moog, Ford,...

 

Opinions vary widely on what "good" is. Ford Motorcraft is always the first choice. After that, I choose Moog. Some say they are not good, but for me they have worked well. All auto parts stores have 2 or 3 levels of parts based on price and warranty. Generally the top level part is premium quality. It may cost more, but it's usually worth it. I'm sure I will start a firestorm with my comments on this, but we will see!

 

I've always had good luck with Moog. 135k & 10 years on a set of ball joints with plenty of four wheeling.

As for the tie rod "roll", my buddies 03' F150 had the same issue until he replaced the worn out tie rods with new Moog parts. Roll is now gone. It didn't cause ill-handling for him, just funky tire feathering up front.

 

Thanks for all the input. I replaced the entire tie rod assembly with moog problem solver parts and it completely cured the issue. only problem now is that i have determined some of the play was from the steering box. 6" to 2" of play.....I can live with that.

 

FREDDAY, were your tire rods new?

Mine are brand new and they roll.

Maybe I need a different "brand" of brand new. I got them from O'Reilly's.

 

I noticed hat there was quite a swing in pricing for the same application. I went for the best ones that my parts store had. I had done some pricing online and it looked like i could replace everything for about $250.00 with the less expensive brands. The Moog Problem Solver parts were nealy $500. I bought just the passenger side tie rod and driver side rod end for around $200. Problem solved 100%.

 

Sorry, just realized i didnt answer your question. My tie rods were not new, and much worse shape than i had originally thought.