All, I just purchased a 2002 F350 V10 with 120k miles. It's an auction car and as a result, has a lot of fleas on it.
Steering is really bad, you can pretty much turn the steering wheel a quarter of a turn in each direction without the front wheels turning.

In looking underneath, it seems that the pitman arm is loose as the nut turns a little when the wheel turns lock to lock. The tie rods also appear to be loose and the threaded shaft moves up and down on the left side like it's not properly tightened down.

My previous truck which this will eventually replace is a 99 Chevy C2500 work truck which does the job as a tow rig pretty well but is short on comfort. I rebuilt the entire front end on that truck.

The suspension on this truck looks different with the twin I beam which I'm not familiar with. I'd be grateful on some insight for what needs to be replaced.

Assuming upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends and steering shock.

What about pitman arm, idler arm etc?

Thanks

 

Ford F250/F350 Front End Steering Rebuild Kit - Moog

This has pretty much everything you need. I replaced most of the same parts on my 06. I found that if I ordered each part individually
on amazon, it was cheaper than buying the entire package... YMMV...

If you replace all these parts and still have play in the steering, check to see when someone rocks the steering wheel, is the
pitman arm moving or not. If not, the steering gear box needs to be replaced. Aside from the usual suspects the large chains
carry, 'general consensus' seems to be either the Cardone or Red Head steering boxes are the way to go.

That being said, I just put a reman Cardone in my 06... It fixed the stuttering I was seeing and feeling in the steering but
it now has a very light feel, almost like the front tires are hardly touching the ground light.

 

Look around here for the ball-joint replacement thread. Lots of people had trouble with the Moog ball joints. I used Motorcraft and they are perfect.

Some of the problems might have been an incorrect torque-down procedure though, so ... check it out.

Your problems sound more like a variety of things.

If the truck lifted?

 

Thanks for your response. I spent some time yesterday evening under the truck and discovered the following:

Pitman arm appears to be not on fully tight as when the wheels turn, i can see the nut turn also. I'm not sure if the pitman arm needs to be replaced or just re-torqued.

Inner and outer tie rod on the drivers side is seriously loose. I can grab it and shack the rod up and down so that the shaft moves. It's worse on the outer side and is probably what's causing the pop when i turn the wheel.

I ended up ordering just about everything in the list provided (all MOOG) through Rock for under $300. The only parts missing were the adjustment sleeves which are probably not needed (maybe??). I did order a steering damper.

Truck is 2WD which may explain why it was less expensive.

I'm pretty excited about this truck. My only other Ford truck experience until about a month ago was a 59 Ford F100 which was a hateful little beast. I've own GMC/Chevy pickups since until last month when a friend traded me his 94 Lightning for an old Mercedes and then I bought this.

The F350 is a much more pleasant experience compared to the 96 1 ton Chevy with the 454 that I owned in the past.

 

Thanks, truck does not appear to be lifted. I also suspected that the steering may be loose because of incorrectly torqued down nuts but the play in the shaft is too much given that the cotter pin in place. I may try to tighten it down a little more before driving it to my hobby shop which is about 60 miles from my house. I have a lift there which will make the job easier but the drive in the current state will be terrifying.

Here's a picture of the beast:

 

Yeah, sorry, didn't realize it was 2WD - I was talking about 4WD.

Nice truck

I've always wondered how much I'd like a regular-cab 2WD V10 with a stick

 

i guess that the truck hasnt been filled up in some time. The fuel gauge took about 50 miles before it moved so I'm guessing there was some gunk on the sending unit. It ran quite a bit better during the 65 mile run to the shop.

The front end rebuild will hopefully start this weekend.