If your say sitting at a stoplight and you rotate the steering wheel, how much play is in your steering wheel side to side? I would say my truck 95 F-150 has about 30 degrees of play to the left and 30 degrees to the right before it actually engages the steering and turns.

Joints are all well lubed, and the truck drives fine and tracks fine, I was just wondering if that much play in the wheel is normal.

Thanks!

 

There is going to be play in the wheel, most of it is because of the steering box.

 

I put a new sterring box on mine and still had play. Id say i might have 15-20 degress play. B4 that i probaly had 40.

 

I put in a new steering box about 20k miles ago, the slack has returned. Was AWESOME when it was new. I do need an alignment though, which will hopefully improve it. It's pretty annoying to me. I don't even have the stock steering system anymore, and it's still loose cause of the steering box. You can adjust them a little, but adjust it too tight and it'll break.

 

Thanks! I'll just keep on truckin' then! I drove a late model Expedition recently. I couldn't believe how vague the steering was. Seemed there was too much power steering, and not enough road response. Guess Ford likes it that way. Allows the soccer moms to hold a phone in one hand, drive with a latte in the other, and still go down the highway driving with one knee.

 

I guess your right, Rusty Shackleford...

 

I am having the same trouble with my 91 f-150, it's a pain to keep truck going in a sraight track. How do you adjust steering box to eliminate some of the slack?

thanks

 

There is a nut on the top of it, and a stud going through with a screwdriver slot in it. Moving that stud is what tightens or loosens it, and the nut holds it secure. So you put a screwdriver in the slot, and back the nut off, then tighten the stud, and re-tighten the nut. Go in small increments and test drive. Watch for binding.

You wear the center of the steering box out way before anything else because you spend most of your time in the middle. The problem is when you tighten that screw, you tighten everything, and if the gears get too tight when your turned far left or far right...it'll bind and break it...so thats why you need to be careful with adjusting it.

 

Here is exactly how I was taught to adjust a steering box-

Raise the front tires off of the ground

count the number of turns the steering wheel makes from lock to lock

starting from one side full lock, turn the wheel half the distance of your lock to lock measurement (esentially centering the steering box)

Loosen the nut, and lightly tighten the stud like Mustang mentioned. Not too much, it is trial and error. Tighten the nut back up to torque specs.

Basically, the main steering gear is shaped like a cam lobe. You don't want to tighten the stud unless you are at the top of the lobe (hence the steering centering), or when you go over the top, the gear mesh is too tight and the steering will bind.

I have done this effectively on other trucks, and it does work well. I may give it a shot on the 95 too. I will let you guys know what happens.

 

My steering tightened up quite a bit after replacing the front shocks with heavy duty Gabriel's (are these any good? I got them at Napa). The originals were light duty and completely shot. The top cover tube part essentially disintegrated in the process of removing them. I'm sure that they were the original shocks from 1991. (Its a '91 f-150 2WD 5.0L that I just got a couple of weeks ago and am in the process of slowly fixing up.).

Anyway, the point is that replacing the shocks significantly reduced the play in the steering wheel. I have driven an early model Bronco and and Early F-150 in the past, with similarly loose steering. I just thought that it was a Ford "feature".

I've also noticed that with the play in the steering, it is very difficult to drive with two hands on the wheel. You have to drive with one hand or your wrist hanging over the top of the wheel. Not to mention that the one-handed method is way cooler.

 

I think you lucked out with the shocks...there's still going to be play even with good shocks.

My observation has been that Ford may of done this on purpose. Most of the F-series trucks I've driven have had the same feel. But if you notice, you can cut the wheel left or right on the highway without as much risk of over-turning. If the steering was much tighter and more responsive, I think we'd see more roll over accidents due to incapable driving skills. Your natural reaction is to cut the wheel, and on a truck it could flip if you don't do it right.

 

Good Point!!! Again, I can confirm this, because if anyone has ever driven a newer Expedition, it feels very sloppy with little responsiveness. Keeps a lot more soccer moms on their 4 tires I think.

Good to know, so we don't go chasing phantom problems that don't really exist.

 

I've had pleanty of high speed swerves...

One time in the winter (high snow banks) i was driving down a two lane divided highway, at night, not anyone really close. I was in the right lane and just cruising along at about 60, guy in a little car decides to pop out of a business right infront of me. I couldn't believe it, it's like he didn't even look. I swerved to my left on the horn and was able to avoid him and keep it on the road, but that was close. I'd of probably killed all of them if I got them, or killed myself if I rolled it.

Had pleanty of those types.....glad I went to a professional driving school, people here can't drive worth of squat

 

WoW, you guys are making my power steering seem tight, i have about 5-10 degrees of play, and i thought that was kinda bad. i guess im happy about that, now all i gotta do is replace every hose that has to do with power steering because theyre all leaky and worn out.

 

Yeah, there's still plenty of play, but not nearly as much as before replacing the shocks. The important thing is that the vehicle doesn't bob up and down and sideways anymore (kind of like this guy -> ), while driving down a relatively flat surface (God help ya when you hit a bump in the road! ). I'm surprised that they let this pass the safety. I'm in Ontario, Canada - I'm not sure if shocks are part of the safety check here or what the requirements are in other other jurisdictions, but before replacing the shocks, it sure didn't seem very safe.

I agree that even though the steering is soft, it is still quite responsive, and if it was any tighter, the truck would probably be harder to control.

My previous vehicle, up until a couple of weeks ago was a '91 Honda Civic. Now that's got tight steering!