Am I just doomed to always have sloppy steering in this truck?
It is an 87 F-150 supercab, longbed, rwd. The guy who gave it to me just replaced the tie rods, and the steering box. I actually saw the steering box come out of the package. Before the swap it was almost impossible to keep straight on the road. Now it is much improved but I still have to spend a lot of time correcting to keep it straight. Is this just how it is always going to be on this truck no matter what?

I would love to have it more like my Taurus. You hold the wheel straight, the vehicle goes straight. No play, no sloppiness. Is there any way to get the truck nice and tight like that?

I have checked the whole front end and nearly everything is new. Steering box, tie rods, pittman arm, drag link, etc. Any ideas? Could the wheel bearings be worn? Is there anything else I can check, or anything I can do? Or is this just as good as it gets?

Many thanks!

 

How's the allignment? After all those repairs, who knows where the tires are pointed.

 

The alignment seems fine. The problem is the drift. If it was out of alignment I could still hold the wheel steady and have the truck move forward. The problem is that it drifts left and right. Not as badly since the steering box was replaced, but it still does it.

 

What kind of tires does your truck have? My wandering truck improved greatly when I put on a new set of rubber. Still not as tight as a FWD Tauras, but it was a major improvement.

 

First, the truck will never be as tight as a car. It's a truck, and it's going to behave like one.

Second, it should not be wandering. An alignment may or may not fix it, but there's no such thing as "the alignment seems fine," either. You most likely have something loose in the front end. A list of things to check in addtion to what you've done is: wheel bearings, ball joints, axle pivot buhsings, radius arm bushings, and tires.

 

usually people say truck steering is a little different than what you describe.. Like for example my truck... My "Sloppy steering" feels like I can turn the wheel an inch or two each way before the tires turn... This is wear of teh steering box... my truck can still go straight down the road when I point it that way. You describe a type of drift... I think your allignments off...

Tires like everyone said are crucial. If a tire is warn uneven it can make you drift even with a fresh alignment.

I replaced my bearings a while back and it made the truck cruise much better and feel less sloppy..

Just things to think about.

IF you Still have play in the actual steering they do make a "High performance" steering box for this truck... might be worth checkin out.

Was the steering box new? used? refurbished?

 

IF you Still have play in the actual steering they do make a "High performance" steering box for this truck... might be worth checkin out.

Was the steering box new? used? refurbished?[/QUOTE]

Who makes a high performance steering box for this vintage F150??

 

when my 82 350 wandered i took it to a f/e shop and they put new kingpins in.
no more wandering.

702502wd360atf
823502wd400atf

 

I don't know if your wandering is the same as my '89. It's the steering shaft, made in 2 parts so it won't push the steering wheel through your chest in an accident. Get someone to turn the steering wheel left to right and you look at the center of the shaft. Borgesen has these. Good Luck

 

I agree with tuntloan....I had a '89 F-250 and it was he steering shaft slip joint that was bad...they cost some un-godly sum...like $200..I went to a boneyard and replaced...fixed the problem

 

You said that the steering gear was replaced but it still had play. I replaced mine for that very reason. It is clearly the gear on mine because you can turn the shaft under the hood by hand and watch the pitman arm not move. I got a rebuilt one and it was worse than the one I replaced. Took it back and got one that was a little better. I am still unhappy with this rebuilt one. However, I am about tired of swapping them out. I think all they do on the rebuild is replace seals, mine wasn't leaking. The slop is what I want to get rid of. Anyone found a good reman one that has no slop? I got mine from Autozone (Cardone reman).

gdawghereiam,

Just curious, did your truck exhibit the tires angling in when you backed up? If so, did the kingpin fix that too? Mine has a very noticeable runout when you back up and the tires stand straight when you pull forward. I have asked endless numbers of alignment shops what the problem is and know one knows. Here is a picture of it.


90' F150 4X4 AOD 302

 

The steering wheel in my F350 crewcab is crooked, but that's because I replaced the column and didn't adjust the rotation correctly when I installed it. If you let go of the steering wheel at any speed on any reasonably flat road, the truck remains dead-nuts straight. It's also "tight" and there is no "walking" of the tire patches as I turn slightly, or sharp, in either direction.

Tie rods and steering boxes can be part of the "looseness" in the feel of the steering, but it can also be incorrect alignment, incorrect ride height (sagging springs), tires that are worn "funny", and probably the most overlooked thing is the steering box mount itself. Very common place on that frame rail for small cracks, tears, and flimsyness due to rust flaking off. Something to definately check out, especially on an older truck.

If everything is perfect and tight, and the steering box wobbles around, that will give your tires some wiggling as well as the steering wheel.

Ball joints and wheel bearings could be warn, and both are easy to test. Jack up the lower A-arm if an IFS truck or the solid axle right by the wheel if it's a solid 4x4 front. Grab the tire and with all your might, try to wiggle it around. Up, down, try to turn it left and right as if you were steering - with the other tire on the ground it shouldn't budge, just rotate. Do the same for the other side. If it wiggles around, something is loose, usually the ball joints.

Wheel bearing issues you generally can hear when you're on the highway... it's a loud whirrrrrrr kind of sound.

A couple of years back my "tight" crewcab started to wander horribly, and I pulled the whole front end apart, only to find nothing wrong. Turned out, the U-bolts on the rear axle, driver side, had loosened slightly, and that axle was wiggling around "just slightly" which was giving me the loose feel. Because the truck is old (93) and had it's share of accumulated mileage (350K+) I didn't hear the loose u-bolts as a new rattle... I guess it blended in, acoustically. Glad I caught that one... a rear axle flying off isn't good!

Also when you replace the steering box, did you replace the pitman arm? Sometimes with age their splines get damaged over time and they start to wiggle on the steering pump's splined shaft. All you need is a minor misfitment and that will translate into "work" on your part to steer the truck. The gearbox/pitman see some incredible pounds per square inch.

Also, does the truck "bounce" well. Worn shocks can also cause the front end to bounce more than it should, which may or may not change the alignment "on the fly" for you. Push the front bumper down, it should come back to normal height and stop. If it bounces more than once, replace the shocks. Same for the rear.

If it's a solid axle truck, worn shocks will impact steering alignment very little. It's much more noticable on an IFS or 2wd truck.

Hope that helps.

But to answer your question - yes, your truck shouldn't be sloppy.

 

I agree with tuntloan, peaple often forget about the other half of the steering system, they think it is just from the gear box on down (pitman, drag links, tie rods). If everything from the gear box on down is new or atleast tight, then look for from the steering wheel to the gear box. If your system is realy sloppy in the steering shaft you may be feeling a "double clunk" (two "clunks" real fast) as you go down the realy bumpy unpaved roads. This is the problem with my dad's 97 catering truck, and he is often in the construction sights before there is anything that even resembles a road, that is why his is so bad.
But I say check the steering shaft, and your suspension and when all is good get an alignment.

broncobasher
Does your truck do that in both 2 and 4 wheel drive? Also, are thoes pictures taken with the vehicle in motion, or does it stay that way after you stop? If the vehicle is in motion then that is normal it is just the wheight shifting from the rear to the front cousing the front to lower wich in turn gives you a more positive camber, and if you have bad front suspension then this affect is even more noticable. Try measuring the distance from the upper wheel well to the top of the tire (both sides, front and back) when you pull forward and when you back up. If the distance of the fronts lowers when you back up then I would look into those springs. That is what we did on my 81 f100 and the front springs fixed it, but it was a rwd, I think a 4x4 should be the same.

 

For everyone that has problems with a loose/worn box, why not tighten it up by adjusting the screw on top. It's fairly easy, loosen jam nut, turn allen head screw in til steering feels tight, and retighten jam nut, making sure not to place more load on the screw. I did this on my ex's brothers 96 F150 with 80k miles. His truck was horrible, had at least 6 inches of wheel movement before the tires turned. Tightened up the adjustment screw, as soon as the steering wheel is turned, the tires turn also. Might be something to look into.

 

2Tall, I tried the adjustment before, it doesn't seem to help much. If you tighten it enough to get the play out while going straight, it binds when you turn it.

Mr. Finch,
I have never checked it in 4wd. So I have no idea if it does it then or not. I may have to try it and see. Those are sitting still. I pulled forward, took a picture and then backed up (using idle, no throttle) and took the other picture. Maybe I am wrong, but I doubt the weight shift would make that much of a difference. I put some spring rubbers in it to bring up the height in the front to see if it helped. These pictures are with the rubbers in place. Since it seems ok when going forward, I haven't worried about it too much. No abnormal tire wear is noticeable. I have checked all the parts that attach to the steering from the gear mount to the tie rod ends, I haven't been able to detect any play. Maybe it is something that takes 4000 lbs to move and wiggling with my hand will not show it. There is clearly something wrong in my opinion, has to be something loose or shifting for the camber to change. I know this has to be a common problem, I have seen countless Ford trucks with the same problem. I have noticed this on Chevrolet's too, but they seem to go the other way, in at the bottom. I have considered replacing the springs, but without knowing for sure, I have not done it. I'll try the measurement and see what it tells me. I am borderline OCD, so this has to be fixed.