First off, thank for ALL the great posts on this site. Now, let's see if anyone knows what's up with my 1997 F150 2wd ext. cab. Front end doesn't feel stable and like it's almost floating while driving. You can imagine how uneasy that feels behind the wheel.

I have replaced with new springs and ball joints recently as well as new shocks. What am I missing or forgetting? Thanks in advance for the help as I do appreciate it.

 

i would check tie rod ends, steering arm joints, and where it anchors to the frame. might be some looseness in those ball sockets.

 

jack the front end up a couple inches off the ground and set the A-frames on 2 jacks so the suspension is setting in the "normal" position and not dropped. hae someone turn the steering wheel 5 degrees left-right-left, etc and see what is going on under the truck.--- grab one wheel and jerk it back and forth and see what is going on. normally this takes two people to "look".

 

Have you had your truck aligned? I own an 02 FX4 SuperCrew and I get that type of feeling out of it also. It was a good bit worse before I got it aligned. I still have a little bit of a problem with that same problem myself.

Do you think you are driving on roads with trough's in it. I have noticed that roads like this will make a vehicle feel like it is floating.

 

Truck has been aligned recently as well as new tie rod ends. I'll check steering arm joints, and where it anchors to the frame tomorrow. Thank you!

 

A decent front end tech would have should have been looking for loose parts. It does no good aligning a truck that has worn parts. However, with that said, he may not be good tech. So, you need to get under that truck and check things out. Do what the other guys have said as far as the procedures go for checking it out. I bet something is loose and on that front end it could be a multitude of things due to the fact that the front ends in your style truck really have a LOT of parts. In fact, I bet you have a lot of things that are getting loose on a truck that age; especially if it has a good deal of miles on it. Also, how do your tires look? Tires can make a HUGE difference in the quality of how a truck drives down the road.

 

Check your idler arm for looseness.

 

Will do that too. As I am not a "professional" what does that look like?

 

The idler arm is on the passenger side of the drag link. The drag link is the long shaft that runs from the pitman arm which is the arm that comes off the steering box over to the idler arm. There is a tie rod on each end of the drag link that runs from the drag link to the steering arm at each wheel.

Grab the end of the idler arm that is tied to the drag link and shake it up and down. If the bushings in the idler arm are loose you will be able to wiggle the shaft up and down which is levering the bushings.

A loose idler arm will cause the truck to wonder back and forth on the road.

There are many other things that can cause this, but it sounds as if everything else has been checked. That's why I chimed in with the suggestion.

Good luck,