Play in the Steering Wheel
#1
#2
#4
I agree with Jowilker, many steering parts come into play with steering, not just the steering gear box. Bushing, bent tie rods and even king pins can also give you the feeling of chasing the steering as it wanders. I would first take it to a qualified alignment shop and asses the alignment before blindly changing parts. Sometimes it can be as simple as setting the caster/camber/toe correctly.
#5
None of the parts are available any longer from Ford, so it could only have been re-sealed, then re-adjusted. There is only one seal...at the sector shaft
What one person's idea of a rebuilt gearbox is....will not be the same as another's.
ALL the parts are available from Ford obsolete parts vendors, but the chance someone bought them there are slimsky and nonsky, because they'd need the parts catalog to look up the part numbers.
How much $$$ is this rebuilt gearbox?
It might be cheaper to rebuild your gearbox.
Play in manual steering gearboxes is a typical Ford trait. I've seen some of these gearboxes with as much as 6" of play.
But...before doing anything with the gearbox...the first thing I would look at is the steering coupler, known here on FTE as a rag joint.
The coupler connects the column to the gearbox.
#6
Grease Service
I would like to add as a question, How often do you members add grease to the fittings on your front end parts.
Properly greased king pins can last forever, it's the not greased ones that have to be replaced.
Grease the front end every time you change your oil, doesn't matter if you service every 2,000, 3,000 or 5,000 miles, it's every time.
You don't need special grease either, plain ol tube grease will keep everything together. IMHO
Nutter thing, it's cheep!
John
Properly greased king pins can last forever, it's the not greased ones that have to be replaced.
Grease the front end every time you change your oil, doesn't matter if you service every 2,000, 3,000 or 5,000 miles, it's every time.
You don't need special grease either, plain ol tube grease will keep everything together. IMHO
Nutter thing, it's cheep!
John
#7
Back then, oil was changed every 1-2000 miles, and a lube job was performed at the same time.
Many of these trucks did not have ZERK (grease) fittings factory installed in the tie rods, tie rod ends, draglink, U-joints and on the spindles (upper/lower) to grease the king pins.
Instead of ZERK fittings, Ford put rubber plugs in the holes where these fittings screw into.
In the owners manuals and in sales brochures, Ford said these parts were lubed for life.
Uh huh...yeah right. But what Ford didn't say...was....how long "life" was.
"Life" was actually only thru the warranty period, which was no more than 90 days. 4,000 miles (!) for the early trucks. 2 years, 24,000 miles for the later models.
If y'all have these fracatta plugs, remove them and install ZERK fittings.
The fittings are available from auto parts stores, come as straight, 45 and 90 degrees.
Many of these trucks did not have ZERK (grease) fittings factory installed in the tie rods, tie rod ends, draglink, U-joints and on the spindles (upper/lower) to grease the king pins.
Instead of ZERK fittings, Ford put rubber plugs in the holes where these fittings screw into.
In the owners manuals and in sales brochures, Ford said these parts were lubed for life.
Uh huh...yeah right. But what Ford didn't say...was....how long "life" was.
"Life" was actually only thru the warranty period, which was no more than 90 days. 4,000 miles (!) for the early trucks. 2 years, 24,000 miles for the later models.
If y'all have these fracatta plugs, remove them and install ZERK fittings.
The fittings are available from auto parts stores, come as straight, 45 and 90 degrees.
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#9
If the rubber plugs are still present, you can bet the farm that either these parts have never been replaced...or replacement parts were bought at the dealer.
Most Ford "lube men" removed those fracatta plugs...not to help the parts last longer, but to get paid for doing a lube job!
#10
My two Cents
All of the posts ( ABOVE ) are very good ( ADVICE ) and should be looked into and
checked out ! And if any of those are found to be a problem !
" { Take A Real Good LOOK At your Cab Mounts } "
p.s.... Lots of the stuff posted above can be caused by '' bad cab mounts " and if you have bad cab mounts and don't fix it first, your NEW parts are now JUNK !
Wally Womack
All of the posts ( ABOVE ) are very good ( ADVICE ) and should be looked into and
checked out ! And if any of those are found to be a problem !
" { Take A Real Good LOOK At your Cab Mounts } "
p.s.... Lots of the stuff posted above can be caused by '' bad cab mounts " and if you have bad cab mounts and don't fix it first, your NEW parts are now JUNK !
Wally Womack
Last edited by Pro-Street/StateTK; 04-13-2009 at 09:25 PM. Reason: watching my Ps and Qs
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