F350 steering gear box problem?
 

I have a '05 F350 SD, SB, diesel, dually with 33K highway miles on the clock. Truck has never plowed snow nor went crashing through back woods rivers and streams. Steering gear box has a problem with being loose and I was wondering whether this board has any background or history on this problem.
I did a search but did not find any recent info on these steering gear boxes.

Ball joints were just replace and tie rods and the rest of the suspension was checked by an Ohio dealer which claims "everything OK". However if I grab the steering wheel at the 12:00 position and rock it between the 10:00am and 2:00pm positions there is no resistance felt, the tires do not move at all and the arm on the gear box does not move either. Lastly there is a klunking noise that can be heard comming from the gear box. When driving on the highway one has a tendancy to over steer due to the lack of control in the steering. I had two seperate Ohio dealers check it out and they both claimed this was "normal" for the miles on the truck(32K miles). When we went to a new truck on the dealers lot, it was not loose and neither was my truck when it was new. However the dealer said this was "normal". Since then I have test drove used Dodge 3500s and GM 3500s trucks with over 35k MILES ON THEM and neither displayed this type of problem in the steering.

I had a NTB tire shop check this and they claimed that the steering gear box was "abnormally loose". That if the steering gear box "lash adjustment" could not take out the play, the gear box was worn out and needed to be replaced. Since it was still under warrenty they suggested I tke the problem to Ford.

Well now this Ohio dealer tells me the Ford gear boxes nolonger have a lash adjustment and once again they claim this is not a problem anyway. Now I guess its not a problem for the dealer since they don't have to drive the truck and worry about safty. But its certainly a problem for any one driving the truck and attempting to keep it going straight down the highway!

Does anyone know whether the Ford F350 Steering gear boxes have a lash adjustment and does this problem sound like it is only an adjustment problem or would it be a problem with a worn gear box?

Ford Corp just paid around $1500 to fix the ball joints under warrenty and it appears that they really don't want to pay another $2000 to replace the worn steering gear box under warrenty also??

My o6 had a little play in it also. There is a adjustment on top of the steering box, loosen the locknut and turn in the screw a 1/4 turn at a time until the play is gone. It work great on my truck.

...Welcome pheonix, to Ford Truck Enthusiasts!

See you on the boards.:-X22 ….

As atvraptorman mentioned there is an adjustment on the steering gear. This adjusts steering gear meshload.

Doing the adjustment properly requires the draglink to be disconnected from the pitman arm. The steering wheel is then rotated through its full range of travel and torque readings taken at the center position and off-center. The adjustment screw is moved to get the correct meshload.

If the correct meshload can't be obtained, the steering gear gets replaced. If the dealer ran through this procedure, they can tell if there is a problem and whether you need a new gearbox.

I'd try the dealer again before attempting an adjustment that might end up harming the gearbox.

Lou Braun

thanks atvraptorman, Tim Lamkin, Lou Braun for the information. This is the first Ford product I have owned. We loved the truck for the first 20K miles until the steering and wheel alignment problems started to develop.

When I spoke to the NTB tire guys they said the gear box should be adjusted but they did not want to do it since the truck was still under warrenty. One Ford dealer told me that the newer gear boxes nolonger have this adjustment and also stated that the looseness was normal on these trucks (F350's). The location of the gear box makes it hard to see whether the adjusment screw is still there and how to get at it to adjust it. The second Ford dealer said that he would not adjust the box because in doing so he would damage the box and he also claimed that mine did not need to be adjusted since it was not loose enough yet. On the highway the truck wanders around and the steering looseness is worse then when the truck was new. I'm not sure how much looser it needs to get before it warrents repair? We really loved the truck when it was new. Now these problems are truning into disappointments esp when it seems the dealers could fix the problem so simply with an ajustment yet they don't !! I guess its not a surprise that Ford Corp is in trouble!

My 04 f250 had the same problem. I tighted the adjuster, and it feels like new. It's hard to get to the adjusting screw, but it can be done. you can do the adjustment yourself, just back off the lock nut and turn the allen wrench very little, like 1 to 2 inches at the end of wrench.

Look at the TSB 05-22-1 steering wheel oscillation.In the bulletin it says how to
adjust the STEERING GEAR MESH LOAD ADJUSTMENT.Hope this helps.

Problem solved = NEW STEERING GEAR BOX. After to going to three dealers in the Cleveland area which said the problem was normal, finally found a dealer that agreed that a loose steering is "NOT NORMAL" on our trucks!

Went to West Gate Ford in Youngtown, Ohio. They appear to be primary truck dealer in Eastern Ohio so they have to know our trucks. My opinion if your having problems with your Ford truck and no else seems to have the answer try them, ask for Dean service manager. Tell him one of the members from this board with a '05 F350/SB dually and loose steering sent you and you might even get a discount on the work.

Been attempting to work out discounts for members of this board on service and parts. I'VE been a member of a Stealth/3000GT enthusiasts board and from select dealers we were able to get club discount rates of 20-25% on parts and service. In numbers there is buying power! If you can try out this truck dealer and indicate your interest in getting group discount rates we may be able to show them there is an $$$ advantage for them ALSO. If the numbers are there, they just might offer this type of group discount.

I had a noise when I turned to the left. There was a TSB for it and got it fixed with new High pressure hose bent differently. Then 2 weeks later the case split on my box spewwing fluid everywhere. Box replace then started getting death wobble and was very loose. They adjusted and steering got hard to park. took it in 2 times for death wobble before ford replaced box again and my wobble was solved. I spoke with service advisor and he said they have had a big issues with steering boxes. Mine took 2 to get right. they tried 5 on one truck before it was fixed. He didnt know what the difference between the ones that came on the truck versus the new ones that were ordered to fix issues but he did say they have done about 20 boxes on about 12 trucks. that was about 6 months ago and when mine went in for the box change after it split he said mine was the first one they have had problems with. from then to the time mine was replaced again they had all those happen.

theonlypheonix , I had the same problem with my 2005 at 5K miles and the dealer replaced the steering box. I was told that the 2005 steering box is a new design. I guess we need to avoid anything that is in its first year release.

I guess what I'm experiencing is the reputation that Ford has built over the years. Fix Or Repair Daily (FORD). This is the first Ford product I've owned and after owning GM products for over 38 years and being able to get 200K mi on each vehicle without major problems, I'm just not use to the steering gear box failing at 22K mi and the ball joints failing at 28K mi from just highway miles.
Didn't even plow snow or have the fun of off road mudding x( .

The real question is whether I will again have replace these parts within another 30K mi ? and what else will fail? I've alreaady started looking at Dodge and Chevy trucks. Not sure whether the F350 is a keeper esp when the service dept and Ford customer service directly lie to you.

There seems to be a know problem and issue with 2006/2007 F250/350 gear boxes per 4 Wheel Part and about 4 other places. They are week and poorly designed. I have an F250 Superduty, 6in Lift and starting getting the "notorious" death wobble. After several attemps at different things, shocks, etc.....the guys I should have taken it to mentioned the above well know issue. I have it in the shop getting tie rods, ball joints and a new box put in. God...please tell me that it will work......

I can say with confidence; I have had this experience with GM as well with the key being to present them with facts and let the owner know that you will being shopping else where.

Fords steering box issue is exactly like GM's front wheel bearing issue that never really existed until 1999. All the other 4x4's and front wheel drives before that had relatively few problems and still used the exact front ends but after 1999 model year I started to go through them like mad....what changed?

yea ..I hear you on the front wheel bearing issue, 125K mi of hwy driving on a F350 "SUPER DUTY TRUCK", O...my mistake "Light Duty" truck and just had to replace the front right wheel bearing, knuckle seal, hub seals, outer diff tube seal, etc, etc. Everything was only $750 in parts plus my labor.

"light duty", what a joke. I used to work on gm vehicles for a living and would not touch a gm truck with a ten foot pole. the gm "trucks" with their front ifs is a joke, talk about falling apart....so your saying the ridgid dana front axle (which your lucky to have) is a pos?
you would have spent more money on a gm ifs over the years, fore sure