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Did you lift it? And what kind of oopsie? check your u-bolts, tie rods, and spring locating pins. are you sure that it moved recently or maybe its been like that ever since....
Long story short i went through a puddle at about 10 miles an hour. I saw a thin layer of ice on top of it didnt realize that this thin layer of ice was a huge blocks of ice. the ice shelf broke under the weight of the Ex and the steering wheel ripped violently out of my hand and it pulled hte truck at almost a 90 degree angle out of the pit. After i got out i need to keep the steering wheel turned left to go straight.
Afterwards i took it to a shop with a very knowledgeable superduty tech. We spent about 2hrs looking through the front of the truck. We checked everything from the ball joints to the steering joints and linkage. We didnt find anything bent or broken but after the tech measured the axle it had shifted over to the passenger side about 1 inch. He thinks that the impact might have extended the track bar but right now its inconclusive.
Any ideas on what it could be?
Not quite sure if it was that way before. all i know is that the steering needs to be turned pretty far left to go straight. When me and the tech went throught the front of the truck he didnt find anything bent or broken but the springs and the differential had been shifted over to the passenger side.
You probably just bent a tie rod and threw the allignment. In my dodge I blasted a tree trunk that was under some water. I actually jumped a tooth in the steering box.
When you say that you have to turn the wheel pretty far just to go straight, how much is that? If its only like 90* off, get an allignment.
When you are driving and the wheel is turned, does the truck at least drive straight? Or if you let go of the steering wheel while driving, does it want to make a sharp turn? Id bet its just an allignment that is now way off. All this is dependant that the axle didnt actually shift. I do know that my X isn't 100% centered.
You probably just bent a tie rod and threw the allignment. In my dodge I blasted a tree trunk that was under some water. I actually jumped a tooth in the steering box.
When you say that you have to turn the wheel pretty far just to go straight, how much is that? If its only like 90* off, get an allignment.
When you are driving and the wheel is turned, does the truck at least drive straight? Or if you let go of the steering wheel while driving, does it want to make a sharp turn? Id bet its just an allignment that is now way off. All this is dependant that the axle didnt actually shift. I do know that my X isn't 100% centered.
The spoke on the steering wheel would be about perpendicular to the dash. Yes when it was turned the truck would drive straight. When i let go of the steering wheel the truck would want to go to the right. I'm pretty sure it did shift because you can tell on the rubber bushing on the shackles and sway bar when it used to cover the metal and not it is exposed.
Took it in for an alignment yesterday and the alignment tech was also baffled he though something would have been bent or broken but he couldnt find anything either. When he checked the alignment everything was in spec besides the steering wheel. So it drives right now but the diff is over to the right of the truck. What would be responsible for the whole damn thing shifting to the right?
Maybe a bent leaf spring or bracket. Is the angle of the shackle different on either side? sorry its not going so easy.
Shackle isnt bent and im not sure about the leaf spring or bracket. When i look at the angle of the shocks they are slightly different. The passenger side is at more of an angle than the driver's side.
How about the bracket at axle end (passenger side) of track rod? Perhaps this is bent? This massive bracket could be replaced from a salvage vehicle(?).
You know, it would not be that hard to put your Excursion right next to another 4x4 Excursion. Then, you could crawl under them both and carefully compare what is different about yours. Some of these brackets and shackles may look OK on inspection, until you compare with a known "good" one...
Last edited by Forest; Dec 7, 2010 at 07:53 AM.
Reason: Another idea...