i have noticed recently that my column seems to be a little loose. has anyone rebuilt or serviced their steering column with success? i am thinking of just getting new bearings/bushings and tearing it apart to see what i can find.

-cutts-

 

A long, long time ago I rebuilt the straight column in my old F250 and as I recall it wasn't that bad of a job.

 

I put new bearings in mine. It wasn't that bad of a job at all. Get the parts at the dealer. They are cheap.

 

I have not done that on our trucks yet (knock on wood) but I have on Government Motors, 89 Olds. I remembered that you need a steering wheel puller to put the dawgone thing back together. I fought it for about 2 hours w/o the right tools before I gave up and got the right tools.

 

remove wheel, remove canceling cam, if it is still installed remove snap ring, you will most likely find a broken tension spring. as you dig deeper you will find both bearings have lost all the *****. ford has a service kit for this. while in there if the truck is an auto i replace the bushings on the shift lever also.

F4DZ3517A bearing
F3TZ3517A bearing
F0DZ3L539F ring - tolerance (This should have the spring and snap ring)
F3TZ7L278A bushing (this should be the bushings for the shift lever)

my cost on all this was $44, list was around $60.

after fixing smack yourself and/or others who use the steering wheel to pull them self into the truck!
use your left hand on the "A" pillar / windshield to pull yourself in

 

thanks for the info, and yes i think about a grab handle everytime i climb in, maybe i should get a running start

-cutts-

 

sorry for diggin this one up from the dead but i finally got around to tearing into it while i have the truck apart for other projects.

turns out both bearings have been gone for some time. one of them seized up and the other is missing half the ball bearings. i was able to get the larger bearing in but am having a hard time with the front, smaller bearing. it is getting hung up on the steering shaft, i am thinking the shaft has some damage and will not allow the bearing to slide down where it needs to.

thoughts?

also, it looks like i broke the slide switch that the key mechanism controls to crank the truck. is that piece available from ford or is it only available for the whole assembly?

thanks
-cutts-

 

I drove my truck to long with the bearing out and i to had where on the shaft. I still got the shaft to slide back in there though. It was stil a lil loose when i got it back together but good enough for now. Lmc gas the shaft but it is pricey. If your talken bout the key slide that has the teeth i broke mine but it was just the last tooth and when i put it back together it work fine with one tooth missing

 

Sorry to hear about your luck. If you think the shaft is toast, you may be able to pick one up from the junkyard...slide thingy and all.

 

Cutts the slide piece was at one time available. I had to replace mine a while back and we happen to have one on the shelf. I would guess its still available. Hardest part will be getting the numb skull behind the counter to figure out what the # is.

 

lol i believe it. i was able to get the tilt part back on last night. what was keeping the smaller bearing from sliding all the way down was remnants of the previous bearing. i just lightly filed away the old bearing and now it slides all the way down without issue. once i got that on i put the tilt bolts back in and the key mechanism seems to still work. dont know if i will need to replace it or not. i might anyways while i have it this far apart, but like you said, the hard part will be finding the plastic piece

thanks everyone

-cutts-

 

cutts:

We did the job this past winter. PartsGuyEd-dot-com knew exactly what was needed. Little bit more than what helifixer indicated but still below that list price. I'm sure he can get the key gear parts, too as long as they haven't gone NLA. never hurts to ask.