I found this TSB
06-5-11***BUCK/JERK STEADY THROTTLE OR SLIGHT TIP IN - 6.0L

I am going to have to see what gear I am in. This TSB does not talk about a shim. It looks like limply re-programing the module.

Would a performance tuner mess this up? I think re-tuning it back to stock should not create any issues. I have an edge tuner and it does not matter if it is tuned to stock or towing or performance. It still hops.

Going to think about this one for a bit and keep reading through the TSBs.

 

This TSB talks about drive-away vibration. I don't think I have that, but will have to pay more attention. Maybe it is part of this.

05-17-6***DRIVE-AWAY SHUDDER OR VIBRATION

 

This TSB seems to think that if my FICM relay is loose I can experience BUCK/JERK

https://www.ford-trucks.com/tsb/full...p?tsb=05-11-14

I am assuming my rear end hopping is what they are describing in many of these and buck/jerk.

 

As I figured, If I drove the truck longer, something might become more apparent. I have been driving around now for few weeks now with my quad in the back of the truck (weight). The hopping does not seem to occur anymore, but in the last bit the front end has started to shake more. Even at different speeds. A couple trips up the highway now and it is starting to feel more like the ball joints on the drivers side. 128K with no front end work. It is likley due. Hear these ball joint do not last anyways.

Local mechanic shop tells me they are within spec, or would pass safety inspection, but I think I am going to have to replace them and see if that makes the difference.

There is a section in the tech stuff here that I am going to read before taking this on. I do not have a press to press out the ball joints. Nor a ball joint fork tool or what ever you call it.

Wondering if I can pound the ball joints out with a big hammer or if I need the tool. The right tool always makes it easier. However, I have replaced many ball joints and tie rod ends in cars with no real issues, but this truck is much heavier duty, so thinking this will me harder to do without the tool.

Do I replace with Ford oem ball joints or other stuff is fine. Local shop stock aftermarket parts i think. No oem parts. I don't think there willbe an issue.

Going to do both ball joints and the universal being that I am in there anyways.

Some reading to do in the tech stuff now.

Maybe some more questions later.

 

This Buck/jerk thing has been an on going thing for me.

Since my last post on this thread and a bunch of kms, I had a shop replace the front end top and bottom ball joints and a few other parts, both tie-rod ends, etc. Thats another story.

I always though the bucking was something to do with the Tires I had on the truck. It never did it with the factory Continental Tires. I put Duratrac tires on my truck and if you look at them you can see the seams there they joined the tire. I always figured maybe that they were out of balance. Or didn't flex properly at those visible seems. Creating a hop, that created the bucking action.

I would take the truck in and have them re-balance the tires. After every re-balancing the buck/jerk would be less, but never really go away. Soon to develop back stronger again. So I always figured it had something to do with the tires. However, rotating tires from front to back did not seem to help.

Later I replaced the tires. The buck/jerk seemed to stop or be substantially reduced with new tires. The new tires had much less off a seem. I don't know if the seem was the cause or not. Just seemed fishy to me. However, it still occurred the odd time when going down a slope. Seems to be more more noticeable on the gradual down slope.


I have since replaced my FICM (low voltage reasons), found some broken clips on the connectors and bought the 'Alliant Power' replacement clips and replaced them. Wow, those were not cheap ($50 each, for $150 for all three) for a few small pieces of plastic. But had to have them. I really don't think the buck/jerk in my truck was caused by the FICM. As, why would it only occur on some roads and some speeds, and some road surfaces seemed to change it as well.

I haven't noticed it lately, since the ball joints were done. I also had a theory that maybe with the ball joints worn, to just within spec, that they would toe in or bind at a specific speed range (50-75 kph) with a certain road texture, and when they toe-d in it would produce a slight braking effect only to release and toe-in again creating a momentary braking or bucking effect. Again not sure if this is the case or not, but since I have new ball joints and new tires, I don't seem to have the bucking effect anymore.

Just for giggles I should go drive down that road that it was always so bad on and see if it still does it. I know it is not the road, it just seemed to show up worse on that road. If i coasted down the road, I had little bucking, in Neutral I had little bucking but in gear with the foot on the gas it would buck the worst. It would do it on other roads as well.

So my end theory was, the pinching up worn ball joint created a momentary breaking effect as the tire(s) toe-d in for a split second and returned, and it would repeat in a cycle. I don't even know if that is actually possible, but its food for thought.

I would be curious to know the age of the front ball joints of others who have experienced this bucking/jerking effect, and if it went away after ball joint replacement.

My thought was that it did not do it with the original Continental tires as the ball joints where not worn out yet. Having the foot on the gas made it worse because the engine was pushing into the momentarily toe-ing in tires that were creating a momentary breaking effect. Ever so slight, but at the right speed and right road texture, maybe even down a slope putting more weight to the front tires, with that whole combination of items, it created a bucking/jerking effect. Very strange... but thats the only explanation that I can come up with. Like I said, I am not even sure that is possible. But it seems to have gone away with the recent ball joint and tie-rod replacement. Nothing else has changed.


As for my ball joint replacement.... what a gong show! I had a local shop replace them and the truck was scary to drive. Took it back three time and better, but still not right. That was a year and a few months ago. It would pull left and right all over the road. I was told it was a sticky ball joint, which I think is a garbage/bull story.

After the ball joint replacement, I put the new tires on it. After a while it seemed to die down and steered OK. I thought maybe the ball joint loosened up. However, all that happened was that it wore down the outside of my new tire to the point that the tire was not grabbing anymore. Going to have to replace that tire now. Its all out of round.

Why do I think it is not fixed...
Because..... I rotated my tires last month and I am right back to crappy steering. Just the way that it was before. I had to pull a trailer back for a friend and the hitch weight lightened the front end and the steering was ridiculous. Since, I have spoke with a number of people (and Ford guys) and read lots and what it seems to come down to is torquing of the ball joints when they are installed.

In this 05 F-350 6.0L if you do not torque the ball joints down in a specific order and to specific torque the ball joints can, in my case will bind and effect the steering. They will not work there way loose. The reason the truck wanders is because the power steering pump is trying to push its way through the binding spot of the over torqued ball joints and builds PSI in the line. Then once past the binding location, it releases the PSI onto the line and over steers (pushing the steering further) and the truck over steers and you are all over the road.

So I (myself) am replacing my ball joints this weekend. The old ones are just over a year old. Cost me $1,600 to have them replaced, they used NAPA premium ball joints, so there should not be any issues with the ball joints. I think they just torqued them up with the air gun and away they went. They said they had troubles with this before. Sticking ball joints, but they don't seem to know the cause. I refuse to take it back to them.

So I am going to do this myself this time, as there is not 3' of snow in the yard. My big question was MOOG, OEM, or other ball joints. Didn't really want OEM, the OEM ones don't seem to be rated that great. Read up on MOOG, lots of guys using them, but seem to have dropped quality since they moved the plant south.

Then I discovered 'XRF Chassis' and they seem very highly rated with long life. So what the costs. At Ford OEM ball joints and seals were going to run me $700 for parts.

I found the XRF at

www.thetireclub.com

for $125 plus $55 shipping for a set of 4 and they will be here in 2-3 days via UPS.

How sweet is that !

Looking forward to getting them installed and having my steering back.