My steering wheel is off by about 5° clockwise. But the alignment is spot on, if I let go of the wheel it goes straight as an arrow and everything is straight on the suspension. Rather than spend the $75 for an alignment to straighten the steering wheel is there a way to adjust it myself. I remember about 10 years ago when I had my Jeep Cherokee I was able to adjust something on the front suspension and change steering wheel without messing up the wheel alignment. Can I do this on this truck at all?

 

It's the relationship between the tierod ends and the Pitman arm on the steering box. So you need to loosen (lengthen) one tie rod end and tighten (shorten) the opposite side. This will maintain the same distance between the ends but move where the arm connects to the center link.

Or just live with it.

 

Gotcha, I will just live with until its time for new tires.. I think my Jeep Cherokee had an adjustable drag-link which I was able to move the steering wheel around by loosening or tightening..

 

On Super Duties there'a an adjustment sleeve on the drag link that centers the steering wheel. This is the only pic I have that's close , you can barely see it in the upper left.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...installed.html

 

Uhmmm, I don't really think this is going to work. If you lenghten one side and shorten the other All that is going to do is shift the tie rod to one side or the other, and that is only if you actually disconnect one tie rod end from the knuckle. If you dont disconnect one side all you are going to do is change toe in/out.


As the other fella said, he needs to adjust the drag link a bit to get his wheel centered. This does not affect alignment at all. Messing with the tie rod will if you don't know what you are doing.

 

The first guy is describing a way center the wheel on an IFS with rack and pinion steering, but even then I'd assume there's an adjustment on the steering link that goes into the pinion. But with the crossover steering on the SD where the tie rod and drag link connect through the passenger knuckle, adjusting the tie rod does squat except screw with your toe.

 

Attached is a parts explosion of your steering. The drag link (or center link) is labelled #4. You can turn the adjustment sleeve (#3) on the drag link to adjust the steering wheel position without having any effect on the alignment otherwise.

If you get under it and examine it, you'll see and it'll make sense.

 

Great! this sounds exactly what I did on my Jeep Cherokee!

 

You guys are right. Should have slid under my truck before answering, but it's cold out today. I was thinking of IFS and was wrong. Glad he didn't go and try it my way! Yes, drag link adjuster will do it. They should have done this when the alignment was done.

 

It should also be mentioned that the above info is only true for 4x4 trucks. The smaller 4x2 trucks with IFS use a short/long drag link system similar to the OBS, and wheel centering can only be adjusted by resetting tow on each front wheel.

Jay

 

Is there a write-up on exactly how to do this for the drag link? My 2012 F250 SD's steering wheel sits at 11:00, though the alignment is spot-on. A minor thing, yet it drives me nuts!

 

You just pop open the level and turn the collar. Look at the threads, making the drag link shorter is what I would guess moves the wheel clockwise, but if that's wrong there's only one other option.

 

Great write up here!

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...with-pics.html

 

Thanks, all - I'm going to fiddle with it this weekend.

DD