2000 F250 Superduty 4wd Crewcab

I have had quite a bit of steering wheel play since I have owned the truck (couple of years now). Finally decided that it was bad enough to go ahead and replace the steering gearbox after most people said the play was from that. But now after replacement, I am having a strange problem when trying to turn left.

Sitting in the driveway, I can turn right with no problem. Turning all the way to the right stop from center is easy and smooth. When I go to turn back to center, the steering will stop just before center. If I put some effort into the wheel, it will continue to turn left but it jerks. Anything past center all the way to the left stop is this way. If i put quite a bit of effort into turning left, the wheel will act like it's building up resistance, then will pop free for a bit and allow you to turn the wheel a quarter turn before it does it again until you finally reach the stop.

This problem only occurs at slow speeds (less than 10mph) or while sitting still. When driving at anything faster, you don't notice the issue. Fluid level is full, no leaks. The power steering pump was replaced 2k miles ago. And as far as I know, the steering gear was dead center when I put the pitman arm back on and installed the unit. Nothing is binding as far as I can tell. The 4x4 hubs are free, and the ball joints were replaced last year.

The only thing I can figure is the system needs to be bled but tried that and nothing changed. So unless the steering box was bad when I installed it, I am at a loss. Any help is appreciated.

 

Did this happen as soon as you replaced your steering box? If so it is something you did or the box itself. If not then I would look to u-joints. Jack up the truck, lock the hubs, turn the wheel to the left and try to see if there is resistance in your u-joints. My .02 cents
Good luck!