I have an 08 f350 pick up 6.4L diesel,had the same problem,turn left and right but would not return to center,checked the whole front end out everything was good,I heard that there was a problem with the steering box,had dealer check it out and it was the box but I called ford in detroit and complained cause it was off warrenty they did pay for it in the end now it steers ok so check the box

 

It's the bottom part of the Kingpin assembly, yes the lower spindle cap.

 

john just think of it as a work out machine but i check the box

 

Three left turns makes a right.

 

My money is on the box, but I think you will have to dump those lift blocks and possibly bend the I beams to get your frontend to drive like it is suppose to.

 

On the right side king pin bearing, I can see rust wich means it has been dry for a while. The lower kingpin zerks will take grease a lot easier if you jack it up undre the I beam. Those caps just unscrew with a 7/8 wrench. Why not borrow one from the other side or the top and see if it will take grease? I've never seen the threads in the I beam strip out, so you may get lucky. If you have an oxy acetelyne torch, heat up the spindle where the king pin pivots to melt any dried up grease and make the new stuff flow easier. (watch for the hot grease dripping on your hand!)

 

Most people don't, but it is actually better to jack it up every time you grease them.

 

bashby : I'll try that. How do you unscrew those caps anyways? Do they have a head to put that 7/8 wrench on them? I've never see clean Kingpins so I have no idea.

I wanted to clean 'em all up today, but weather isn't being nice to me.


star: thanks for that! I'll be jacking 'em up from now on to grease 'em!

I've always greased my front ends and U-joints every single oil change anyways.

 

Its just a hex head so a socket or wrench will fit it. I'm 99% sure it's 7/8

 

Wow my ears are still ringing from driving the van without the doghouse on, man it's loud!


Alright, so the problem IS the drivers side Kingpin. Steering box is fine.

I took the passenger side grease cap off (bashby your right, it is a 7/8" socket) and cleaned out the bottom part, screwed it in, and greased it, it was really really hard pumping the grease gun, but it DID take the grease, and it came out where it's suppose to, I gave it 3 good pumps, grease started coming out after the first pump, but just wanted to make sure.


Now the drivers side, took the top cap off, cleaned it out, screwed it on, I come to grease it, cap blows out. Clean it again, and burn out the old grease, screw it back on, grease.... extrememly hard to pump the gun, and half way through the first pump, the grease started coming out around the cap. So it doesn't wanna take grease. I tryed a 2nd time, nope. I fired the van up, turned the wheel side to side a few times, and tryed greasing it again, and some went in (as it didn't come back out) but it didn't come out where it's suppose to.

So installed the wheels back on, dropped it on the ground, and went for a ride....WOW huge difference, it's nicely drivable now!


It turns easily left, and right, but sometimes you can't fully turn right, the wheel just stops, and you have to use both hands and give it alot of strength. But doesn't happen all the time. So i'm gonna find 2 caps for it, and leave it as is for winter, and I'll do that drivers side Kingpin when summer rolls back around.

The wheel still doesn't return to center, it does go back by it's self only half a turn sometimes. But I can live with that for now.



Thanks for the help everyone!!!

 

Kingpins can be a real PITA to replace, I'm with you on just driving it as is for as long as you can. At least you know whats wrong with it now.

 

I had a bad gearbox, no it will not act up when not under load, it turns it flawlessly when up off the ground, and acted like **** when full weight is on the front tires.

 

These kingpins, are these the old solid style kingpins like they ran in solid axle stuff back when?

If there are no bearings in there, or seals, you could maybe try heating them (thinking like 3-400 degrees, not red hot or anything) to see if it helps get the grease flowing through again where it's supposed to. We've done that with seized pins on equipment a couple times, and it's helped. Another trick would be to pop the cap, clean out the grease, then fill it with a penetrating oil, tranny fluid or similar, put the cap on, then hit it with the grease. Again, it may help get the oil shoving through and loosening up some old grease/dirt whatever.

 

I like the oil idea, but it's gonna be a lil harder as it's the bottom part of the Kingpin that's the problem. The top part takes grease no problem.


I'll leave it for now, and next time I take the front wheels off (witch will be soon, as it needs front tires pretty bad) I'll try that, and heat it up some, see if it helps.