I have a 2011 250, 6.2L, single wheel. Any recommendations on upgraded steering stabilizers. I'm sick of getting the steering wheel ripped out of my hands when I drive over the rail road tracks. Its pretty sad when a stock truck has almost as much bump steer as my lifted and severely modified Samurai. Any links and actual user feed back will be appreciated.

Also I have a service body on it and have added about 2,000 lbs to the truck. I installed helper air bags in the rear. Would a upgraded rear sway bar be a good idea or is there no need.

 

When was your truck last aligned?

 

The truck is one year old, no front end repairs, so no need for alignment to be off. My truck doesn't wander. I don't see how alignment has to do with bump steer. I need upgraded steering stabilizers to dampen the movement of the drag link.

 

Double post

 

Negative caster (or negative from specs) will cause your steering to feel somewhat jerky and cause the "steering wheel ripped out of your hands" symptoms. Positive caster will cause the steering to feel heavier and slower, but will cause a self centering effect.

Caster angle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otherwise, you may be experiencing what we call "death wobble" If the wheel is ripped out of your hands and shimmies, then you are seeing a classic death wobble scenario. First thing Ford will do is check your front tire air pressure (run it at the door sticker PSI) and your alignment. I can induce death wobble in my truck by lowering my front tire air pressure from 70 PSI to 55 PSI. This TSB applies to 2005-2007 trucks, but might be worth reading.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/tsb/full...p?tsb=07-10-10

 

Thanks for the input, but I know what bump steer is and I do not have death wobble (the truck is still brand new in my opinion, and I know all about low tire pressure because I run 6psi in the Samurai and do not re-fill the tires if I have to drive on the road for a mile or two to get gas). I hit a bump, steering wheel moves, simple as that, it is completely different than death wobble, which is when you hit a certain speed, the front starts shaking violently. I may have been over exaggerating a little bit. The angle of the dangle, which is proportionate to the heat of the meat, the direction of the erection, and the dimension of the extension. Now that being said, when the passenger tire compresses or droops it causes the angle of the drag link to change. Since the drag link is a fixed length as well as the steering arm, the pitman arm moves causing the steering wheel to move. I'm not ask for the problem to be diagnosed. I am looking for input on steering stabilizers to soften the movement.

 

Is the stock damper in place?

 

Haha this made me smile.... from one angry guy to the next...

 

Yeah makes me laugh also. Smart enough to know about suspension geometry but not a simple forum search. haha

 

I did do a search, I did not notice this forum searches are listed by most recent, not by content. All other forums I have been on ,do it by content, so if i don't get it on the 1st page I discard the search.

I did go back and found a thread. What I got out of it is: that Rancho has clearance issues since my truck is stock ride height, Low mount, may have ground clearance issues, I'm not a big fan of the look and that's pretty much all its for.
The Carli high mount would be the best. Anyone have any other input?

Also any ideas about upgrading the rear sway bar even though I installed air bags.

 

I have this (Carli Bilstein 7100) on my truck and the difference is night and day with how the truck responds. Well worth the money.

 

I'll throw in my opinion, and that is just what it is, so no complaining...

Bumb steer is most commonly caused by the angle of the track bar being significantly different than the drag link. As you were pointing out, when you hit a bump or a dip, the axle raises or lowers accordingly. The track bar should keep the geometry consistant byt shifting the axel left or right so that the pitman arm is not turned. If the axel traveled stright up and down, then you would definitely get bump steer. By the sound of your experience, you probably know that this is why lift kits include track bar relocation brackets and/or longer pitman arms.

If your truck is stock, then it sounds to me like something else is going on to cause the geometry to be off. my first answer would be that something is bent, but I would think you would have looked for or noticed that already if it was the case. Steering stabilizers may help mask the problem, but they will not fix what is actually causing the bumb steer. I personall tend to believe that a properly designed and installed steering and suspension system should not require a steering stabilizer (I imagine that will stir up some opinions...). I run 35's on a lifted F250, and the stabilizer on my truck is the original OEM one from 2000. i would guess it is doing very little at this point, and I get absolutely no bump steer.

Since your truck is new, I would take it back to the dreaded dealer and make them fix it. I only say this because I haven't heard of too many others, if any, complaining about bump steer on the new trucks.

 

Yes I agree with you, but there is nothing wrong with my truck. I do not have constant bump steer. It's on the very aggressive bumps. For example. there is a bridge in my town, for Americana sake, it's the largest swing bridge in the country. Right before the bridge there is a pretty good bend in the road with rail road tracks that cross. When you hit it at 30mph, it rattles the truck pretty bad, and cause the truck to want to turn. Come to find out from the last job I was on, I'm not the only 11' F250 with this problem on that turn. Also the town I live in has a lot of nasty frost heaves, and I do hit some nasty bumps unknowingly.

I just want something to dampen the aggressiveness of it! So I would think a steering stabilizer is a correct solution, but hey I could be wrong since I never bought one before.

 

There is a member of the forums here who has a video about this on his 2011. I cant post a link because I am on my work computer but search youtube for 2011 F250 Rancho Steering Stabilizer.