I had sort of the same problem a short while ago and it was the upper ball joints on both sides.it was hard to diagnose because the bottoms were solid so it was hard to get the uppers to show movment. In the end it took two of us to find the slop, with one person turning the wheel and the other watching for movment. How is your tire wear?

 

That's one of the reasons I've never been crazy about shackles/hangers (and I have some... go figure). I've always suspected that unless correctly engineered, they could cause caster to be thrown pretty bad. If he went with JUST shackles, I would think that would have given him more caster... sound right?

 

I thought about caster before but when I had it aligned it was in the ok range from ford. I'll try to find one of my many sheets since I had it checked close to a dozen times being convinced its an alignment issue. There are no shims with the leveling pack. It's not my ball joints because I had them replaced twice. Yep all 4 twice in a 2 year span. I have all brand new parts withing the last 2 years on the front end except axle shafts and the housing. Even hub bearings. And twice for those. I'm tired of the part changer shop mentality these days and I'm not a mechanic so I can only figure out so much. My tire wear is close to perfect. I haven't rotated in 30000 miles and they are finally started to get a little knobby. But it's all wearing evenly.

 

What do you mean by loose? Loose as in easy to turn? Bumps like to throw the wheel? Does it return nice or does it wander and go off in every direction?

Only reason I ask is because the stock "stabilizers" are worthless... mine was fairly easy to work and the bumps would throw my wheel, but my larger Skyjacker did pretty good. I'd like to go with a dual w/bilisteins.

 

When I hit a bump or even any little ridge in the road the steering wheel turns so easy it's like it's not connected to anything and is super light. If there are grooves worn in the road it just tosses me side to side. There is no play its like I'm on ice or up in the air. When there isn't bumps and it's a nice smooth part of the road it goes traight but since the wheel is so light it's hard to keep straight so I'm wandering on the road. It doesn't pull at all. It's just doesn't track straight. It's just all over. I'm really starting to think its the caster again.

 

You might be right... I've found that most shops don't know what they're doing when it comes to ANYTHING, especially alignments. I've also heard Ford is REALLY sloppy with their "tolerable limits" on stuff like that. Just my $.02...

 

Yeah I'm sure. I keep reading about the redhead box but I'm so tired of changing parts and hoping that they fix the issue. And changing the gearbox is a royal pita. If changing the caster doesn't work then I may just have to get the redhead box.

 

How are your track bar bushings? If they have any play you will get wandering. Roy

 

Should be good they came new with the adj trackbar. I think I cranked down on them pretty good cause I suspected them rattling. Could over tightening them make for a stiff front end or make for steering issues?

 

Yes, kind of. I haven't dug deep into this in years, so I may not be 100% correct here. You have more castor as measured, but it's not in the same relationship to the suspension as it used to be. The axle is slightly forward of the original position and is tilted back, so the static load is no longer straight down, but is riding slightly behind where it use to be. This is exaggerated by the springs and shackles used to together.

What does this all mean? I have no idea. Way smarter people than me have tried to design suspension systems, with the resources of major auto makers, and got it wrong. The one thing I have figured out is that once you change the relationship between these parts the stock numbers don't mean a lot anymore. It become trial and err. If I start modifying the suspension on street driven vehicles, I make sure a known fixed part (ex. spring perch) stays at that exact same angle as it started on the finished product.

I would think for the OP, just adding caster would help, but doing it blindly without a known starting point is not the best idea. How ever throwing in some shims and seeing if it improves may be the cheapest route.

One thing I can say for sure is that steering stabilizers are not needed. If everything else is correct and in good shape you will not notice any difference with or without one. The only use for one is to slow steering wheel kick back if something jams the wheels full lock and with power steering this feature is built in.

 

Right... I wasn't sure if he meant "loose" as in kicks back easy or loose as in the things is everywhere.

 

I have very similar tires to the ones you have, and I get a little squirly in the front when I hit grooves/bumps parallel to my direction of travel. I used to have a Jeep that was fine on good road, but a paved road with worn "ruts" (from truck traffic) would send me almost out of control. I'm not a car mechanic, but I replaced the shaft that the front wheels pivot on for steering and that cured the Jeep. I apologize for not knowing the nomenclature.

 

King Pin?

My dad had a truck that was squirmish... wound up being too much pressure in the tires. I know it sounds simple, duh, and obvious, I just know with E-rated tires, unless they're loaded down, 65psi seems to be about right on an empty truck.

 

I almost brought this up in my last post. But I figured in 2 years it has been tried. But, many times simple things get overlooked.

 

Yeah I've played with pressure