Today this happened to my truck for the third time in six weeks.While driving on highway at 70mph truck steering mess up. Steering wheel starting jerking violently from left to right,left, right. The first time this happened i thought it was the wheel bearings,( I already new one was bad),so I replaced both front bearings. I thought this fix the problem, then about two weeks ago it happened for the second time i blamed it on the front left caliper(noticed a crack in piston while changing wheel bearings) So I replaced caliper and thought this fixed problem.Now today it scared the poop out of me on the highway, the first two times it happened i was driving in town at about 35mph. Today I managed to limp into an empty parking lot, where i crawled under truck and could not find any problems. So at less then 5mph and NO HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL I drove across parking lot about 500 yards, you could see the steering wheel turn by itself left, right, left, right from 4 a clock, to 8 a clock, 4 a clock, 8a clock it did this until I stopped the truck.When I stopped front wheels were pointed straight and I could barely turn the steering wheel(Like there was no assist from the power steering) I managed to jerk steering wheel and freed up something(not sure what) then I was able to turn wheel all the way left all the way right a couple of times, problem then disappeared I limped home. I read on an old post in the excursion site and found alot of excursion owners with the same problem.They have changed everything from ps pumps,gearboxes, axil u joints, and ball joints some had success others didnt. Any help on this would be greatly appriciated . AS I HAVE PARKED THIS TRUCK UNTIL PROBLEM IS FIXED My truck is 2005 f-350 4x4 drw. Is the steering system the same on F-350 and excursion

 

check ur drag link & tie rod. the drag link connects to one end of the tie rod on the passenger side. also, check the other end of the tie rod on driver side. if either boot is busted, change them out.

also, check ur steering stabilizer. that is the pneumatic arm tat is connected to ur pitman arm & steering. tat probably needs to be changed out. it helps to hold tat steering tighter.

these happen to be common problems as well.

finally, did u do ur wheel alignment? gotta do that too.

we got the same car. try keeping ur air pressure to 65 psi all around if u dont tow. tat may help a lot in my opinion.

 

Had the same problem you describe, should be U-joint, check both front right and left side u-joints to confirm they turn freely.

 

interesting. i forgot bout them u-joints. lol. i knew i forgot something.

 

oops, the OP did mention about axle u-joints. sorry. i shouldnt bring tat up then. i go back to what i suggested and stand by it then. lol.

 

Snuggyworm
Interesting avatar.
As I was reading I was thinking that the stabilizer could be the fault
Till I got down to the drive over the parking lot. Then I started to think
U-joints. If it were me I would check both and also have the ball joints
checked. That is an easy check with a helper,jack and a 2x4.
Lift one wheel off the ground by the housing and with a flash light look
at the upper and lower while the helper forces up on tire with the 2x4
and a fulcrum. You should not see much slop.Just a little give so they are not
too stiff. While your at it check each tire to make sure they are not showing
any different patterns. If you don't get any thing you may want to have the steering
box looked at. Maybe even check the fluid to see how it looks.

Sean

 

Check and see if your front hubs are locked, if they are not the axle U-Joints should not be turning.

 

steering box is a good suggestion.

i guess we're jus waiting for the OP to report back wif his findings. lol.

it's a pic from an old game i used to play back then. they've managed to make a ps2 and ps3 game out of it too. the name of the game........ worms......

just worms, baby. lol.

i jus think this'll be more appropriate than a pic of my truck. also, my truck's description is in my signature, and folks can always view my album too.

here comes the snuggyworm again.

 

Do a search on 'Death Wobble'. It's pretty scary and can get you killed. There's also a few youtube vids out on this.
Mike

 

Is your "H" key busted or what? I don't mean to be a hater, but that is really annoying.

 

I had the death wobble truck did the same as you describe all started from the track bar being loose which intern took the entire front end out basically id recomend crawling under and checking your track bar and it has to be torqued extremly high like 400+ ft pounds if i recall

 

Snuggyworm,
Other than the color it looks a little like Casper.

RattleNsmoke,
Will a Death Wobble start that slow ?

Sean

 

From what I know about "DEATH WOBBLE" if you stop the truck death wobble goes away I didnt mention in OP I stopped and restarted a few times and problem was still there. after checking everything out I noticed a seized up u-joint(on same side as bad wheel bearing) I will be changing it tomorrow. Hope that fixes problem I will update and let you Thanks all

 

The death wobble is whats going on,low tires bad alighnment worn stabilizer is a big cause, there has to be some articles on it.
I have experienced it a time or two and when you run larger tires it's more apt to happen.
Keep everything tight up front make sure drag link is not at a bump steer angle and keep air up in tires and you should not see it.

It's pretty scary buisness.

 

you may have to work it out in therapy. tats how he rolls, or wiggles,
or whatever.