Hello FTE!

The other day I was driving home from work in my 2011 F250 and hit a rough patch of the road. The truck handled most of it until the end. The last section the truck wanted to pull one way or the other. I would not characterize this as a wobble just a pull in one direction. After about a 1/2 mile down the road, the "pulling" would stop and the truck would feel fine.

Yesterday I was driving my daughter to school. The same roads every day. The road dept repaved a pothole but it have little bump to it. Nothing out of the ordinary. All of the sudden, I got the same pulling effect for about 300 feet but not as long as the last one.

From what I have read, this does not sound like the death wobble. I am hesitant to bring it to the dealership or a mechanic to hear, "Yeah we cannot replicate the problem. $XXX amount please for us to drive your vehicle around..." The closest thing I could think of is when my power steering went out a couple of months ago but that was a pretty consistent feel when it did. I was wondering if anyone else has had this similar feeling before. Maybe it is something simple that can look at here in the driveway before going to the next step. I would think if there was a larger issue such as a mechanical issue it would be more telling and consistent than phantom.

Thanks in advance.

 

When I had something similar is was tie rod related. But that was because I had bent one and it was only a matter if time before it wore out early.

 

Thanks Senix! I will have to check it out when I get a chance. If the issue is so minute, I may have to resort to a shop to check for this issue.

 

Long ago, there were stiff/sticking ball joints that caused handing and road feel issues. As part of the diagnosis, you might drop the tie rod ends and see if the knuckles swivel smoothly through their arc.

 

Also check the tracking bar (some call panhard bar).

 

Hi,

Well the truck did this quirk 2 more times in the past 7 days. This morning I was turning onto the main road leaving my house and accelerated, the truck jerked to the right and warning indicators came on. On the productivity screen, the trailer sway warning came up. ABS and traction control kicked in thinking I was swerving to avoid something in the road. I took it home which was the next turn on the block. The truck was jumping to the left or to the right. 2 hands on the wheel hard steering.

I called the dealer and they said bring it down if I can. If not, they would arrange for a tow truck to bring the truck in. My wife followed me to the dealer. Then the problem went away. I dropped the truck off. The service writer I normal deal with took down all the info about what was happening with the truck. I told him everything and I even said "of course, now it is here the truck is driving normally.." He had a chuckle about that. He said he would have the truck looked at this afternoon.

Well 2:30 came along. The truck is going to stay overnight since the dealership's policy is have the truck looked at by the same tech who worked on it when the power steering failed. This is due to the fact this repair was completed in February. Unfortunately, that tech was not able to look at it today and it would have to wait until tomorrow. I am suppose to have an answer by 12 PM on what is going to happen to truck's repair. However the service writer acknowledged that they are aware of the symptoms and the tech feels like it is related to the power steering pump. They did not say if the truck would be done tomorrow or not. The last time they had to order parts.

Power steering does make some sense cause that is kind of the feeling I get. Lack of power steering. However, I cannot think that is the whole reason behind this. I am looking forward to seeing what they have to say about this before making my comments on it. I tend to think it is something more than a "bad /faulty pump".

Fingers crossed....

 

My thought is if the pump failed and sent shavings/debris into the system it may be causing problems with the steering gearbox.

 

I hope not. I will wait to see what they have to say before I draw my own conclusions. If that is the case, I have a feeling it will be come a contest on who is going to pay for what. I will just leave it at that.

 

I'm havin the same kinda problem. When I go to turn I feel the steering wheel get kinda stiff than once I come out of the turn an my steering wheel will slam to the left than when I go to correct it it'll slam to the right. Back an forth for a min than it'll stop. But like you said you have to hold on with 2 hands. I jus replaced ball joints an u joints. So let me kno what the prob is bc may be same thing I need to fix

 

What's the verdict from the dealership, FordmanNJ? Feel free to reach out to me if you need assistance. In your PM, please include your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, mileage, and servicing dealership. I'll see what I can do to help.

Crystal

 

Hello!

Evening update...

The service adviser contacted me around 3PM this afternoon. He said they found the problem. According to the mechanic, the road test was OK. Since the report had the issue happen twice within a couple of days one another, the tech took the truck to the lift. Since it is steering related, the front wheels were checked. The driver's side turned freely. The passager side would not turn as freely. As a matter of fact it locked up on them twice while troubleshooting. The U joint connecting the axle shaft to the wheel hub failed. According to the service adviser, the job is covered under the ESP less deductible. The truck is suppose to be ready by 5 PM Friday. We shall see.

This is the first time this has happened to me. I owned other SFA trucks before and never this problem. My Explorer with the wheel bearing with ABS sensor is a different story. I can bang those out pretty quickly after the first one.

Halfpiece, this might be your problem. You may want to have a mechanic inspect this area of your front end.

Crystal, thank you for the offer. You are an asset to forums. I will keep it in mind if things need to be escalated. However, I do not foresee this at this time.

I will update once the truck is done and on the road.

 

i wish i would"ve seen this sooner. i was going to suggest that. Matt (xmontex4) had a similar issue and it was both his axle u joints he has a thread about it. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ing-issue.html

 

I had my passenger 4wd manual hub lock up an my u joint broke. I replaced the u joint an ball joints on that side an disengaged the hub. Still no fix. Been lookin at all the forums an noticed a lot of ppl Soakin there steerin shaft u joints with pb blaster an wd40. I did that earlier an seems to have worked for now that is. Drove on some of the roads it usually does it to me an it hasn done it yet. Really jus a quick fix. Only time will tell how long it'll last

 

Hi everyone,

We are back in business. Sucked not having the truck for a couple of days but it is better than the truck into a pole because of the failed U joint. Nice to have the truck back.

 

Glad your truck is back to normal!
I was wondering, do you leave your hubs locked all the time or just during the winter months? Not criticizing, I leave mine locked all winter.