Halo Guys...

Have yet another question of the day..

My Navi just failed the inspection - reason - too much play on stering wheel.
I just changed my pitman and idler arms a few days ago. Have all tie rod ends checked. No play there at all. Once I left the inspection, I drove to the diagnostic station to find out what is wrong...
Everything from wheels, through tie rod ends, till pitman is ok. No bad movement..
But..
Turns out that you can turn a wheel a good 5 inches with no visible movement on the pitman or centerlink. Means that this play is either in steering column or steering gear...
When I do short fast moves of the steering wheel, I can hear somethink like knocking sound.. It is like... left - knock, right - knock and again...
Have no idea what is it... The mechanic says that steering gear shoult have some kind of adjustments... but was unable to find it... Any help please ?

 

Have someone turn the wheel, then look at the steering shaft going down to the steering rack under the hood. If it moves with the steering wheel, it's most likely your steering rack that is bad. If it doesn't move together with the steering wheel, then you need to check the uni joints on the steering shaft.

This is assuming that you already checked and verified that the tie rods and other linkages are good, as you stated.

 

Yes. That was all just checked. All moving parts under the car, involved in the steering process are ok

 

Well, if the steering input shaft on the steering rack moves as it should, and the wheels doesnt turn, you have a worn steering rack and it will have to be replaced.

 

You have to narrow down where that noise is coming from and that's where the looseness will be.

 

I did some quick testing this morning, and I have strong filling that what is loose is somewhere between the steering gear and the steering wheel... So this can be issue with the U joints...or bearing. Are they changeble or should I start digging for a new column ? If anything can be done here - can you please point me to any source of information how ?

 

If it's the U joints on the steering shaft going from the firewall to the steering gear, then that is as far as I know a dealer only part and you have to buy the whole shaft, not just the bearings. You may be able to replace them yourself, but finding a bearing that fits in the U joints might be a challenge.

 

Many thanks for the video... That explaines a lot. I can forget about the Ford dealer anyway... Navi has been never sold in Poland so they do not know the car. No parts availiable unless i can point them that part I'm looking for also fits say focus or mondeo... But parts for lincoln - forget it...
So I have local aftermarket sellers or ebay as the source...

 

Ebay or Rock Auto is two good sources for this. Here in the Philippines, the local Ford dealer is able to order parts for my Expedition, but they charge a lot for it. They can't do that in Poland? It would be the last resort for me if I couldn't find the part online somewhere. You could also try Amazon, then use a shipping service to forward it to you.

 

I'm pretty sure this is the same part for the Expedition as on the Navigator. F150 also uses it.

 

Well... sorry to say that, but here is a bit 'different world' when it comes to car market... They making moneg on selling new cars and servicing them after... But always looking for the excuse to be able to say magic sentence 'impossible. that can not be done'.. And are happy when customer walks away... Too much effort for them I suppose..
Problem is that excursion, navigator, expedition, fxxx were never sold or imported here (officialy by Ford)...
These babies are concidered too american, too big, too difficould to handle/park... the list goes on.
Lot of such cars here, but all of them imported by private people, not by ford.
So it is easy for ford to say - impossible..
And also radiculous fact - heaving standard driving licence - can you guys in US drive excursion, f250 and similar trucks ?? Well - I can't.. it is too heavy (by law)... to be able to drive it, I would have to get the licence for heavy trucks. Then I can drive anything what is heavier that 3.5 tons gross weight. So the navigator is just below the limit - my registration says it has 3.450 gross. The biggest ford that was imported officially here is the Ranger - which is just explorer with loading space and short cabin. And it is possible to order f150 raptor (new from ford) but that is also concidered as import on damand and not regular import...

 

Actually, the Ford Ranger isn't even an Explorer, it shares the platform from the Ford Everest. I'm from Norway, we have the same thing with 3.5 tons max on a class B (standard) drivers license. After moving to the Philippines, there's no such limit anymore. Ford in Norway can get parts, but usually crazy expensive, so it's always better to order it from a norwegian based parts store that specializes on US imported cars, luckily we have a few parts stores like that in Norway.

Here in the Philippines there's only the Ford dealer, which is also crazy expensive (500 dollars just for one cam phaser for example, excluding labor or any other of the necessary parts, 5000 dollars for the original 6 CD player and yes that is five THOUSAND dollars!, 300 dollars for 8 spark plugs, 60 dollars for an air filter, 25 dollars for an oil filter which is even the chinese cheap AFL101 type one.. the list goes on). So yeah, I always order it online and so far I've come away pretty cheap on stuff.. The only exception was the battery box, it was cheaper at the local Ford dealer...

 

Ok. I think i narrowed the problem down. Whole shaft is stiff and no play whatsoever. U joints also ok...
But in the place where shaft goes through the firewall, there is a big bearing. I will try to put the picture of it. So in this spot, there is a lot of play in perpendicular direction to the skaft. Basicaly the shaft not only turns (spins) but also can be moved up down and sides... The distance it goes is over 3/8 of an inch... Think it's a lot... Any advice what is the proper name of this bearing and if it is possible to buy some timken or other koyo skf or whatever and replace it (how) ?
I found the picture of the used one to be sold, but this is from navigator of 2003. Not sure if can be installed in mine..

Ehh...can't put the picture here...

Here is the link to the picture mentioned above.

http://img05.allegroimg.pl/photos/or.../33/5045773397

 

We wouldn't know since you didn't post what you have.

 

Yep, need to know what it is..

Apart from that, on a general basis, removing the part and measuring might allow you to find a bearing for it. I do suspect that the rubber bushing is shot, so it's probably not enough to just replace the bearing with one from SKF.