So... In the last 2000km of driving, I have had a half a dozen instances of a strange steering/handling quirk.

First time I noticed I just finished driving 800km of highway to go pick up a trailer. Pulled off the highway, pulled a quick right turn off the secondary road I was on and let go of the wheel to let it quickly re-centre.

When I got back to steering the wheels felt like they were searching, right to left and back and forth... Kinda like I lost the power steering and the road was driving the steering. Or maybe like there was all of a sudden, a bunch of play in the steering box.

BUT, it went away... The truck then drove fine.... Well as fine as it normally does. This same thing happened a couple more times in the next 1000km before I decided to tighten the steering box. Over tightened it at first so it wouldn't return to centre, but got it right now. It needed about a 1/3 turn. Feels great. ALSO, lifted the front of the truck up to see if I could find some other problem. Ball joints seemed good, I greased the one I could. Tie rods all seemed good. Steering stabilizer seems....ok. Wheel bearings seemed ok. Although one side made a ticking when spinning it.... Sounds to me like the lock out hub but it could be a bearing.

THE QUESTION
Most likely problem? Sticky or worn out ball joints? Seized u-joints? This doesn't seem probable. Worn out wheel bearings? Worn out steering stabilizer? Could it be that easy? Worn out steering box? Can't believe that either.

What do you guys think???

 

You should have the capability to grease 4 ball joints 2 upper and 2 lower on each side. If you can only lubricate 1 .

The ball joints are probably seizing and most likely need replacing.

 

Have you bled and replaced the ATF is the steering system and lines? You could have some bubbles or water in there and are getting occasional pump cavitation which would result in a sporadic lack of steering. Same with the hydroboost system, but not as likely since you didn't report any braking issues.

Otherwise, if you only greased one ball joint then I would be highly suspect of the others being stuck. With the truck in the air up front and the key in the ignition to unlock the steering, how difficult is it to steer the front end by using your hands and pulling on the tires? It should have a good amount of resistance but still move smoothly.

 

Thanks for the responses guys

I did wonder about the power steering pump and system. But brakes do seem good. I checked the level, but did not flush the system. This might be worth trying.

I only greased one of the ball joint because there is only 1 greasable one out of four. I have never replaced them in the 50k miles I have owned the truck and I know the one was changed just before I bought it.

Moving the steering while the wheels were lifted.... It was really stiff, but seemed smooth.

I was really leaning towards changing ball joints and wheel bearings. and I'm not to opposed to just changing these things even if they don't fix the problem. It's still good preventative maintenance to have new parts, especially all greasable joints. It would be cool to get rid of the unit bearings too.

What ball joints should I be buying? Avoiding?
Are there good kits (dynatrac?) for regular front hub bearings?

Thanks again

 

I like Moog for the ball joints. They are all greaseable and the uppers have plugs to put in so the zerk doesn't get knocked off by the shaft yokes.

Precision makes a good wheel bearing, as does Timkin. I currently have Precisions but I just did a rebuild on the front end two weeks ago so I don't have a ton of miles on them yet.

 

Plugs in the top ones? Hmmm.... I think I may have plugs in my top ones. I just didn't realize what they were.

Gonna try greasing those, bleeding the power steering, and then see where I'm at.

Thanks guys

 

Yep, the plugs are on the bottom side. The 90° zerk hangs too low so the axle shaft yokes would break it off when they rotate. The plug is a little 8mm cap that screws into the zerk location. When you need to grease, you remove it with a wrench (and a lot of frustration), screw in the 90° zerk (also a lot of frustration), grease it up, then replace the plug (you guessed it - more frustration).

All the frustration is worth it in the end however, I just replaced all my ball joints with the help of Razzi and it took two days. I'd rather deal with that plug then redo ball joints for lack of maintenance.

 

Your u-joints might be seized up.

 

Same issue here so took it to tire store to get alligned. Truck is a 2008 F350 super duty with leveling kit. Tire store told me upper and right ball joints and sway bar and also the steering stabilizer. The issue I had was one at low speed but would send me in different lanes. So 1 grand later driving it again and it is an issue. I personally locked the hubs to check if axle shaft would move. Drivers side was fine did not move passenger side tried to move. Unlocked hubs at this point the axle shaft should spin drivers side spun by hand passenger side only about a quarter of a turn either way. Decided to take it to my local off road shop. They replaced bearings some other joints and what not and said like the tire store that my steering gear was going out. Drove it home way tighter but still occasionally jerked left right. So next week took back to four wheel shop and had them put in a brand new not reman steering gear. Life was great man it steered nice then while pulling my trash trailer to dump trailer 1800 pounds and weeds etc about 1100 pounds I went around corner after heavy braking on the highway and man same old problem again had to pull off the road and turn wheel left to right. Then it did it again multiple times so decided to consult YouTube. So remember earlier I told shops that there is a problem with passenger u joint both said it was good. Well YouTube video showed how to test the u joints. This is the procedure I used what I did was lift both sides of the truck where tires clear the ground. Then locked the hubs and tried to spin the tire driver side no issue spun just fine. The passenger side was like the brakes were on. So consulted YouTube once again and there was a video that a guy had used a go pro on his truck that was also having the same issue with violent jerking. What the video showed was that he was in 2 wheel drive driving down a road video pointed toward tire when the truck pulled the axle shaft spun briefly. I barely understand four wheel drive but I know if hub is “unlocked” the axle shaft should not spin in 2wd. The remedy to this is to replace the bad u joint. The way to temporarily fix issue is to grease the non working u joint (mine had none). Then lower it and put in four wheel drive and drive around slowly in circles don’t go fast and do donuts. Then go the opposite direction I did each for about ten minutes. When you do this your getting the grease moved around. Then I drove it up and down the street in 4wd and went back did the procedure for getting out of four wheel back up go forward with unlocked hubs. Then me and buddy jacked truck back up and low and behold with hubs locked again and turned to right and left (need to bind the u joint to test) the passenger wheel spun perfectly fine and the shaft turned. So we unlocked lowered truck put back in 2wd and road test. So before all this hub testing me and buddy did truck after allignment twice and new steering gear and 3 grand in parts and labor still wandered a bit . Well after we did that procedure the steering was tight like my other friends brand new super duty. The reason I am responding to this old thread is I know and have heard others having same issue. So if your super duty violently pulls you all over the road try this procedure first to test the u joints. Save your self some money. If both your shafts spin when locked then may be a different issue but that’s my two cents and I hope it helps someone with this issue because even my ford dealership was “unaware” of this issue with super duty’s (BS).