I have a little play in my steering on my 1992 F250 and the steering wheel is a little off center. My question is "if I get the front end aligned, will this take out the play? If no, what will cause the steering to have a little play? Thanks for your reply.

 

Welcome to forum. Alignment won't fix play, there are several possibilities(or all of them) Don't waste money on alignment until ou replace bad parts. How many miles on truck ? 2wd or 4x4, put description of truck in your signature.
Could be, tie rods, ball joints, steering box, bushings(radius arm) ect.

 

Yeah the TTB front end (most likely what you have) is IFS so steering wheel play could be the number of things listed above. A good indicator is how fast your truck is eating up front tires. Before I re-did the front end on my dad's old f350 it would eat up tires like no other since the front end was shot (the rubber bushings are not made to last 20 years + mileage these trucks often have on them.

A good way to tell your pivot arm bushings is bad is to leave the truck off and move the steering wheel left and right to see how much play it has without moving the tires and without power steering. If no play then you are probably okay if there is play then most likely need new ones.

Ball joints I believe the best way is to take a crow bar to them and see how much play they have in them while the axle is in the truck also inspect and make sure the rubber on them are still protecting the metal underneath. - I always have the frame and alignment shop check these so not sure. I am in a different boat since I know they won't tell me I need new ones when I do not. - Dallas Frame and Alignment if you are in Texas. A little pricey but they do good work and are not afraid to touch something outside of the box.

Radius arm bushings - just look at them. They are right under the front doors on your truck and you should be able to see if they have deteriorated or not. A bunch of rubber held together with a metal sleeve on the front and large flat washer and nut on the back. If this was shot you would hear a clanking noise where your radius arm is loose and moving around in the radius arm mount since the rubber will be gone.

If you need to replace the above. I would recommend MOOG for the ball joints. Either energy suspension or MOOG for the radius arms and energy suspension bushings on the pivot beams. Either way I would take it to a shop that knows these front ends to assess before spending $$$ on an alignment.

 

X2 on what F350 said above.......If you end up needing a steering gear, I would highly recommend one from Red Head. I recently had to replace the one in my '97 FSuperduty and the difference was amazing. I will be putting one in my '78 F150 soon.

 

Yup be prepared. If you can't do the front end work yourself you will be in for a pretty penny at the shop. If you need all new bushings, ball joints, camber sleeves, etc be prepared it will be almost as much as blue book on the truck.

If your up to it. Bronco graveyard should sell everything you need to redo your front end suspension and steering for any f-series truck. I just completed everything but the camber bushings on my bronco. New tie rods, springs, pivot beam bushings, sway bar bushings, radius arm bushings, etc. Also threw on a cheap 2.5 inch lift from rough country. I think with lift kit and parts I am already $400 for the kit, and probably another $250 in various front end parts I used to rebuild it.

 

Your probably looking at a steering box. Do check the components if after that checks out and you have a nice tight linkage a steering box is what you'll be needing. I have the problem with my truck presently. All the parts have been replaced, ball joints, ect. these all played a part in the trucks handling and it did improve but the truck still needs a steering box. It still takes more effort to keep it going straight that it should. My truck is at 200K. If you have 150K + that's about the mileage they get sloppy. There are exceptions. Your's may be one

 

Yup not sure of your mileage. The bronco I bought had 181K and clearly the front end had been ignored for its lifetime and was absolutely shot (I ended up rebuilding up a replacement instead of rebuilding). My f350 only had 100K on it when front end was rebuilt but its a heavier truck that my dad liked to run into curbs and other cars in which I am sure expedited the front end getting sloppy.

 

Jack it up start yanking on stuff and see if anythings loose,wiggle the tires left and right to check tie rods,up and down for ball joints and wheel bearings

 

I just did all of that with my '96 Bronco. New tie rods, ends, ball joints, bushings, wheel bearings, Rancho stabilizer, and a RedHead steering box (Plus new shocks, brake pads, rotors & rear drums, and some other bits). Only then did I get it aligned and buy new tires to replace the bald, rounded, hard 12-year-old rubber ones that I had on there. It truly was a disaster!

Before, I would run down the road straight, and the steering wheel would move from about 9:30 - 1:00 positions. I was scared to drive it more than 25mph (I think.. the speedo didn't work) It was truly dangerous!

Now, it's like new. Unbelievable transformation, and there is ZERO play in the wheel now! I ended up spending about twice what I paid for the Bronco to get it to that point, but it was WELL worth it! It should last another 20 years & 100K now!

 

I just looked at the Red Head site. Sounds like the very best of re-mans! What did you do, send them your box? I looked for the pricing on a early, (OBS) 97 F250 HD. No price just a core and shipping price. I'll call them Monday but was wondering in the meantime how theysold their units and which way was cheeper