2006 F250 CCLB V-10 4wd, 64K miles, used as a daily driver (7 miles each way), occasional towing a 24 foot enclosed car trailer, occasional plow truck. Had it since new, always steered perfectly.... then I hit a deer at 50MPH last august. Problems ever since.... Body shop said no frame damage, took it to a shop and had it aligned, still wanders all over the road. Took it to another shop, new michelin defender ltx m/s all around and another alignment, better but still not the way it was.

Took the trailer out 2 weeks ago, almost lost the entire rig, truck wandering, trailer started swaying, not a fun ride... rebalanced car in trailer and it was better but I was never completely comfortable driving it. I have another trip in a month and that's where the trepidation is...

Had a friend look at the truck to see if I'm not imagining things, he said too much play in the steering wheel. Also noticed some play in the track bar coming off the pitman arm. I also noticed some vertical play in the ball joints as well (he confirmed movement...), he think's that is not the problem. I tried adjusting the steering box, I was able to move the screw about 1/8 turn but no more, it's a dead stop at that point. Does this sound like it's at the limit of adjusment and probably looking at a new steering box? If so, probably go with the redhead....

I'm taking it to a 'truck' shop tomorrow, same place that did the first alignment, to see what he thinks. He does not have a digital alignment rack, I believe he does it the old fashioned way? I'm thinking if I have to do the ball joints, it's beyond my capabilities at this point - already have 1 shoulder replacement and probably getting the other one done in december...

Anybody have a grenade I can borrow?

Am I on the right track? Suggestions?????

 

Wandering is a classic sign of insufficient caster angle. @Monster-4 went through this a few years ago, and I had the chance to drive the truck before and after the alignment was corrected.

I'd stay away from a shop that doesn't have the proper tools to measure alignment.

 

Hi tfalk,

I have a 2009 F250 V10 and also have excessive play in the steering wheel.

I also tow a camper, and am always correcting the steering.

Driving the truck without towing and going down a straight/level road, I can move the steering wheel approximately left/right for an inch and the truck will stay going exactly where it was headed. Move the steering wheel a little further and now the truck will start to move. To get it going straight again I have to move the steering wheel the inch of play, plus an additional movement to get it straight again. This is the constant overcorrection that I have with the truck.

It is aggravating and requires constant vigilance, especially while towing.

I have had all the steering stuff replaced up front including the ball joints and I still have the play. There is no doubt in my mind it is the steering box.

I also tried an adjustment of the box and got the same results you did, so I set it back where it was. I did not want to bind the steering by having it too tight.

The one thing I did notice about the box is that I can take a crowbar and gently pry under the pitman shaft and move the shaft up about 1/32 of an inch. I don't think the shaft should move up at all.

My research on the web turned up a steering box manufactured by Cardone for the 2005-2010 F250's. The site says that these steering boxes had many failures, and that is why they came up with an improved box.

I have not purchased a replacement yet, but plan on doing so.

Hope this info helps.

Good luck, Tom

 

Thanks guys... given that the truck steered perfectly before the bambi incident, I'm inclined to think it's the steering box as well. 2 different shops have aligned it now, the 2nd shop gave me a printout that showed before/after and very small changes between them and it did pretty much nothing. I think at this point when I get home tonight, I'm going to see if I can break the bolts loose that hold the steering box, I sprayed them with liquid wrench yesterday. If I can get them loose, I think I'm going to order the cardone box and the drag link that I already know has play in it and see where that leads me.

 

tfalk,

Keep us informed as to what you find, and if you do order the Cardone please let us know how that works out.

I definitely would like to hear if the steering box fixes yours and how the installation went.

Good luck,

Tom

 

My 04 SuperDuty is doing the same thing . Ive had the sway bar replaced and ball joints and an alignment , tires . It still had play in the steering . It would just pop to the right a bit and come back . It got better( not completely ) after the above work was done but eventually went back to doing it. Then they decided to replace the steering box . Driving it there it was exItremely bad almost could snap my fingers to the beat of the pulling to the right and popping back , made a horrible grinding noise . When I picked it up it was better but still didnt drive like it did before all this . Eventually it went back to it over a 2 week period . Driving to work on Saturday it started the constant pulling to the right and the grinding again . The mechanic came and drove it while it was doing that , made the comment its like its driving itself . Told me to bring it back , thinks maybe its a bad steering box . Taking it back in today . Im open to advice .

 

I don't feel that my steering box is loose but I can also pry the output shaft up. Wondering if it should do that??

 

eberlestock,

I don't believe there should be any movement when you pry up on the shaft.

I tried the same thing on a new 2015 F250 at the dealer, and it has no movement. From research online the 2011 up steering boxes are different from the previous years but I do not know if it is a completely new design or just a different input shaft.

Now whether this movement is a design flaw or not, I do not know. Neither can I say that this is the reason for the wheel play.

But, as I stated before, there is definitely about an inch of play in the steering wheel before the truck will start to move left or right. Mine does not wander back and forth, jerk left or right nor is the steering tight in any way. There is just play before the steering wheel moves the truck and that creates a constant overcorrection when driving.

If tfalk does get the Cardone steering box, I hope it fixes his problem. It will also give us a few more answers to the steering play issue.

Here is the info that Cardone publishes about the F250 2005-2010 steering gear boxes, and their fix for the problems.

CARDONE Steering Catalog - Powered by PageTurnPro.com

They never mention steering wheel play, just that these steering gears have a design/production set of issues.

For that reason alone I am interested in the results if tfalk installs one in his truck.

Tom

 

This doesn't make any sense to me...why would the steering gear care about a deer strike if it didn't sustain any impact damage? I've read lots of wandering threads over the years on FTE, and if the new gear solves your issue it will be the first I've read about.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

Took it back to the first shop yesterday, he confirmed he sees movement in the pitman/track bar joint. He also thinks the play in the steering is more than there should be. He is suspicious of the steering box as well because after hitting the deer, the steering wheel was turned about 20-30 degrees to the right. Truck is going into the shop next tuesday, we'll see where things ends up after that. At this point, I'm probably going to tell him to replace the drag bar and the steering box. He will check the ball joints while the truck is there as well and see if he thinks they need to be replaced as well.

Since the problems started after the deer incident, I'm having a hard time believing it's the ball joints. I could easily see why that type of impact could cause the steering box to have a problem. One of my daughters rear ended someone 3 days before I got the deer and the wheel on her tahoe ended up 180 degrees out of whack. The body shop ended up replacing the steering box because it twisted the steering shaft in the box...

 

Hold up here: Are you saying you had an accident that left the steering wheel 30 degrees different from before the accident? That's important.


On the Ford, I think bending the pitman arm shaft in the steering box is pretty likely, which I suppose might effect how tight it is. You may have stretched it along with that damage. There are other things that could go wrong with that, but if they replace the steering box, they ought to find them.

 

I have an 02 250 V10 with 165,000 on the clock. The truck drove like a complete hooptie when I bought it. I replaced the ball joints, tie rod ends, drag link and shocks on all four. Also added a steering damper. When I took it to the dealer for an alignment they said the steering box was shot. I replaced it with one of the Cardone boxes. The steering was good but not great. I still had white knuckles when pulling a trailer through construction zones on the interstate. After reading many posts on FTE about steering issues I decided to swap the Cardone box out for a Redhead unit. The difference is definitely worth the extra money. The truck drives like it should. I also bumped down tire size from a 305/70/16 to a 285/75/16 which made the steering a little lighter and cornering a little better. Keep in mind that any vehicle that uses a steering gear instead of rack and pinion will have some play in the wheel. I highly recommend the Redhead gear
www.redheadsteeringgears.com
Do It!

 

Roofman1515,

Thanks for the information.

I assume the Cardone gear for your 2002 was a rebuilt Ford box.

The Cardone gear for the 2005-2010 is a redesigned non-Ford steering gear that I was hoping would be an improvement over the Ford one for these years.

I have been hoping someone would chime in that has put this newly designed box in their truck and would have a comment about it.

I understand the Redhead gears are an improvement over the standard Ford gear, but they are a rebuild for the 2005-2010 gears, not a new design.

How about it Ford-Trucks, has anyone put in an improved Cardone design gear in a 2005-2010 F250?

Thanks in advance, Tom

 

tfalk,

Any updates? Did you order the Cardone steering gear?

Thanks, Tom

 

Did not order the steering box yet, waiting to see how it drives once shop is done. Talked to him yesterday, he noticed vertical play in the drag link so I told him to replace it. He also noticed the caster on the passenger side was not what he expected and was going to adjust it - that's the side the deer impacted. Hopefully picking it up tomorrow and will see what the story is. He said he did not see any issues with the ball joints.