I have an early 1999 F250 SD and I think it has a 32 spline on the steering gear however I'm half blind and can't get my head close enough to count them. Is there another way to find out without physically counting? Vin#?
Also, I read on here about setting the camber to the max to help with this issue. I recently had it aligned with laser at a reputable service center. Is that not sufficient? It has had the wandering for a long time even after a few alignments. Will setting the camber to the max cause wear issues on the tires?

 

Ok, Not an expert by any means but if you are half blind and can't see to count the splines on the gear, as I am, Take some modeling clay or something of the sort, push it onto the gear and slowly remove it. let it dry, then make your mark on one groove inside the clay and count from there.

Camber is the wheel alignment for inside to outside wear on the tire such as \ / or / \ if you set your camber to the max whether neg or pos, I would not think your tires will be happy in the long run.
Have you replaced the upper and lower ball joints? have you replaced the tie rods?

I's been my experience that wander is caused by worn steering parts...I myself wouldn't mess with the camber if it's already been to the shop for alignment, start looking at your other components.

I have wander on my 03' F350 4x4, I replaced tie rods, upper / lower ball joints and still have a little bit of wander. Next up is to replace the gear box, still arguing with myself of whether to go OEM or try that Redhat gear box everyone talks about.

 

Do not change the camber from factory specs unless you like buying a new set of rubber every year. It's a truck, not a sports car. If it wanders and you had an alignment, your issue is not camber. Adjusting camber to fix wandering is a Ghetto hack. I'd probably lose my job for recommending that to a customer.

Look at the steering components. Is there significant play in the steering wheel? You can turn it a few inches and nothing happens?

Are the front brake calipers dragging? Are the front hubs causing undue rolling resistance? Consider that.

 

I tried the modeling clay last night but gave up after a couple of attempts. Sounds dumb on my part but it just kept falling apart when I tried removing it. I may just leave it on over night tonight and see if it will work better.
My ball joints and tie rods check out good. After replacing the damper I have decided that it's in my gear box so that's my next step. I haven't called Red Head yet but they don't show a 32 spline box on their site. I was thinking about just going with a reman Motorcraft.

 

From NAPA website, hope this helps. I also came across where a guy called in his VIN to the dealer and they told him the splines number.

Here's the Napa link with the info below.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/search...tForm-savedveh


w/ 32 Tooth Pitman Shaft;Gear Housing Stamped SPA-JN, SPA-KW; Gear Housing Stamped SPA-JN, SPA-KW # Of Sector Shaft Housing Cover Bolts 4 accesorios # Steering gear Box Mounting Holes 3 # Steering Gear Box Turns 4 Hose Port Type Std Power Steering Gear Box Line Thread Size 1/2-20 & 5/8-18 Steering Gear Box Input Shaft Diameter 1.31 in. Steering Gear Box Output Shaft Diameter .72"
UNSPSC 25174217


w/ 36 Tooth Pitman Shaft;Gear Housing Stamped SPA-JM, SPA-KN, SPA-KX, SPA-KV, SPA-LE # Steering gear Box Mounting Holes 3 # Steering Gear Box Turns 4 1/16 Hose Port Type Std Power Steering Gear Box Line Thread Size 1/2-20 & 5/8-18 Steering Gear Box Input Shaft Diameter 1.37 in. Steering Gear Box Output Shaft Diameter .72 in. UNSPSC 25174217

 

Thanks for the link Mike.
NAPA says:
"W/ 32 splined output shaft before 3/99"
I ordered my truck in 9/98 and received it in 12/1998 so I will assume it is a 32 splined output shaft however I'm still going to try and verify that.

 

Camber won't fix wandering. Like others have said check your steering components. But I can give a little insight to alignment for your knowledge. I've got some racing background and a lot of hours of tinkering with doing my own alignments on my truck.

Camber is how much the top of tire angles inward or outward, negative being inward. Keep to OEM specs, only race cars need added neg camber to keep their outside tire flat on the ground during extreme cornering. More camber will only prematurely wear your tires out on a street vehicle.

Toe is how much the front of the tire angles inward or outward toward each other, toe-in being inward. Again keep to OEM specs, however, there will be a little +/- tolerance within the spec and it's best to error on the side of toe-in. If your dead nuts 0 degrees toe-in / toe-out you could wander a little. The slack in your steering will be very evident in this alignment. A small amount of toe-in "pre steers" your tires toward each other, taking the slack out of the steering system and stabilizing your truck. Toe-out tends to make your vehicle darty or quick to steer one way or the other. Too much toe-in or toe-out will prematurely wear your tires too, toe-in causing the outsides to wear and toe-out causing the insides.
Caster is the angle the suspension makes with the horizontal. You need some caster. I'd run more rather than less on a truck. It makes your straight line stability better. A popular analogy is think of a shopping cart, those front wheels have a lot of caster, they always align behind their pivot. Or think of "casters".

If you want to dive deeper into alignment just let me know.

 

So, I may have misquoted camber for caster. I'll go back and check.
How do you adjust caster and is this typically part of a regular laser alignment?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong... but I doubt the caster is adjustable. Nor would that fix your issue anyways.

Seriously... take the wheels and calipers off. Look for uneven wear from left to right side on the brake pads. Are the brakes dragging? That can cause wandering to left or right. But always in one direction. It's just for good measure to eliminate a possibility.

Also keep in mind that most roads have a crown, where it's higher in the middle, than the sides. It's normal somewhat for a vehicle to wander very slightly towards the ditch if you take you hands off the wheel because it's an uneven road surface. On a relatively even surface (such as a warehouse concrete floor) there should be no wandering at all.

 

Okay, yea Caster would make more sense. Increasing caster could help. I'm not 100% sure but I would think a full alignment should have included caster measurement. I did all my own alignments. Caster is the hardest to measure and adjust. On the SD it's adjusted by swapping out a cam (on the upper ball joint?), which can be a pita to swap. However, Toe can be measured and adjusted very easily. I'd check that first. Actually you can eye ball it pretty accurately. Drive straight forward (so your wheels take this position) and then park. Eye ball down the side, comparing how much your tires are pointed inward or outward, this gives you a ballpark idea. If you want to measure your toe and want to adjust it I can go into that.

 

Is it wandering or pulling?
My interpretation of a vehicle wandering is one that steers slightly right and left back and forth while trying to go straight, taking constant steering input to correct to go in a straight line.
I would describe a vehicle as "pulling" if it tries to go one direction all the time.

 

Wandering. Here in the South that could mean a couple of things. Ironically both come into play here. I'm wandering how to fix my wandering. LOL
I will inspect my pads for good measure, however I drive a 2006 GMC dually diesel crew cab at work and it doesn't wander. My truck on the same Interstate 485 will be in another lane if I do not compensate consistently. Yes, the contours of the road have a magnified effect on this truck. It doesn't "pull" either right or left. It will wander to the right or to the left depending on the road condition.
This "caster" idea has my attention. I know the cam bushing that Ford744 mentioned above but didn't know it was the caster adjustment. I'm going to call my alignment guy and pick his brain.

 

Take a good look at the steering gearbox. Mine had rounded the lower bearing on the pitman arm shaft just slightly, causing it to wander. If you look around the factory Ford one's are garbage. I put a RedHead in mine and couldn't be happier. I wen't through multiple factory and Autozone specials with no luck.

 

Yes, caster is adjustable. You'll need to purchase a caster kit. Summit has them for under $30, as do many parts websites.........and yes, to much negative caster will cause steering wander issues.

From Negative and Positive Caster Symptoms | Car Maintenance Tips

 

Hunt1moore
Backing up a bit, so there's 2 things to check that should solve your wandering issue.
1. Steering system problem. Giving you slop in the steering. This could cause a seemingly wandering issue, as you drive down a straight road your steering is in a dead zone where small adjustments don't make any difference. I don't have much experience with what to check and look for, sounds as though some others have ideas.
2. Alignment. I dove into this because it's what I have some experience with. For your issue, both Toe and Caster could play a role. If it were me I'd first check your Toe. It's easy to check/measure and to make adjustments yourself. There's a simple way of checking toe at home. Ideally you need 2 sections of angle iron around 3' long, 2 tape measures, and a couple 2x4 blocks. The angle iron needs to be set up flat against the tires on both sides. I use the 2x4 blocks to elevate the angle iron so it is above the bulge in your tire at the ground, but still low enough so you can stretch a tape measure straight across under your truck from one piece of angle iron on one tire to the other. Hook one tape measure on the angle iron behind the tires and one in front, go to the other side of your truck and measure the distance behind compared to in front. It seems pretty crude, but you can get it amazingly accurate. I usually aim for 1/8" difference. In your case I'd error on the side of 1/8" to 3/16". You need to be sure your truck was pulled forward, and you'll need to reset it each time by rolling/driving it forward after each adjustment.
Measuring caster takes some special equipment, but you can buy some devices to do this relatively inexpensively. But for most people it's most time and cost efficient just to have a shop do it. I don't think these trucks can be mistakenly setup to have negative caster but the amount of positive caster can make a difference. I used adjustable cams to get my caster and camber spot on where I wanted it and my truck drove really nice.