Hey everybody, i have another issue with the FORD.

As some of yall have no-dout read some of my other posts, the 400/C6 is running beautifully now after push rods.

I took her down the road today. Ran pretty good. But the problem im now facing is the steering...or the NON-Existent Steering. Do yall remember the Austin Powers movie when he did the 12-point turn?- Yup, thats me.

Truck is a 77 f150 4x4 short-bed/400/C6/6"Lift/35" tires.

I know some of yall are running trucks with 35" Tires and bigger; PLEASE tell me what yall did/swapped to make it steer.

I feel like it is manual steering even though it isnt...I have put so much time and MONEY into the ol-girl, i would love to be able to drive her one day.

Yall are the best on giving advice! Any and All is appreciated!

 

Can you post up some pics of your steering linkage from different angles?
With a 6" lift, lots of things could be going on that you have to address to keep it safe on the street.
But some of those things might vary depending on what setup you have, and what mods have already been made.

Thanks

Paul

 

Check your axle U joints. Maybe one or both are froze up ?

 

With this much lift, do you any or all of the following items?

1. 7° C-bushings?
2. Radius arm drop brackets?
3. Dropped pitman arm?
4. Dropped trackbar bracket, or riser bracket?
5. Adjustable trackbar?
6. Adjustable draglink?
7. Had an alignment done?
8. Checked tire air pressures?
9. Checked tire wear and age?
10. What is wheel width and offset?
11. Any other mods to compensate for the 6" lift?

You know... That kind of stuff.

Paul

 

I run a 5" Deaver lift....it has an adjustable track bar, drop pitman, 4 degree C bushings, drop radius arm mounts, and 78-79 style T steering. It steers very easily.

 

Thank you all for the replies. I am out of town and away from the truck, but i will take the pics when i return.

I did forget to mention though... That when i was driving it, once or twice, during the whole 1/4 mile drive i took her on, that a whinning sound came from under the hood. And then the power steering pump actually worked- for half a second, then went away.

I am not sure if that helps, or makes since, or if any of yall have experienced it. It doesnt make since that the power steering pump would work for a split second and then nothing.

Well i just thought id throw that out there, to see if anyone has experienced this and could send me a fix my way.

 

Here are the pictures of the front end. Please let me know what looks wrong, what is wrong, or what y'all think I should fix...or do to make it right.

 

Does your power steering pump work? No hydraulic pump likes to cavitate, which is exactly what that whining noise you are hearing is. Make sure it is full of fluid and bled properly. I believe type F ATF is the right stuff to use.

 

Well there's your problem right there... A couple at least.

First, you have a dropped pitman arm without the associated dropped trackbar bracket.
Second, your upper trackbar bolt looks like it's loose. Notice the area that's been wiped of gunk. That makes it appear that the trackbar is able to move side-to-side. Which it's not supposed to do at all.

And though we can't tell from a pic, it's a very common thing for the lower trackbar stud/bolt to have wobbled out it's hole over the years and also cause lots of movement.
With a trackbar, even just a little movement equates to a noticeable amount of wandering down the road.

Also, is your axle actually centered? Good that it's got an adjustable trackbar, but was it adjusted to center the axle? If you still have the original you can use that as a guide and make sure that your new bar is longer by about half an inch at least. With your taller lift, it's likely going to be more along the lines of an inch and a half.
But only you can tell through measurements taken on your vehicle at it's natural ride height.
Are you sure that's a 6" lift too? I see the red springs, but your draglink angle doesn't look that steep considering the amount of lift it's supposed to have.

A very important aspect is those angles. The draglink and trackbar should be kept as flat as is possible, and both should be as parallel to each other as is possible too.
That means that whenever a dropped arm is installed, a dropped bracket (or riser if called for) MUST be installed as well, to keep things parallel.

But loose is loose, so anything that's loose works with the steeper angles and offset axle to cause steering to be very vague.
Not to mention that at this stage your steering box could be worn out as well.

Personally, on any of these rigs I would perform the steering test any time something feels "off" in the front.
That's where, with the tires on the ground and the full weight of the rig on them, a helper racks the steering wheel back and forth continually while you watch under the rig. This can be done at the range of about a half-turn in each direction continually. Does not have to turn fully lock-to-lock to find culprits.
And this test, using the torque of the steering system vs the weight of the truck on the tires, will highlight ANYTHING loose up front. Where the usual test of moving things around by hand doesn't cut it.

This will really highlight if your trackbar is loose. If you see any side to side movement while your helper is working the wheel, you need to fix, tighten, or replace that part.
Tie rod ends, trackbar mounts and bushings, frame rail under the steering box (can crack), and even wheel bearings and ball joints will show up under this stress test.
And if you can see it, you can feel it on the road.

Speaking of wheel bearings... Have you ever re-packed and properly adjusted them? If not, now would be a great time to do it. If you don't know the procedure, now's a good time to learn as well.
If you decide to do it and are not sure, and don't have a book (which by now you should really) we can run down the routine step by step. It's pretty simple, but don't go by You-Tube or anyone without confirming it's correct first by the book. I would have to say that 80% of the instructional videos or comments on the internet forums are flat out wrong in one way or another. Most have the basic steps correct, but leave out important details, or get one aspect totally wrong even though they did the rest correct.
There is only one way to do it on our Dana front ends. And that's by the book.
At least until you've done it enough to know you want to do it your own way. As many do.
But for first-timers, by the book is the only way.

Good luck. Let us know what you find when you do "the test" outlined above.

Paul

 

 

Mountain dewd - I keep having to add fluid, but it keeps spitting it out. Not sure how to stop it with the crappy design of the cap. I have been reading up on a Saginaw swap- but haven't decided yet.

1TonBasecamp- thanks for the reply...I loaded some more pics of the suspension. The rear blocks are 4 3/4" tall...howevever I thought the springs were either re-arched or more were added. That is where I got the 6" lift. But I could very well be mistaken. This could only be a 4" lift. What do you think? Also, does this change any of your earlier statements?
Also, the trackbar has 2 nuts on it, as seen in this pictures.
I haven't dealt with suspension or steering, so this is definitely a first for me. Would have loved to install the lift myself; instead of walking into it already butchered up by someone else!

-thanks

 

Was thinking the same thing. Looks like a possible add-a-leaf was installed just above the bottom "overload" leaf. But I've seen stock leaves that were square cut (a rarity if true) and I've seen plenty of add-a-leaves with round cut ends.
Maybe a cheapie, which would make the most sense.
Also could have removed some of the stock leaves. I forget how many different spring packs were available, and how many leaves came in each. But 4 stock leaves seems kind of skimpy to me.

For the blocks, many (all?) of these trucks came with a block under the leaf pack from the factory. I think there may even have been varying height versions depending on the GVWR or other options. Or maybe it was a year-by-year or truck-by-truck (150, 250, etc) thing. I don't know, but I've seen many different sizes.
So no matter what, it's definitely possible that your 4.75" block was only a slight lift over stock.
But that sure is a big space with long-assed u-bolts under there!

Very possible. Unless it's already been discussed here before, we need to have someone with a stock and relatively un-sagged Bronco or F150 measure between the axle tube and the frame rails in the front and rear to get an approximate stock height to base calculations from.
Obviously not all trucks were the same height, but if we know the range per model and GVWR, we can have a good starting point.

Not at all. Even with just 2" of lift you're effecting the steering angles. Normally that's not enough for most to bother with, but sometimes they should. And 4 inches, you're well into the correction range and should have the drops.
But either way, with the stock tie rod and draglink you must use BOTH the drops. Never just one.
Only if you change your linkage geometry might you get away with one or the other, but normally you need both to keep things in parallel alignment. And yours clearly shows the misalignment between the two bars.
This misalignment might not be felt off-road, but can easily be felt in the vague and "off" steering feel when driving on the pavement.

Definitely! Darn PO's will leave us scratching our heads every time.

Good luck with yours.

Paul

 

A lot of good info already given here. But the frame on these trucks crack behind the steering box causing trouble.

 

Definitely. And often you can't see the crack until you do that test outlined above. When things are torquing around from the steering you can really see those cracks open up.
And even the trackbar brackets can separate. In fact, even though you don't see anything out of whack in the second to last pic, that last pic just above sure looks like the welded area of the trackbar bracket to the frame is porous. Otherwise not sure just what those black highlighted specs are all about.
But if the trackbar mount is wobbling about on cracked welds or the frame is compromised between the bracket and the box, all kinds of monkey-motions will can result.

paul

 

Is it me or does it look like pinion is pointing oftly high? Is it possible the offset bushings were put in wrong? That would affect the caster