It's got a bit of play in it that I notice when hauling my truck camper. I would say maybe 2" and creates white knuckle when on the freeway at times.Truck was gone through by my buddy Ford mechanic about 4k ago when I got it and did the maintenance. He said everything looked tight, checked ball joints and such.
I used to have an 02 SD with loose steering. I tightened it a tiny bit at the steering box and know the drill. Is this the same thing, or are there other thing to check or do on these newer rigs? Suggestions, thanks.

 

I'd check it on the ground with someone jecking the wheel hard back and forth. I was going over my truck for a trip with the scouts and found a bad tie rod end on a truck that I thought had good parts. I never trust anyone including myself. We are all prone to miss things.

 

One note this front end has 5 balljoints in it.

You want the engine running and then get under and have someone move the wheel and look at the track bar bushing and the other end at the track bar
balljoint. I had to replace both the bushing and balljoint on mine. I had already done the upper and lower balljoints out at the knuckle and still had a lot of
play in the steering. One I got the track ar bushing and balljoint done it all went away. The thing is if someone has been in there and used the impact to
tighten the bolt on the bushing end that can cause it to fail early. I can't find the spec on the bolt but 406 Lb/Ft comes to mind The balljoint is more reasonable.
I can get them looked up for you later. I went as far as getting a 3/4" drive dial torque wrench and was thinking it was going to be a one time use but I needed it
when I put a pitman arm on a new steering gear.

The hardest part about installing a Energy Suspension bushing is getting the bushing into the hole in the track bar. It likes to squirt out as you press it in. I used
some of the shells from my balljoint press on my shop press to get it in.

The nut on the track bar balljoint is 184 Ft/Lb. I just looked it up so the 406 Lb/Ft is correct.

 

OK, thanks for the responses. I'll look hard at the track bar and ball joints.

 

Remember you have 5 of them. The one for the track bar is on the inboard
passenger side about where the steering damper attaches.

 

Got it, thanks Sean.

 

Clint,

If yours is anything like mine was, even after I swapped out all the tie-rod ends and ball joints, steering was just as sloppy. Knew my steering gear had some miles (185K at the time) and was probably worn out. Made the mistake of getting a reman unit from my local parts store and steer was JUST AS SLOPPY. Picked up another one from Red Head Steering Gears (box is twice the price of local reman) and truck feels better than brand new.

If you go the new steering gear route, save the time and hassle and try the Red Head. (Not a paid advertisement :-) )

 

I went to Red Head and talked to someone there. One thing they don't have is access to replacement new parts other than
the things like seals and *****. They don't have any way to replace a sector shaft other than one from a used box. They
also don't do any NDT on the parts. I find that a bit troublesome. They don't know if there is a hidden crack. With the Ford reman
box they replace the sector shaft with a new one. They will also take a broken box back as a core and Red Head will ding you
some of the core charge if you bring a broken one back. Then there is the warrantee Ford you have 2 years and Red Head you
get f I recall 1 year. The box I just put in the truck from Ford made a world of difference in the slop.