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Bought my truck a few months ago. It’s a 2011 with 145k miles. It seems whenever I make a sharp turn sometimes the steering wheel won’t return to the center by itself. After this it starts pulling hard to the left and right back and forth. I’ve done a little bit of research online and seems it may be the axle ujoints? I also read that they have zerk fittings to grease them, but when I looked I didn’t see anything. Before I start replacing things just wanted to get some opinions on what the issue might be.
There are factory zerks inside each of the front knuckles. They get covered in grime, so you’ll have to stick your finger in there to dig around and find it. You can soin the knuckle as long as you’re in 2wd and the hubs aren’t locked.
I grease mine when i swap tires each spring and fall.
Front axle u-joints aren’t the cause of your problem. You have bad ball joints, quite possibly. Is steering responsive or ‘floaty’? Might have other worn front end components also. Top strut mounts have a bearing inside and can cause return-to-center issues.
Buddies 2009 f250 was doing same thing.......would drive fine for awhile and then every now and then after turning wheel would not return to center....would have to fight to get straight again. Turned out to be seized u joint on drivers side......replaced that and all is fine. For sure inspect your ball joints for wear to....but my $ is on a u joint at this point....Seen it on a few trucks.
Buddies 2009 f250 was doing same thing.......would drive fine for awhile and then every now and then after turning wheel would not return to center....would have to fight to get straight again. Turned out to be seized u joint on drivers side......replaced that and all is fine. For sure inspect your ball joints for wear to....but my $ is on a u joint at this point....Seen it on a few trucks.
Hard to diagnose without disassembly and actual inspection...sooo now that you're there its time to replace the U Joints with Spicers and look at the BJs. Your there might as well go for it.
Its a good idea to ride around every so often with the hubs locked for 20 miles or so after a fresh grease. I grease mine every 5K.
Thanks everyone for the input! I finally got some time the other day to jack up the front of the truck and take a look. Turns out my passenger axle joint is actually broken. I'm surprised it didn't explode while I was driving. Luckily this isn't my daily driver so I decided I'm going to try and do the replacement myself. I have watched a few videos on how to do this. I orderd the replacement ujoint, big axle seal, dust seal, and the yellow gasket. The ball joints looked fine so I'm not going to replace those right now. I know ford has a special tool for installing the axle seal and I saw where one can be made from pipe fittings. I plan on doing this since I don't really want to spend $70 on a tool I might never use again. Aside from this does anyone have any tips or things I should be aware of? Fully expect the hub removal to be a pita. Planning on renting a puller from the auto store.
I remember when I was doing mine the online directions for the axle tool were for years 07 and below I think......my axle on the 08 is a larger Diameter and I couldn't find the appropriate pipe fitting flange to go over the axle. I'm assuming you're in the same boat in that aspect.
I've put a few axle/knuckle seals on free hand and had no issues. Put a little grease on inner of new seal as well as sealing surface on axle...and CAREFULLY tap new seal onto axle. It has to go on straight...bit of a pain to get it started...but once started it goes on easily/evenly. Also take a look before taking the axle/old seal out......you should see a line around the inner circumference of the knuckle. make a note of how far past this line the axle seal is sitting.....1/8" or so I think. When putting axle/new seal back into knuckle....evenly pound it in to roughly same depth.
Before putting everything back together.....take a look at the knuckle sealing surface where the wheel hub/bearing slides into. Any rust build up near the edge has to be removed, otherwise when new o ring slides over it when you install the wheel bearing, o ring can get damaged and you'll have a vacuum leak. Again a bit of grease on the oring and sealing surface helps it slide in easily.
Like I said I've done a few like this....my 08 esof still works and hold vacuum to this day.
Thanks everyone for the input! I finally got some time the other day to jack up the front of the truck and take a look. Turns out my passenger axle joint is actually broken. I'm surprised it didn't explode while I was driving.
Use only Spicer U Joints. I grease mine every 5K. I also lock in the hubs during the "off-season" about every 30 days with at least a 20 mile road trip and I keep them locked-in during the snow season except on long road trips when no snow is forecasted.
Another tip while installing the U joint is to be cognizant of centering the caps in the yokes(this applies to all U Joints). You dont want them too tight so they bind(flex the joint after installation and feel it)... And you dont want them to lose so there's slop or play between the cup sets. Adjust each set so they are just tight enough to exhibit zero in-out movement. Then pump in one or two pumps of grease prior to installing the shaft. Chances are really good the other side may need the same repair. MAW do both sides the tools are already out and its on jack stands.
Tip #2 verify that the caliper bracket slider pins are moving in-out smoothly. If not replace the bracket which will come with the new pins. These POS pins need inspection every 5K as well...or at every tire rotation.
Okay got everything off except the hub, waiting on some big snap ring pliers from amazon. I pulled the locking hub out and it seems like there are some needle bearings floating around. Some fell out when I pulled the locking hub out. Haven't had a chance to look into this much more, but wondering if anyone might know where these came from? In the picture you can seem some of them around the teeth.
Okay finally got the hub off. Wow was that thing rusted on there. It has the newer sealed bearing though and it is smooth. I think those loose bearings are from the locking hub. There is a good amount of play in the part the axle shaft goes into. Guess I'll need to figure out how to get that apart and replace the bearing.
The C clips for the old u joint are rusted to the axle shafts. So letting those sit for a couple of days in penetrating oil before I start hacking at them.
On another note the axle shaft is too large for my makeshift lowes piping seal press. So I'll either have to figure something else out or go to a shop to have them press the seal on. I'm thinking of trying pvc.
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