2018 Steering Box Play
#1
2018 Steering Box Play
Hello, I have a 2018 F250 with right about 31k on it, I’ve been fighting a lot of bump steer problems for the last 15k miles. All the usual things have been checked by myself and multiple dealerships. Today I noticed that the steering box makes a clunking noise when you turn the wheel with the truck off. I took it to the dealership and they told me it is normal for the gears to smack in these steering boxes. I’m going to try to attach a video of the noise. I just would like to know if this is normal or the dealer is BSing me. Thank you all.
Last edited by Y2KW57; 01-27-2020 at 06:02 PM. Reason: Title edited to add model year, to distinguish from new 2020 models, which have different steering hardware.
#2
#4
Yes, that’s exactly what happens. Any minor bump in the road will make the steering wheel twitch back and forth. I currently have fox 2.0 duals on the front with a fox 2.0 in the stock location as well. It doesn’t really have a problem on very large bumps, it’s the little bumps that are very annoying.
#6
Yes, that’s exactly what happens. Any minor bump in the road will make the steering wheel twitch back and forth. I currently have fox 2.0 duals on the front with a fox 2.0 in the stock location as well. It doesn’t really have a problem on very large bumps, it’s the little bumps that are very annoying.
#7
I would like to add one more thing here. Ifn’ you do get a wild *** hair and you tighten the adjuster on the steering box, you be very careful. If you over tighten it, the teeth will wear out rapidly. You can also bind them so bad that they will catch and if that happens while your driving people can get hurt. The procedure for measuring lash involves removing the box and checking resistance with a beam style torque wrench. It is not overly difficult to do, but it is time consuming, and you need to find out what fords specs are before going after it. The other option, which is the one most people use, is to jack up the front end of your truck and remove your steering damper. Make very small adjustments, checking the resistance in the wheel while cutting it lock to lock after each adjustment. Personally when i have adjusted them in the past, i pop the joint off at the end of the pitman arm. I feel like is a little more accurate to check it that way. You want 0 binding. And VERY little if any play when you wiggle the pitman arm end back and forh. Its a fine line. Regardless, if the problem is ultimately slop in these boxes with so few miles not many miles will be had out of them in the long run.
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#8
Let me know how the intermediate shaft works out. I had my girlfriend pull side to side on it and can definitely feel it in the wheel. As far as caster I’m currently at 3.2 L and 3.6 R. I’ve had it as high as 7* with no change except for very heavy steering. I do not have a leveling kit installed. All stock except for shocks and stabilizers.
#9
Will do. I ordered the part from Tasca 5 days ago, and it still has not shipped. I have never ordered anything from them before, so i’m not sure of their business practices, but i feel like 4 days to ship seems excessive. (Im not including sunday or today since its still early) if i dont hear anything from them by this afternoon i am going to reach out to them concerning the status of my order. Ford seems to have a national backorder problem with alot of parts from time to time, and i hope thats not the case.
#10
Will do. I ordered the part from Tasca 5 days ago, and it still has not shipped. I have never ordered anything from them before, so i’m not sure of their business practices, but i feel like 4 days to ship seems excessive. (Im not including sunday or today since its still early) if i dont hear anything from them by this afternoon i am going to reach out to them concerning the status of my order. Ford seems to have a national backorder problem with alot of parts from time to time, and i hope thats not the case.
Thanks.
#14
I don't think that I am experiencing the same issues that other have indicated in this thread. I do have that noise when rocking the wheel back and forth with the truck off, but not having the "metal" feel/feedback in the wheel when driving.
What I am noticing is that I feel the tires tracking a bit on the road which I'm noticing a feeling of a weighted side to side movement in the wheel. I just rotated the tires and i installed a fox ATS just after that, so I have a couple variables in the mix.
What I am noticing is that I feel the tires tracking a bit on the road which I'm noticing a feeling of a weighted side to side movement in the wheel. I just rotated the tires and i installed a fox ATS just after that, so I have a couple variables in the mix.
#15