Well it finally happened. Drove home my 02 F350 dually tonight. I knew it had some kind of steering issues before i bought it and I was all over the road on my 1.5 hour drive home. It has 174k on it and don't know what typically wears out at his mileage. Not looking to use cheap components ether as I will be living in this for months at a time pulling my 5th wheel camper.

So my question is what are the best brand of parts to get and maybe where to buy them. I was looking at rebuilt steering boxes on line and came across this Red Head box. A bit more then the rest but are they worth it? Saw other brands too the had good reviews. Saw Cardone too but frankly their products scare me. Not on time have I had any luck with their stuff. Also tie rod ends, drag link and may even go as far as ball joints too.

Grateful for any advice as these trucks are new to me. I will post some pics probably tomorrow of my find. Got a good price on it and I have a couple of years to get it up to speed before the trek starts.

Just found this MevOtech parts any good? Little pricier then the rest and 5 year 100k warranty.

 

Pics will help, possibly so we can see things amiss, but at least to motivate folks.

What exactly went wrong with the steering?

A basic test is jack up the front wheels and grab the tires at 12 and 6 o'clock and yank hard, feel the motion. Do the same at 9 and 3. If there is motion at all positions it's hubs, and if only 12 and 6 it's likely ball joints.

 

60 mile ride home all highway and like I said it was wondering around the road and had to take the slack up like an old farm tractor. I was planning to do that test today/this weekend and maybe tighten the adjuster on the steering box to see what happens. Don't have a manual yet but was planning on buying a Haynes manual soon. i'll have to do the u-tube thing to see how to adjust it. The slack got to be about 2" in the steering wheel. As far as a hydrallic jack all I have is a 3 ton. I suppose that will work for ether just the front or back?

Larry

 

What is the condition of the tires? Age? Dry rot? Camber wear?

I personally went with Moog on ball joints but would/will go Spicer next time. I have Motorcraft tie rods too, comparable in cost.

 

Adjust the steering box first.

i don’t know much about Redhead.

There is this
https://bluetopsteeringgears.com/apps/webstore/

I was thinking of these guys when my box finally craps out
https://westtexasoffroad.wixsite.com/wtor

 

 

Someone said "adjust the steering box first". I say do not touch that adjustment unless you know what you're doing as it can wreck the box.

Get under the truck and have someone rock the steering wheel back & forth while you look, listen, and feel for looseness in the different components.

 

I'm not a fan of Mevotech. I'd stay with Dana Spicer for ball joints and u-joints. I went with Moog for tie rods, drag link and idle arm.

 

i did the best that I could by myself. raised both sides independently and used a pry bar to see if I could get anything to move. With he wheels off the ground and at 3 and 9 there was some movement. At noon and 6 I couldn't detect any. On the passenger side the dust seal is heavily damaged. There is a noise on that side while taking off and as you are approaching 65mph so I'm suspecting the hubs. May change them so I know where I at at that part of the truck

 

Obviously look for worn axle//steering components before you start just adjusting a steering box but if all is fine and the steering box needs adjusting I don’t see what the problem is as long as you can follow adjustment instructions.


Moog is also made in China these days. But Mevotech imo is bargain basement stuff. I’ve installed it on friends cars and one old service truck of mine and it’s ok. You can tell it’s not high quality from the build. The dust covers are a lot of times not bonded to the metal body, cheap plastic/rubber material. The parts I’ve installed on some of my friends cars seem ok. And that service truck had 30 k on the ball joints when I sold it. The longevity.....well I haven’t had any say they needed replacement. Mevotech imo is what auto store house brand is made of.


if the hub is going bad you should feel or hear the grinding as you spin the wheel.

 

Heres my experience; bought my truck and it had tons of wander, got it home and in the shop we diagnosed ball joints, one hub and the steering box. Went with a redhead box, napa ball joints and a Timken hub unit bearing.

It got better but still not perfect. Figuring the new redhead box is the grandaddy of boxes I went on a quest for everything else under the sun. Did tie rods (XRF million mile warranty), a new lower steering column, tires, and ball joints again (XRF). While all these had a marked level of improvement it was still not right. Finally decided to just bite the bullet (redhead box out of warranty by now) and adjust the box, significant improvement but still off. Ordered an a1 Cardone box off rock auto; thinking it wouldn't fix anything but I was running out of ideas and it was cheap. Got the a1 box in and truck drives like its fresh off the showroom floor. Now had I gotten ahold of redhead during the warranty period (my fault for dragging me feet, truck sees maybe 1k a year) Im sure it would have been taken care of.

So in short, there are a whole plethora of components that can go bad under there, just make sure to check them all and don't discount the obvious.

 

Superduties are notorious for worn ball joints.
Just finished this with my truck.
A proper front end shakedown will get you going the right way.
At 174k it could all be shot.
Don't do Mevotech.
Timken, Moog, Spicer and Motorcraft is what we use depending upon availability.
I just put a Redhead on my truck and it's pretty good. I've installed about 8 of them so far, they seem OK. Better than Cardone, I did 3 of those before buying OEM on one truck (dodge), never left the shop.

I adjusted the sector play on mine before replacing, it was better but still had 1" of play at the steering wheel. When I went further it increased drag enough that it wouldn't return to center properly.

 

My experience with Cardone is not good. Had a 740 Volvo that I installed a rebuilt steering rack. Lasted exactly 1 year. Took it back under warranty and it lasted a year. Did that 3 times (of course in January every time) then I insisted on a different brand. Got a World Pack and went 4 years and then sold the car. Many of the brake calipers for the same car and a Vibe were cardone and went bad in a short time. In fact on my Ranger the caliper piston wasn't replaced looked like it was just wired brushed and new seals and a paint job. Put it back together and sell it for a hundred bucks.

What isn't made in China now. I was thinking of going with Moog for the hub bearings and Motorcraft for the ball joints. Not sure what everyone is typically getting out of factory ball joints. Watching a u tube video someone was explaining how they all ways used a certain ball joint because they were grease-able and the top ball joint had a plug you take out and insert a zerk to service, then replace the plug. That's what is in mine and they don't look old but I think he said they were Ford ball joints.

I don't want to spend $ where I don't need to but was thinking about replacing everything giving what I'm going to be doing with the truck plus I'll know where I'm at.

 

As others have said, narrow down the problem before throwing parts at it. The buck$zooka adds up quick, especially if you aren't doing the labor yourself. Nothing is worse than writing some big checks and still not solving the problem.

Once you figure out where the issue lies then you can decide how deep you want to go for preventive work. That being said I have had some experience with the front end over the years:

- My A1 Cardone box lasted less than 2 years (was in a pinch and that was the only one I could get short of an auto parts store special). It was better than the box that was on the truck (OEM reman) but started to leak in a year and by the end of the second year I just wanted to get rid of it. I put a Blue-Top in and was very happy with it. It tightened up my steering and was noticeably less effort to turn the steering wheel. It felt like rack-and-pinion after the replacement.

- I was not impressed with my Moog ball joints. They didn't last very long (20K miles or so maybe). I was very happy with my XRF ball joints. IMO the only other option I would consider would be Spicer.

- I replaced all my tie rods with OEM and they did well. If I still had the truck my next set would probably be XRF.

 

Good info Brian! Going to make a list of brands.