I'm a new owner for the super duty world and have a 19 6.2L supercab 4wd with the 3.73 rear end. It has 7100 miles on it and is 3 months old. Prior to this I've had 2 F150's for over 18 years combined. I went to the F250 only to get away from Ford's ecoboost and start stop technology etc and keep with a nice V8 engine.

The question I have is pertaining to the steering and ride quality. The steering feels very loose. For example if you are on a freeway and going around a curve and hit a bump the steering becomes very light, the steering wheel moves quite a bit and I get a very uneasy feeling in my stomach. When going straight there is a lot of bump steer and I'm continually going back and forth with the steering wheel.

The truck has performed like this from day 1 out of the dealership. I recently took it in to the dealer for some other work to be done and asked how can I control the bump steer, I.e. better shocks etc. After listening to me they determined I was also starting to feel the beginning of the death wobble so they installed the steering stabilizer. They also performed an alignment per the TSB and found the toe was slightly out. I will say the truck drives 100 times better but still has me questioning if what I noted above is just do to I'm dealing with the solid axle and this is how the Fords drive.

I will be honest. I hate the truck and it's close to getting dumped but I know I will take about a 10 grand hit on trading it in. The dealer advised to not change shocks etc as once you do Ford can walk away from any complaint of vibration, death wobble, etc.. as they immediately point to the after market components and blame that. For that reason the truck is 100% stock.

I can break this down to two segments. Above 40 mph and below 40 mph.

Below 40 mph it drives fine. She feels every bump though and doesn't do well overall on rough roads, which we have a ton of around here. This part though I go it's a 3/4 ton truck that's normal.
Above 40 is where I get a lot of the back and forth movement with the steering wheel and light front end feel if the bump happens on a curve.

Suggestions from those of you that are use to these bigger trucks? Is this just the nature of the beast?

Thanks for your time.

 

There's several threads on this exact type of thing you're experiencing and to be honest I don't think a lot of Ford owners new or old are very happy with the problems they are having on the trucks. While a 3/4 ton or ton truck will not ride or drive near as nice as your 150s you're used to, the problems you're describing and the actions your dealer is taking are very common unfortunately. My thought process in this is..if you can fix the truck with aftermarket parts such as Fox Steering stabilizers and shocks...why not go with it? Sure you may void warranty or have problems getting ford to own up to their mistakes after, BUT if you can make your truck safer and more reliable and easy to drive why wouldn't you? Ford isn't going to be able deny a claim on engine or other problems you may have just because you put on aftermarket shocks or whatever. My 17 has 23k on it and so far haven't had any problems with this but if I do I'm going to fix it with parts that will work and make it safer. I don't want to continue to have problems if I can fix them and never have to worry again. From what everyone else here is saying, you'll be back in for ANOTHER steering stabilizer in about 10-15k miles because they are junk! My opinion is fix the truck with quality aftermarket parts that will make it safer and easier to drive and forget the dealer becuase you WILL be back there for the same problem in the future. It's a sad truth but one you probably won't get away with with any manufacturers. Dumping 1k plus in parts is a real downer when you pay 60k plus for a truck that should even be thinking about
It's first oil change...but it's the world we live in.

 

As said there are many posts on this I can only say it's not the nature of my beast, not yet anyway after 24k. I do feel the bumpsteer somewhat on a really rough road, but the truck does not wander or require constant steering wheel correction at hiway speeds as you are describing. But with all the DW posts here and on Facebook it's always in the back of my mind, my wife also drives this truck. I can understand trucks with 150k miles having steering issues and DW, but not new low miles trucks. No excuse for that.

 

Sounds like they need to put in a little more castor ,If the dealer went off the info provided in the latest TSB on the front end they dial in alot more castor than the earlier TSB