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Looking for help on my 2001 excursion 7.3L.
Currently my steering is having issues. I guess its whats called chasing the tail. Basic example is trying to change a lane and the wheels would start to go left and right.very scary when towing my boat and only at 55mph. It does this without towing as well but not as bad. At first we thought the pitman arm wasn't dropped enough so we changed to a 6" drop and it made a huge difference. didn't solve totally but big difference. Height from center hub to bottom of fender is 27.5" if that helps too.
I've had the entire front end rebuilt with new parts. all tie rods, control arms, bearings, New steering box, etc. Everything. Ive also upgraded my front and rear leaf spring to F250/350 springs #43-818 (front) and #43-1263 (rear). Theres a aftermarket bumper with 17k winch weighing around 450lb on the front and a aftermarket rear bumper with tire carrier with a 12k stealth winch weighing around 350lb. Also have rear air bags. Truck was only lifted 2" but then after installing the new leafs it raised the truck another 2-3" Please any help is appreciated.
Caster angle and toe in have a large affect on steering return to center. Most alignment shops don't put in near enough caster (IMO a solid axle truck needs at least 5 degrees) and toe out (vice toe in, you want toe-in) can also have an affect, although start with castor angle.
Nice truck though. On a side note, where did you hide the rear winch? With the fuel tank being behind the axle in these things, doesn't seem like there'd be a lot of room behind the bumper for a rear winch.
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from the driver seat how many degrees of slop left and right do you feel in the steering wheel before the tire begin to steer ?
as mentioned above, reach down into the front axle and try to sping each axle yoke, they should be tight but you should be able to rotate each one.
this is to confirm your locking hubs are not stuck in the lock position.
a few observation:
1. front bump stops missing ….easy fix and not related to your concern
2. from the picture it looks like either your pitman arm is 2" to long or the drop track bar needs to be lower.
this would cause a more noticable "Bump steer" when you hit a pot hole but this is not what you are describing so lets set that aside for now.
my suspecion is your alignment settings are likely toe out and not enough caster.
do you happen to have the alignmet Before/After printout from when you had the new suspension installed ?
oh ya, as per our PM if you can post a pic of the rear leaf spring and what PSI do you put in the bag when driving empty and what psi do you use when towing ?
Did you install a drop track bar bracket? I can't tell if that is aftermarket. You want the track bar and drag link to run parallel with each other. It appears the aren't quite in line. For a 2-3" lift, you should not need a drop track bar or drop pitman arm. (I run 4" springs without that with 5 deg caster).
As already stated above, I'd look into the following:
1) Caster angle. Have you had it aligned recently and checked for caster and toe?
2) How much play in the steering wheel is there? You can get an idea by turning the truck on and wiggling the wheel until you feel the wheels start turning. Measure by using a tape measure and record the amount the wheel spins before the wheels engage.
I would also recommend you have a helper move the steering wheel while you're under the truck and look for any play or abnormal movement.
Surf guy seems to have ghosted us, but in case he comes back.
I strongly suggest get an alignment and insist on these specs
Caster +5*
Toe IN +.03*
with 35" tires run them at 40 psi front and rear. this PSI will support 2625 pounds at each tire, easily exceedind the front and rear GAWR of 4700 and 5150 pounds respectively as well as the GVWR of 9200 pounds
at 27.5" at all 4 corners you have a 4" "lift
with that ride height I would go back to the stock track bar mount and stock pitman arm to correct the geometry betweeen the track bar and drage link.
you will need an adjustable Track bar to center your axle.
