I have an 85 F350 6.9 with the usual Ford loose steering. What do you experts say is the best way to tighten that loose steering up? I have used duel stabilizer's on other trucks and also replaced the steering box with limited results.

 

Nothing beats getting someone to lightly turn the steering wheel back and forth while you go over the whole steering system. You can also find a alignment shop that will not just do an alignment, but solves problems. Go in there and say me steering is loose. They will do the same thing, and go over it till it's fixed.

You have a 1985 f350. Do you have the twin I beam 4x4 or do you have the dana 60 straight axle frontend? Ford went back to the dana 60 around 1985.5, so you could have either.

 

When you say you replaced the box I bet it was not with a Blue Top or a Red Head box?
They are the only way to go when replacing a steering box.
x2 when Dave said on helper moving the wheel and looking everything over. Dont forget ball joints / kingpin and wheel bearings.
Dave ----

 

I don’t know what you mean. None of my truck have loose steering. A steering stabilizer is a Band-Aid solution. Something is worn out and/or the wheel bearings are loose.

Yeah. Sometimes you need longer arms to work the steering wheel back and forth while you look underneath.

Twin I beam is two wheel drive. Twin Traction Beam is 4x4 You know better than that.

 

I have owned my 1985 DRW F-350 CC for many many years, since 1987 to be exact, and have long-hauled countless big loads of cattle.

From day one, my truck drove like a road-wagon, lurching around and meandering and would make a nervous wreck out of whoever was driving.

I spent an absolute fortune, replacing everything under there, and it still drove like crap.

These four things absolutely FIXED my truck and it now drives like a dream.

1. I insist on 10-ply BIAS steer tires; I refuse to run radials and go to extreme lengths and expense to source good BIAS steer tires.

2. I run 10-psi more in the Right tire; 75-psi Right; 65-psi Left --- this in itself probably helps as much as anything - ONCE I got rid of the radials.

3. I kept my old original steering gear and bought a new built unit from RedHead; I had them take a brand-new Ford gear and do their magic to it.

4. I have dual Rough Country Steering Stabilizers with big thick replacement urethane bushings. --- Regardless of what the naysayers say, stabilizers absorb/stop any sideways motion and prevent it feeding through the steering wheel, such as a rough road shoulder,ruts, and patches.

Two more improvements probably play their part in how well my truck drives:

5. Centramatic Wheel Balancers

6. Borgeson Steering Shaft

I will say this and the opinion is not mine alone; nothing on God's green earth drives as good as a 1973-1979 Chevrolet/GMC 4x4 truck, be in 1/2-, 3/4- or 1-ton.

When I would step out of one of our Chevrolets and get behind the wheel of brand-new Twin-I-Beam Fords, I was always a nervous wreck; they all drove terrible, even when brand-new.

Old die-hard Ford owners who were used to them meandering and lurching all over the place got along fine with them; but, get in one for the first time after being used to something that did drive good and you were in for a miserable trip.

That being said, my 1985 F-350, after the modifications explained above, drives really good; but, it still doesn't drive as good as my old 1978 Chevrolet that has never had a nickel spent on the front-end.

 

You said the magic words, "tire pressure". Having the proper tire pressure for your load is critical to good handling. I now have a battery powered inflator I can carry with me. Adjustments on the fly!