1999 F250 Super Duty,5.4l, 4wd, super cab XLT, 200K miles. Needed new ball joints(bad). My old hands have too much arthur itus to that kind of work anymore so I had it done. This mechanic is a jewel and trustworthy so with that said here's my issue. He put the new upper and lower joints in (Moog) and it seem to wander a lot when driving down the road. It may have already been something wrong before I fixed the ball joints and now that the wheels are perpendicular again the problem is more pronounced. My guy went all over the components of the suspension and could only speculate that the steering box may be worn out. How can I check the steering box to see if that might be the problem? What exactly are the symptoms of a worn steering gear? Could I possibly adjust it enough to correct it? I realize that old Ford trucks steer different than other makes. I've had several over the years. This group has always been polite and helpful so anything y'all could suggest would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Have someone move the steering wheel back and forth through the slack , and watch for movement at the Pittman arm .
this is the best I can explain it.
do it with the engine off.
there is a bit of adjustment available , sector shaft has a screw with a lock nut , at the top of the box , a but difficult to get to , back the nut off while holding a flat screw driver in the adjustment screw , and tighten the screw 1/4 turn at most at a time . lock the nut down .

 

Good call.

 

A wandering steering may be made worse by a worn out steering gear box, but the gear box itself is never the root cause. If you have enough caster you'd be able to completely disconnect the steering and the truck would track straight with little wandering.

These solid axle 4x4 fronts (most likely a Dana 50 in your case being its a 99) are caster adjustable despite what most alignment shops will tell you. To adjust the caster you have to change out a bushing in the knuckle that the upper ball joint goes through. These bushings are not expensive (see link below to RockAuto's listing of available caster bushings for your truck).

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...+bushing,13508

So, you may wonder why so many alignment shops will lie and say that caster isn't adjustable then. The reason for that is time, and time is money. These bushing can be a pain in the backside to remove, are often rusted in place, and require a $400 special tool that's a one -trick pony of a special tool (see summit racing link to that required special tool below).

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/o...SABEgKguPD_BwE

If you're charging a flat rate of whatever (say $89) for an alignment, then spending an hour fitting rust to remove the old bushing, and stocking several different degree bushings to replace the old one with, is not gonna happen, you'd be losing money. So most alignment shops just "set the toe, and collect the dough".

Long post to say, find an mechanic or alignment shop that is willing to take the time (which will cost you money) to actually dial in the caster to around 5 to 7 degrees or more (up to 10 for a street truck , above that steering effort gets harder). This is more caster angle than the factory specs, don't accept them saying "well , its within spec" or some other BS.
...

 

Yes, BUT, before doing this, take it back to your guy, have him tighten the NUT on the bottom of the steering gear for the pitman arm, I have have done this to many many trucks after having this issue on my Ex yrs ago, I want to say it's a 1-5/16" or 22mm nut... but I could be wring on that, but I would bet $100 on tightening the pitman arm nut will fix your wander, bet my dad on his 89 F150 4x I sold him yrs ago, he had all the ball joints and tie-rods done, still wandered, I climbed under it with ratchet and cheater bar and cranked it down, he took it for a drive and came back and gave me a nice Benjamin!

Did it on a friends truck probably 4 yrs ago, it had 250k and had just had ball joints done, had him drive it over, tightened it up maybe 1/4-1/2 turn, had him go for a drive... he was smiling when he came back..

I would bet dollars to donuts it'll fix ya right up!

I do it on my 02 F350 and my 00 Ex about every other or 3rd oil change, basically just make sure its tight.

 

Thanks to all that posted suggestions. Loading up on ibuprofen for my hands and gonna see what I can do. Thanks again.

 

My first thought is that the new ball joints changed your toe in and you should get an alignment.

 

On a gasser the steering box adjustment is fairly accessible. Watch this (NOT my vid, I don't know this guy)

I kinda like his approach of tighten until you feel resistance then back off. It is true you don't want to overtighten it, but the old school approach of 1/8-1/4 turn rarely does anything.

As he notes, if you get it too tight, return to center suffers and you'll know it.

I just did this on an '04 and the improvement was significant. But not all boxes will respond well.

 

good thought but I had it aligned right after the replacement. thanks

 

Tighten the pitman arm nut, bet it'll solve your problem, and only cost you the price of a wrench or socket 🍻

 

Best to start simple like recommended above... Try tightening steering box adjustment and pitman arm nut (not always easy to access unless you remove upper track bar mount).

I had wandering steering since I owned my truck. The thing that helped it in the end was adding 4 degree caster shims under the front leafs.

 

Thanks again to all that replied. The most common response was to tighten the pitman arm nut. So I was able to move it about a 1/3 of a turn. Drives a little better. Probably can live with it now. BTW, the nut on my truck was a 1 5/16" so I returned the 46mm wrench. Had to use a cheater bar to make it turn. (18" pipe wrench with a 2ft iron pipe). May try to tighten a little more later on. Thanks again to all.

 

Don't get stupid. It drives up a taper like a bicycle crank arm or TRE. You can go too far and spread the bore too much, then you'd need a new pitman arm.

YES, it must be tight but not 3' cheater tight. Everything in moderation.

 

I understand but I'm 67 yrs old and have arthritis so you do what you have to, lol.

 

Absolutely, and I'm all for work smarter not harder. There's a difference between a 28-yr-old body builder and you with arthritis. Lots of variables. What's "snug" for me is too tight for my wife to release by hand (can be an issue with water bottles etc)