I am taking my truck to the dealer on Wed. to have my steering box checked. It seems that I have to constantly make small adjustments while driving, even when going straight. On windy roads, it seems that I end up just crossing the double yellow a little to often.

Other trhreads have mentioned steering box replacement, "caster angle cones", anyone have any other thoughts? I want to be as detailed as posible with the service writer and relay any ideas that you might have. This wandering cannot be "just a normal truck" type of feeling. It does take some of the driving enjoyment away.

Would a steering stabilizer and/or damper help this problem. I don't have the off-road package.

Your thoughts info. would be much appreciated!!!

 

Had a chevy with the same problem, three steering boxes later, turned out to be the left to right valving inside the steering box.

 

How's your tire wear and have you had a good front-end alignment lately? Check it out and let us know.

 

Tire wear is normal, even. The truck was checked for alignment and it was ok.

 

I'm starting to notice the same thing....only 2,000 miles. Please share any fixes. I will do the same.

 

I certainly will. Sometimes I don't notice it (maybe just used to it) and other times I can't stop noticing it! I did mentioned it to the dealer about 6 months ago when it was in for service and they said everything was fine. Won't take that answer again. Thats why I'm looking for things to ask them to check. Keep you posted.

 

Sometimes the luxury of a competing dealer helps - if you have that option...

"Well, Joe's Ford couldn't find it, but I'll bet you can" seems to work for me

 

Your first post you mentioned "caster cones"... or something to that effect.. those are called caster/camber bushings.. where the axle connects to the knuckle.. the upper joint goes through this bushing.. take a look.. now you could go to an allignment shop and say you want more positive caster.. the "acceptable range" is large over a 2 degree spreed, but you could have them pull it to the maximum Positive limit.. and more caster equals more resistant to turns, more stable..
now using your current bushings..increasing caster will decrease camber only because they are both tied into the same bushing and you cannot adjust one without affecting the other... dont let them throw your camber out of limits with there adjustments as that directly affects tire wear.. If you are mechanically inclined and had an air chisle and air gun you could play with these adjustments in under 10 minutes.. first off get the weight off the wheels(jack it up).. then pull the cotter pins out of the top ball joint(youll see the bushing underneath.. ) loosen the ball joint.... use the air chisle to drive the bushing up(this is the same way the dealer/alignment place does it).. then turn the bushing(youll need a big socket) in order to make the hole go towards the rear of the truck.. just turn it one adjustment at a time.. like 1/8 of a full turn.... youll see it will only go down in certain postions cause of the bolt/type head.Then put the ball joint nut back on and tighten it down, it will drive the bushing down, and your ready for a test drive....... Anyway make sure and mark it first soo its real easy to put it back where ya started if you choose to do soo... Now doing all this would be easy.. and you could tell if increasing caster corrects your problem.. BUT!! If it does drive noticalbly better, now you need to get it on a machine and have the camber reset.. cause your adjustements will knock that out(mark it first real easy to turn it back)... If it drives great the allignment shop will have to put in a new bushing($28) that holds the caster where you found you wanted it, and gets the camber in the range.. Just go look at your truck and all this will make since... I know a thing or two about this stuff cause my friend does this stuff and i work on my truck myself on the machine.. but its not rocket science it just turning the bushing.. and if you mark it, its real easy to set it back where ya started..just something to try
Jetjock16

Confused?.. just go look at your truck.. it will all make sense.. with a filled air compresser i could do all that in under 5 minutes.

 

ohh yeah and soo you know if you go to shop.. your caster just affects handling and such.. how twitchy the steering is or how stable.. the more increase in positive caster will be less resistant to turns.. The range that an allignment machine will show is fords recommended range.. you could go well beyond that to where ever you liked the way it drove.. it will have no effect on anything else... tire wear is all about Camber.. and pull in either direction will be from toe in/out or camber or... the differance in caster between the two sides.. but if each side is equal you could put in as much caster as you want... ie.. anyone who turns up there front axle for driveline angles just decreased or increased negaitve caster an HUGE amount.. way out of specs.. but since they did it on both sides they dont really notice.. but there steering will be more twitchy... Same with shackles.. if you got longer shackles youd increase positive caster and have the same affects...good luck.. it aint that hard/complectated

 

At around 5000 miles by steering box seemed a little loose....too much play, the dealer tightened it and it is now fine. A steering stabilizer might help that wander a bit. Straight front axles are known to wander....or bump steer a little bit. I would not mess around with the caster/camber bushings too much unless you have access to a laser alignment rack. Ideally your cross caster should be a negative .5-.7, this adjustment simplified is the ability of the wheels to self center themselves after a turn. Bad caster angles mostly lead to a right or left pull....this is not a tire wearing adjustment. Toe and camber are definitely tire affecting adjustments. I cranked my tow to the max....I think it is somewhere around a +.10 degrees, and my camber left and right is at -.02 degrees. Optimum camber is o.oo degrees for a straight front axle, although Ford's specs like jetjock said can vary up to 2.00 degrees. I just hit the middle on mine. However, the max positive toe in the spec did help to take that drift out of it. I also just got used to it a little ore and a few miles on the clock seemd to let parts wear in and it is getting better and better. I would highly recommend a steering stabilizer first.

 

If the truck has the factory bushings, they have a tab and you can't turn them like you can an after market hex bushing. They are set for caster and camber and can't be adjusted.

 

Hes right.... if you still have stock bushings theres not adjustment allowed... good call CJ

 

wish id of thought of that BEFORE i typed 1000 words!

 

Thanks for the input guys! Great info.

jetjock16, thank you for such a deatiled post. I definitely appreciate your time on that one! 79CEEJAY, thanks for advising that they can't be adjusted.

I hope they really try to find a problem. The hardest part is that you can get in the truck , drive, and not notice it. But when it happens, especially winding roads, you can't get it off your mind!

 

Ford replaced our steering box and messed with some other things and "oops" forgot to set the toe-in. Made the truck a bit difficult to drive as it would wander. Told them I thought it was a "safety" issue and wanted it resolved.
Much better.