ok first the stats. 2002 f250 7.3 diesel 4x4 8 in. procomp lift 37 in tires with stock gearing. now heres the problem,i have 2 issues. 1 is there is a fast rythem vibration in the truck,,,not the steering wheel. this i beleive is easy and i think is a universal joint. 2,,,the hard one, there is a wobble in my steering wheel. slow rythem,left,right,left,right,left,ect. i have felt this on a few of my freinds lifted trucks and not really sure what it is.the truck was lifted when i bought it.im thinking maybe steering stabalizers or the trac bar but dont have much experience on suspension lifts.so any help would be good.i was thinking maybe if i replace the whole power steering system with a PSC full hydralic system maybe it would fix the problem but i would like some others opinions before i fork out a grand and it not be fixed.im currently in iraq and will be here for a while i can walk my wife thru some tests back home but she doesnt really know much about this stuff so im limited to small testing and troubleshooting till i get home.thanks

 

The small vibration is probably a u-joint or really bad carrier bearing and possibly a tire out of ballance the steering problem could be from the bigger tires it always a good Idea to put a stabilizer or two once you go with bigger tires I've noticed when i put my 33x14.50s on my truck it walked all over the road especially when the road is rutted bad i put my stabilizers on and i can barely notice it anymore I would say depending on the miles on your truck you need to check your ball joints mine are getting bad and I only have 60,000 miles on my truck the bigger the wheels and tires the quicker the ball joints are going to go bad

 

ok so a new hydralic system may not be the answer and is expensive as hell.im thinking dual stabalizers but not sure how well they will work. thanks anyways

 

Have you checked to see if you have a bad tire or a bent rim?

 

with 37in tires you need duals at minimal.. I have 4.5" lift with 35s and dual stabs..

The best setup in my opinion is Donahoe Racing.. Their steering stab system put a shock in the front and rear of the axle opposed to others who stick both of them side by side in the front..

 

Not so true Storm.
I run 38" SSR's on my EX, and it still has the stock stabilizer that came with the D60 that I installed.
I also run 39.5 inch Boggers on my SD, and do not run a stabilizer at all.
Oh yeah trucks lifted that high usually have steering problems as a result of steering angles being off, and fighting the trac-bar during suspension cycles. I have had good luck simply removing the trac bars for 6" lifts and up. (leaf spring only obviously)
Caster being wrong is usually the biggest problem. Many shops get a little too agressive with wedges trying to fix the front pinion angle, and make the steering too fast resulting in a wandering or wobbling truck.
More angle on the drag link makes the steering very touchy and you will get much feedback in the wheel. The other problem is that the angle is so severe, it usually wears out the drag link very quickly, and the turning radius is compromised. ever wonder why the truck makes a better u-turn to the left, and not the right after a lift kit? Guys with "stock" steering and 6 inches or more know what I mean.
Stabilizers patch, or band-aid, cover up, whatever you want to call it, a problem in the steering. The real soultion is to find the real problem.

 

Full hydro can not be legally driven on the road. The most you could do and be legal is hydro assist, which, if you feel like shelling out the bucks, is still really nice. Most likely you do have a geometry problem, but without actually being able to crawl around and measure stuff, it will be difficult. With an 8 inch lift you really are getting into a proverbial "grey" area for steering. For starters, if you don't already have it i would suggest you get a crossover steering setup. This will bring your draglink angle back to a healthy angle. The next would be to make custom track bar mounts to realign the bar with the new steering angles, or, as 75F350 pointed out, it is possible to remove it altogether. Whether or not you take it out is completely up to you and the pros and cons of this have been discussed at great length with much passion in several other threads. I would suggest you do a search on that topic and decide for yourself.

As far as stabilizers go, many folks with tires larger than 35's do run duals, or if you do hydro assist, you don't need any. I would really suggest though that you do the crossover steering. 6" lift is about all you wanna do with the stock setup even with a dropped pitman, or crazy things start to happen.

 

OK, I'll jump in too. Lots of good advice on here already. As mentioned, a stabalizer or hydraulic assist, while nice, are just a patch, not a fix. You should make it right first.

x-over steering is probably your best bet, but as I recall your gonna pay some $$ to do it. I think you may need a new knuckle, at least on the pass. side.

Trac bar... nice to have on the road, especially with a 8". Theres alot of leverage on those springs and the trac bar helps keep it straight. Off road, it's more off a hindrance than anything, you won't notice a little extra slop in the mud and dirt.
If you do keep it get an adjustable one and make sure the geometry is good, theres some good bracket kits and some bad ones.

Shimming the front axle.. don't do it. Find another way to deal with your pinion angles. Unless you want off road only. Caster is more important than pinion angle, in my opinion.

Vibe... sounds like ujoint, check the angles on the rear driveline. In a perfect world your rear pinion should be parallel to your t-case output.If you have a carier bearing there should be a pretty decent spacer in there.


Does the wabble only occur at slow speeds? What do the front tires look like? Cupping? try rotating the tires and see if anything changes.

Good luck, stay safe, and thanks for your service!!

 

Well I'm willing to bet a paycheck that your truck has quite a few miles on it and its possible that your hole front end is worn out and its not uncommon when everything is worn out you start haveing problems like this because when multiple things are worn out they all work against each other and cause imp alignment, shaking, wondering, and noise. In theory your truck should handle fine when all component are new tie rods, ball joints, drag links, etc. If I was in your shoes which I'm deployed also in Quatar I would just wait till your home jack the front of your truck up and find the worn out parts and replace them one at a time till you find the right one otherwise your just throwing money at the problem with a power assist, etc.

 

I agree with Miker67 and kbeefy...Crossover steering set up cured my woes and I have a muchh better steering resoponse with the Teflon Hiem joints the system uses.
If you plan on runnning the larger tires you may want to consider gears, your tranny will thank you for it. Keep it on the wheels!!!

 

wow thanks alot yall that is a whole lot of knowledge of which i lack.suspensions arnt my thing.im an engine guy.so where can i find x over steering?i know offroadunlimited.com and there prices arnt too bad. im thinking maybe a ball joint and the truck only has 54000 miles so everything isnt that worn i would think.jus need to get home i think and take it peice by piece. and deffinatly dual stabalizers...i know once i saw quad stabalizers but i think they were probably custom.thanks yall ill have to start makeing a list

 

Hi solareclpse2000, This is where I had mine made http://www.bulletproofsteering.com/main.html You must provide them with accurate measurements as discribed in the web site. Good Luck

 

Dynatrac sells a complete kit for this already. It uses a completely new pass side knuckle

 

quad stabilizers exhist only for that bling factor. The serve absolutely not purpose other than to cover up problems and make people say "holy C**p, that guy has four stabilizers!"

 

so what about a dual hydraulic assit kit? i have seen them but where do u get them.i think im also going x over steering.now if i get the x over knuckles made for a 9 in lift...closest being mines an 8.5.......then do i use the stock pitman arm?or still use the droped pitman arm?