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1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks 1987 - 1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 and larger pickups - including the 1997 heavy-duty F250/F350+ trucks

crooked steering wheel, alignment?

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Old Dec 16, 2007 | 10:40 AM
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crooked steering wheel, alignment?

1991 f150 4x4 4 inch lift on 35's and this truck has a steering wheel that points at close to 12 o'clock. Is it true that you can't just pull off the wheel and straighten it out, but that you have to align it with the tie-rods? Any good links on how to do this?

Thanks
 
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Old Dec 16, 2007 | 10:57 AM
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With a lift like that your steering geometry is off. What lift is on it? A quality lift should come with steering correction to get the geometry back as close as possible. That sounds like your wheel is way off and you may not be able to correct it with tie rods. I don't think the wheels on these are splined, I've heard they have a flat spot on the shaft. Haven't had one off myself though...
 
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Old Dec 16, 2007 | 12:19 PM
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No you can't re-index the steering wheel.

Did your lift kit include a drop pitman arm? If not get one and then use the turn buckles on the tie rods to do any fine adjustment needed.
Rotate them equally to bring the steering wheel to the correct position, making one tie rod shorter and one longer while at the same time maintaining the 1/8" toe "in" setting.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2007 | 12:26 PM
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Without the drop pitman arm you can also encounter "bump steer". Not good, dropping the drag ling down a equal amount to the lift kits height relocates it near the center location of front axle travel so that does not occur.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2007 | 12:37 PM
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I don't know what came with the lift I bought the truck this way and don't know too much about front end parts on these things yet but I am willing to learn. How do I know if there is a drop pitman arm etc?

Thanks for the info, keep it coming.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2007 | 01:12 PM
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Originally Posted by ruggles
I don't know what came with the lift I bought the truck this way and don't know too much about front end parts on these things yet but I am willing to learn. How do I know if there is a drop pitman arm etc?

Thanks for the info, keep it coming.
You'll be able to tell just by looking at it, a stock one is just about flat, very little drop to it.

A four inch drop pitman arm will have more than a four inch offset to it.

This may not be for your exact model but will give ya a idea what it would look like.

http://bulletproofsteering.com/pitmanarms.html
 
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