I also have just joined the wandering club. I just changed all ball joints to moog greasable and all new steering linkages and also had it aligned and it's all over the place. I am leaning towards these moog ball joints being to tight. Mine is a 2wd cc dually with 84,000mi on the clock. It never wandered a bit with worn steering componets or old ball joints. I also just put frsh tires on it as well thinking it may be contributing to my promblems. I think I will try to get another alignment next and see what happens.

 

subscribing

 

Is that just for the 4x4 trucks?

 

I have read this string with interest. Look at your drag link. Actually look at its nuts. See if they are down or up. If they are up, you have the old style drag link and along with that came the "Stevie" Wonder, the Butt Sister Steer and the Dreaded Death Wobble. A design change was made to change the bar but when I don't know. My '01 had its' nuts on top. I saw an '03 with its nuts hanging down. On just a hunch, I turned it over and shorted the pitman arm link. Well, Stevie, Miss Butt and Mr. Death left the building.

 

Would you care to comment on how the placement of the nuts would effect the overall function of the drag link?

I have an 04 Ex that wanders all over the road if the road has any type of roughness, potholes, crown, or tar strips. When on a smooth road it is fine but the slightest disturbance causes it to set a new course and remain on that course till I correct it or the next bump.

 

I have heard of installing a dual stabilizer to correct this issue. I'm assuming that you have a 6.0.

 

The placement of the nuts has nothing to do with it. Nuts on bottom is the updated bar. (Don't you prefer your nuts on bottom instead of on top. Sounds painful to me. LOL)

The updated bar is closer to the axis of the steering geometry. The closer the geometry is the less deflection when encountering an obstacle. The tierod end should be horizontal to the center of the axle or above, not below. The less movement (rake) in the pitman arm link before action takes place the tighter the steering is.

Plain English: The more level the pitman arm link is to the draglink, the less wobble, butt and wonder.

Also, the more you tilt the axis back at the hub, the less wonder you have. Factory specs say 3 digital. They are wrong. Mine is set at 1.5 digital. I can drive it at 90 with two fingers! Tire pressure says 70, mine is at 58 but I do have one size wider and three sizes taller.

 

Paul,

Do you have any slop in the steering wheel when it is off. I think that is the root of my problems but will check into your suggestions. Thanks

 

I have a little, but with 130K miles, I do need to tighten it up a bit.

Do you have a lift on your truck? Even a level kit will screw with the geometry. Also, if your springs have sagged, there it goes again. I know the Ford engineers are nuts. They design to have the best of both worlds and most of the time they screw up the simple things.

I had a vehicle drive my service techs crazy for three months in the mechanics and bodyshop. You could not steer the car and it had a wicked vibration. This was a new car. All specs were at tight (new) factory instead of loose (worn) factory.

There were at least a dozen mechanics that fooled with it and no one could figure it out. One evening when everyone left, I was just sitting in front of it with the customer and we were talking about the steering. I had the thought about the pitman arm, took the one off the car and put one on it 1/2 inch longer and then reset the length of the arm link. The steering problem was gone.

The vibration problem was something else. I pulled the vehicle back in, took a similar vehicle off the line, and swapped rotors, wheels and drums with no results with the customer watching. As I was standing under it calling it everything but a damn chevy, the light went on again. Swap the damn driveshaft. Problem solved after the next test drive.

I later found out that the car had been dropped off the delivery truck. The dumb *** saleman that checked it in did not make a note of it. Both the pitman arm and the driveshaft was bent from the impact of falling off the tire skid. I left the pitman arm on that I had earlier installed.

Well, the saleman got fired and chevy got a hellava warranty bill for that one.

After that, when I encounter a steering problem, the first place I look is at the links, ends and arms. It has saved me a lot of time. All it takes is a steel tape measure and a level.

 

Paul,

Thanks for your reply. I have tightened up the nut on top of the steering gear box and got rid of most off it. Still have about 1.5 inch of slop when it is off and seem to be in the box. I can grab the steering column shaft and see that it is in the box. I could have other problems as well. I guess the best thing to do is check for play by disconnecting stuff? I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to this. Thanks for any input on the issue.

 

I think they are all afraid to touch this one......I also prefer the nuts on the bottom.....that means I get the top

 

I do believe that PreciousOne is trying to be a "SMART ***!"

 

Let me throw this in the mix too. What if the tires have too much sidewall flex in them? Should be running a e range tire instead of a d range

 

well, I do believe it worked..............



and that hurted my wittle feelings......LOL


NOT~~~~

 

With the rate of weight that we are running, I would not run anything under an E rating. I later found out that the popped Bridgstone had a C rating. No wonder it went. That is why I dropped my complaint. But I don't use that tire shop anymore either.