Hello everyone,

my F-350 is steering not very direct and has lots of travel in the steering wheel if i turn it and makes not a direct move ... due to the travel
This makes towing a big trailer not very nice at all

- also to drive streight my steering wheels needs to be a little turned witch makes you crazy ... due you have the feeling always driving to the right ...

does anyone have a good idea when i can do or need to change?

Thanks
Fabian

 

First thing to check is the steering gear. If its not too bad you can adjust some of the slop out of it.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...-steering.html

If the steering is still loose I suggest replacing all the steering components, ball joints, tierod ends ect. It's not worth the cost of an alignment ($80-120) to replace just one part only to have another wear out a month later then having to pay for an alignment again. High quality parts (Moog) are expensive. Last time I checked the parts alone were about $600.

 

Thanks for all the infos! Great link you sent me and exatly what I was looking for.
My steering is too loose and I need to replayce the parts - what exactly of parts do I need ? Part Nr. - I think I would go for the Moog parts, any link where I can buy these and also where to buy teh stock ones ?

Thanks

Fabian

 

I just had a very wandering Excursion. F/E was tight. I thought the steering box wa sloose but some friends a t a sjhop sugested I change shocks (03 X with 38K). I put te Bilstiens on and totally removed the wander. drives straight and easy. I wouldnt have thought about it but thats what the fix was.

Just a suggestion and a rather simple one at that. Shox.com had the best price $255 shipped for all 4.

 

I just had a badly wandering Ex also and it turned out to be balljoints.
I tightened up the gear box also and now is great. Fords do have sloppy gear boxes typically but can be adjusted easily.

Also Advance does carry Moog.

 

When you get it aligned just make sure you ask for before and after printouts of the specs and don't pay for it without getting them. I did alignments for nearly 15 years and finally quit working for other shops because of the set the toe and let it go crap the bosses kept shoving down my throat. I won't do a job unless I am allowed to do it right. Also in my experience there are very very few alignment techs out there that have the know how to properly set the toe on one of these trucks. It's such a simple procedure I can do it in my sleep.
I just bought a 94 club cab powerstroke 4x4 f-350 the other day with a huge slide in camper and the previous owner had been seriously taken to the cleaners by 2 alignment shops after the first one replaced everything in the front end. Except for the steering stabilizer which one of them removed and left off without telling the owner. When I bought it the other day it was all over the road and the steering wheel was upside down. It took me all of 15 minutes on my back in my driveway to make the toe perfect and the steering wheel centered. Just make sure you get those printouts and go for a test drive when they give it back. If the wheel isn't right then make them do it again till it is. For an old alignment guy like me there is nothing more irritating than a crooked steering wheel.

 

What's the correct toe in measurement for the these trucks with the Dana 60? 1/8", 1/4"?

 

I can't remember the exact number but I eyeball it anyway. Ideal toe is almost always different depending on your road conditions and the configuration of your truck from what the factory says. I always have done it like thison trucks. Mostly because I never once had a machine that would get the toe right and make the steering wheel centered at the same time. I've got a nice laser aligner here at home but rarely use it unless I have to do caster camber settings anymore. When I did it for a living, even with nice modern machines, I still almost always had to stop on the side of the road somewhere durring my test drive and adjust the toe to center the wheel on a lot of 4x4 trucks. Old suburbans and blazers were the worst I think.
The way I do toe is to slick up the spot under the front tires with some liquid dish soap then I have my son in the truck to recenter the wheel when I tell him with the engine running. I set the toe to 1/16 to 1/4 inch toe in a little at a time while he recenters the wheel after each small adjustment. You should measure it with a tape if you haven't been doing it a long time. That's easy. Just lift each front tire off the ground, spin it and spray some paint on the middle of the tread, I used to use yellow. Then spin it again and scribe a line right in the middle. Use that line as your measuring point. Just use the tape on the front and back of the tire after you rock the wheel back and forth and go for a little toe in.
I just eyeball it now by sighting down the side of the tires as it's a lot easier for me. All trucks are different on the correct alignment specs, especially if you have aftermarket wheels and tires. Those will quickly make your ideal alignment different from what the factory recommends.

If the truck in that picture is yours with the big tires then in my experience a little more positive toe then the specs call for is usually a good thing. And stick with the air pressure settings on your door jamb. Filling the fronts up to max pressure, usually 80, is sure to make it wander all over the place. Especially on heavily rutted roads that the big trucks run on all the time.

 

RRanch, that's commendable, quitting those unscrupulous shops. Green
Beans headed your way. Those shops give all techs a bad name.
You've hit on one of my pet peeves. I can set the toe pretty good with a
tape measure but I still like to get it on an alignment rack, which I don't have.
I've always used one particular shop because they do it right and it it the old fashioned way...no fancy electronics.
They are the only shop I've seen that can get a TTB axle right. They will change the camber bushings
as many times as it takes to do it right. They are closed down now, so I am held captive to the Mega Tire Co's ect.
They will screw you in a heart beat. Even with the fancy read out they hand it to an unsuspecting customer
and walk away happy not knowing what just happened to them. They will
not make both sides equal toe, caster/camber...They say "It's within specs!"
They start the job with a darn near flat tire. or, How about having another
tech lean on the car just to get the specs to read within limits for the print
out. ARRRRGH!
Sorry for the rant, I'm done now.

 

My first job doing alignments on cars was at a firestone dealer in Memphis when I got out of the Navy. The manager there was a great teacher for me. He also sent me to school for alignments and was always there for dumb questions. I'm glad I started there. He taught me early on the first and most important things to do before even putting the alignment heads on. Since then I've worked at ford and GM dealers and gone to and even taught at their schools. None of it can take the place of what that first teacher taught me though.

First check air pressure and adjust according to door sticker. Except on explorers at that time!

Second check the ride height. Especially on chevys with torsion bars!

Third, test drive it and note any problems myself. It's amazing how often a customer comes in misrepresenting the problem. Often they don't know and it's not their fault, but I turned down almost as many alignments as I've done just by doing a test drive first and finding the real problem. Tire pull is a big one. Over or underinflated tires is another one. Truck owners are the worst about that. Everyone seems to ignore the door stickers and just fill up to what it says on the tire. BIG mistake if you want it to drive right.

You all really can do just as good a job on toe at home as some mechanic can with a machine. A laser doesn't measure any more accureately in a shop than your tape measure (or calibrated eyeballs) can at home. Especially when the shop doesn't care or is just trying to make a paycheck. One of these days the flat rate system will be outlawed and maybe then people will get things done right in shops again. MAYBE.


FWIW, My new to me 94 f-350 is driving and running perfectly now. The steering wheel was nearly upside down when I got it a few days ago and took nearly a half turn of it just to move anything. My son and I aligned it yesterday after we properly inflated the tires. The last owner had 80 in all 4. We also adjusted the play out of the steering box and greased it all good. That's another pet peeve of mine. My whole front end is brand new as of 6 months ago and I know for a fact not one single grease fitting on it has ever been touched. Not even by the nut that put the parts on. Or by the people that did three oil changes on it since then. You just have to do everything yourselves these days if you want it done right. I was going to loan it back to the guy I just bought it from this weekend so he can pull his horse trailer on an outing. His new RV isn't ready yet as was expected due to a problem with the generator. I hope he isn't too shocked at how much better the truck is now. I haven't spent a dime on it yet either. He spent thousands at all those shops and not one job they did was done right.

 

RRanch and Jim,

You just put in nutshell one of (many) of my pet peaves. Shops don't care, screw everything up and mostly just plain lie to make a buck. Goes against everything I was ever taught. I won't go on ( but I could ).

Thanks for your posts. Makes me feel good that there are people who care about quality other than myself. I feel so alone sometimes. LOL