I know theres a lot of threads on here about this, but I'm wanting some more specific information. My truck started out being horrible to drive, all over the road if you even so much as hit a bump....

2 years later, I've replaced the rag joint, aligned the front and, and put a new steering box on. I checked my ball joints and thought they looked fine, my mechanic friend agreed. Its definitely improved...no wander, but its still seems very touchy compared to the '00 F250 I drive on occaison. I'm wondering if this is "normal" for these trucks or not? I do have M/T tires all the way around, which I'm sure contribute somewhat. Its not so much wandery at all anymore, it just takes little effort to change lanes, and if your not paying attention you can weave onto the shoulder pretty easy....got that one finger steer.

 

i also have the same problem with my 78 reg cab changed every thing mentioned plus all the rubber bushings and ibeams thinking it could be a bent frame as i found out later that my truck was stolen at 1 time and launched through a ditch at high speed i measured from the radias arms to the bumper and compared this to my 79 s/c that steers fine and found them 3/8" farther back than the sc so i installed a few washers on the back side of the radias arms to "push" the i beams forward to get the same measurment helped a bit but still not the way it should be i am completating replaceing the frame if i can find and old driver that steers good as i too have being torn apart about this for years regurds joe

 

You made me think there...about a year ago I t-boned a car doing 40mph

(entirely not my fault, I'm pretty sure when your turning left across a highway your supposed to yield to traffic, what made it worse was the dumb b**** was sitting there for a minute or 2, but decided to go when I was within 10 feet of her)

Anyways, I know the front of my frame was bent and they had to bend it back out to put the new bumper on. Helluva truck though...not to get too off topic, but its pretty good when you drive halfway through the hood of a car, and after the report is filled out, fire up your truck and back out of it and keep going. All it screwed up was my bumper and grille, and put a crease in my quarter panel....not bad at all for 40mph.

Back to the original topic, I do recall it steering horribly even before that accident. Now I've replaced everything I said, as well as bushings, we even toed my friend end a bit to try and compensate for the mud grips which did help quite a bit, its still just touchy. Some people don't even notice it, some people have a hard time driving it. I on the other hand can deal with it, it just seems like it should be tightened up a little bit more than it is....its not so much steering wheel play anymore, its just an 1/4 of an inch of wheel turn is enough to drive 3 or 4 feet in the wrong direction. Have to be careful passing on bumpy roads....

 

Is this on your 1973 2wd?

My 77 handles similar but I know what the problem is. It has either a 3 or 4 inch suspension lift (springs only). This decreases the caster which is responsible for steering stability. I need to install the "C" bushings where the radius arms clamp to the axle with built in caster to correct this. I already have them, just gotta do it. The 77 is worse for this than the 78/79 because the bracket that the rear of the radius arm attaches to hangs down lower on the 78/79 which gives it more caster than a 77.

Any suspension mods such as this on your truck? But then again if you had an alignment you should already know if you don't have enough caster.

 

Just curious have you checked the king pins and or wheel bearings for slack.
Where you have the frontend lined do they have the capability to bend the I beams I have found over the years many frontend shops are not good with or understand I beams.

 

Yep, its on the '73 2wd. As far as I know my suspension is stock. Has new shocks all the way around, (3 years old or so). Everything was pretty much in the green aside from toe on the alignment machine. (Got ripped off on that alignment, but thats another story). Ended up the guy that did the alignment toed it out instead of in....not sure where he learned to read specs. Me and my friend whos a mechanic ended up doing it the old fashioned way, measuring it out and adjusting and got it pretty dead on. The difference was definitely night and day on that, but it still just has the touchyness to it...I can look down to turn on the defrost and be driving up the shoulder.

 

My wheel bearings were also replaced...forgot to mention that. They were bad enough they were causing the brake backing plate to rub you turned, couldn't figure that one out for a while. Weird because I had no other signs of bad bearings until I started getting a screeching noise if I was breaking in turns.

Where I had the front end done wasn't the best place to get an alignment after all, let me tell you that. The guy was trying to blame it on my "old" gearbox and sell me a new one for $300. Shoulda seen the look on his face when I told him it was new.

Was wondering about the I-beams myself, but had my friend who has a lot of experience with older vehicles look and he said he didn't think they were bad at all, and surely not bad enough to be causing that.

 

You can't tell by eye if they need bent or not. It is also possible your new gearbox is a little on the tight side, it wouldn't be the first on I've seen.

 

I've heard that too, was curious when he said he thought they weren't too bad off. Maybe he was just going by mileage and the fact the truck was owned by and older guy and not driven a lot before I got it. (68,789 original miles as of today).

Think it could be the gearbox still? Got it from Car Quest, they say its new not rebuilt but who knows. I know its a bad idea to mess with the preload at all, and I don't plan on doing it, but it helped squeeze a few more miles out of my old one.

 

so your complaing that it's to responsive? that there isn't enough play ?

 

mine would travel all over the road for a while it ended up being my ball joints but of course mine is a 93

 

I just kind of suggest where I want my truck to go, and try to keep it pointed in that direction. Replacing the radius arm bushings helped tremendously, but it still kind of wanders. Not really the same problem, but have you changed all the bushings, or just some?

 

LOL... my thoughts exactly! usually the complaint is these old Ford trucks have too much play in the steering and wander all over the road , most guys wish they had your "dilemma".

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought that

 

You might try jacking both tires off the ground and have someone slowly turn them back and forth stop to stop as you grease the kingpins top and bottom. I have seen that cure some pretty strange problems in pickups as well as class 8 trucks.. It's cheap and easy to try at least..