Today was the first day I got to drive the truck extensively. I knew when I bought it (a week ago) that the steering wheel had a lot of play back and forth before the truck would turn. I read on here some people suggested tightening the steering box. Well that might be the solution but here's some more info that might help determine what's wrong with the steering:

As I was turning right to go around the highway off-ramp and then finished and wanted to go straight again the truck was now pulling hard to the right. I had to keep the wheel pulled to the left to get me going straight. A little further down the road and I hit a circle in the road and went through. As I went around to the right and then to the left while on the gas the steering then straightened itself out. My conclusion, whenever I have the wheel turned (left or right) and am applying the gas the steering wants to "set into" whichever direction I'm going. That is, if I hold the wheel to the right and I give it gas the truck steering seems to adapt as if turning right is the new straight and I'd have to fight a pulling to the right steer to keep it straight. Same when I turn left and give it gas it adapts the left as being the "new straight".

Thoughts?

 

Steering gear boxes are really not adjustable in that sense, yes you can tighten them up, but it'll not work right.

Check all points of your steering, have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth and follow the movement feeling each joint for play. Column joints, Rag joint, column shaft to gearbox, then all your tie rod ends and what not.

Ball joints, jack the front up till the tire is off the ground, put a bar under the tire and lift it up feeling for play, if you get play then determine if it's ball joints or wheel bearings.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Read similar post on 4/27/10...seeking steering box advice

 

My personal suspicion is lower ball joints causing the "sometimes it pulls to the right,
sometimes not" scenario. I would get the front end checked out before worrying about
the steering gear.

BTW yes, those boxes are adjustable but the intention is for fine control of the initial
settings, it's not recommended by Ford to try and adjust them later as it's easy to cause
more problems than already exist

 

Front suspension systems are complex and a pain to work on. If you do not have help diagnosing what's loose under the frontend, take it to a shop that can put it on a rack and check it out. Some shops will give you a list, and then you can pay them a small fee, and do the work yourself, and then take it back and they will align it for you. Just because your truck is not "steering correctly" doesn't mean the "steering box" is bad, though it's one of many possibilities.

 

Thanks for the input.

Here's the latest. I put the front end in the air. Grabbed both tires on the sides and top and bottom and shook back and forth to see if I could find play. Everything was fine. I then fired the engine up and had a buddy turn the wheel looking for loose linkage and everything was again tight. I lowered the right wheel to the ground and kept the left in the and again everything looked tight. Now the wheel might be a little loose and perhaps I can tighten it at the box. But here's the BIG PROBLEM:

When I make a turn while still moving.... that is, not stopped a stop sign or light and then turning but turning at a green or whatever and then straightening out of the turn the wheel still wants to pull to the side that I just turned. So if I make a right and then go straight the wheel is still pulling to the right. (same on left turns). However, if after I've straightened out of the turn and then quickly jerk the wheel to the opposite direction it's pulling from about 1/4 turn it will then reset and straighten out. What's causing this problem?

 

More like a power-steering problem than a steering gear-box problem. PS is 'stalling' under load.

 

thanks parr. i guess i'm not up on how steering works exactly. can you tell me why the pump would turn the steering fine when i'm completely stopped on pavement but then "fail" when at reasonable speeds?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by smashclash

I put the front end in the air. Grabbed both tires on the sides and top and bottom and shook back and forth to see if I could find play.

The only thing that *might* tell you is if your wheel bearings are *extremely*
loose (but you'd have worse handling problems than you do right now if they
were).

You need to unload the front suspension in order to do a test like that and get
any sort of meaningful results. The front springs are putting a large amount of
force on the components, your wimpy hands & arms aren't gonna move
anything.

As was said, take it to a shop and have it professionally evaluated, you might
call around various 4x4 shops or other places that work a lot on trucks and ask
if they can look at your TTB (twin traction beam) front end for you. If you're
lucky, you might even be able to watch the guy and have him explain to you
what he's looking for and how he's doing it.

 

As stated, to check the ball joints you need to jack the truck up and lift the tires with a BAR! You are likely not strong enough to evaluate the ball joints with your hands.

However, I do agree with ctubutis, take it to someone that knows what they are looking for, it's a lot safer.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

To try and clarify what I said - and give credit where it's due - Festus is also right; instead
of unloading the suspension (by removing the spring pressure) it can also be overcome by
using leverage. In either case, if you don't know what you're looking for and how to look for
it, it's best to make use of the people who do it for a living and are good at it. Cost should
be reasonable.

If there is enough play in the wheels and/or suspension to be able to move things by hand,
the truck would be squirrely to the point of being dangerous to drive.

 

Thanks for the response. I'm presently looking into some shops that can do the job. Anyone recommend any good places in the Philly/South Jersey area?

Some more information on the steering. The passenger side ball joints have both been replaced by a previous owner. I assume this because they both have grease fittings on them. The drivers side however does not have any fittings at all so I assume they are stock and perhaps could be where my problem lies. (Truck has 74K original miles)

Another interesting thing of note. The drivers side tire appears to me to have more toe in than the passenger side. I would imagine this is probably a problem. Here's a few pics for your viewing pleasure:

 

ok problem one......you're camber looks a little off....i would take it to an aligment shop and have them look at it....they might notice something else that could solve your steering problem as well. your tires should be straight up and down under a loaded suspension like that.

second. your steering problem sounds like "memory steer" (as far as the pulls sometimes sometimes not.) you may have a locked up outer ball joint on your tie rod end. that wouldn't show up as a loose ball joint when checked so it could be overlooked. essentially what happens is it moves when you turn but then stays stuck where it was and causes that pull till you either turn the opposite direction or hit a hard enough bump to jar it back into alignment.

 

My front end looks worse than yours I removed & later reinstalled the engine & tranny
around two years ago, ever since then the steering wheel is WAY off center, the
wheels form something of a \/ shape, and I've noticed the pass side tire is wearing on (I
think) the outer edge. I'm not trying to say that removing & reinstalling stuff caused these
problems, and the tires have been wearing oddly for some time now, it just seems that I
noticed this (primarily the steering wheel) since then.

I have a 1981 F350 4x4.

If you're gonna have a shop *replace* stuff (EDIT: as opposed to just evaluating and
showing stuff to you) it's gonna be expensive, I can tell you that. You might look around
at various videos and tutorials on replacing ball joints on trucks and see if you'd be up to
trying it yourself. It's not insanely complicated to do but it's a lot of work and, if you've
never done it before, a lot of time (ask me how I know this). The tools can generally be
rented or borrowed from Checker/O'Reilly and rockauto.com sometimes has wholesaler
closeout sales.

You might find the following interesting:
Bronco Ball Joint Replacement - Trucks 4x4 @ Off-Road.com
How to Press Out a Truck's Lower Ball Joint: How to Replace a Truck Ball Joint | eHow.com
How to Install a Truck's Lower Ball Joint: How to Replace a Truck Ball Joint | eHow.com

 

Here's a bright spot in all this doom & gloom we're feeding you... If a previous owner has
already changed some front end parts, it could be that he never had it realigned and that
all you need is an alignment. A shop can put it on a rack and take a look at it and hopefully
show you stuff.

But, expect an alignment to cost (I'd estimate) a couple hundred bucks; your truck ain't no
wimpy passenger car.