I just purchase a 2010 Ford E -350 cargo van and it appears that there is a lot of play in the steering gearbox, to me there is just too much right to left play. Are there any adjustments on the side of the gear box to remove this play. Any help would be appreciated, thanks, Tom

 

Miles? There's a locknut on the top of the steering gear that you can loosen and then screw down on an adjuster a turn or so to adjust the backlash and tighten things up but I haven't had issues with ours until they hit really high miles.... like more than you probably have. You might want to check to make sure that other components are tight - ball joints and tie rods. And also just learn to accept some amount of play more than your Lexus. These aren't sports cars.

 

DelGriffith has this correct----excessive wear more a function of very high mileage. Honestly though attempting the gear lash adjustment of the steering box can cause far more damage when not done correctly then it ever hopes to fix any issue.

Here's one method described well for this DIY adjustment: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...one-right.html Note this procedure pretty much requires establishing a baseline turning force before beginning along with checking the adjustment results each time the screw is turned and locked down.

FWIW my 2000 E250 with just over 276K miles still has its original steering box although the entire front suspension has been replaced over time. There's no excessive play but the nature of it being a van or truck definitely makes it very non-Lexus like in the steering area.

 

Too little front end +caster can manifest itself as loose steering (and wandering) at highway speeds.

 

Any time you replace a bushing with one made of a harder material consider what it might do to the part it's rubbing against. There's probably a good reason that the original bushing is a somewhat soft part. Also consider that there are lots of different kinds of stainless steel with different hardnesses and other qualities so just telling someone "make me this part in stainless" isn't going to get you the same results as another person without knowing the exact grade of stainless used. Some types of stainless will gall easily. Also, some stainless types will work harden meaning that cutting, forming, hammering, drilling can turn it from a soft mild steel type hardness to super hard stuff.

If you've ever drilled stainless and wondered why it started out fine then suddenly started smoking drill bits and you couldn't finish the hole, you witnessed work hardening, the change can be amazing. I had a piece of stainless formed for a boat project, just a simple 90 degree bend. It was pretty easy to drill except near the bend, smoked a few bits to make one hole.

 

My 04 E150 had the same problem back in 2012 ... excessive "play" in the steering wheel, at about 110,000 mi.
I installed a lot of new front end parts, but the last one I replaced was the steering gearbox.
It's adjusting nut had been adjusted from too-loose, to too-tight .. that helped a little, not much though.
Replacing the gearbox with a rebuilt one from NAPA solved the problem.
Steering improved enough that I was no longer white-knuckled to drive it.
The steering gearbox output shaft had about .025" lateral movement, which is a lot .. indicating a severely worn lower bushing.
Maybe the power steering fluid had never been changed before I bought the van at 92,000, or the previous owner used cheap fluid ... I don't know.
The gearbox's lower bearing ... is a bushing, not a roller or needle bearing.
I have a feeling the life of that bushing depends on how often the power steering fluid is replaced, and the quality of fluid used.
Now I change the power steering fluid yearly, using Mercon V transmission fluid, which I think is what Ford recommends.
But really, seems like that bushing should be a tapered roller bearing.