Loose Steering

[k80claybuster]

On my 2005 Excursion, I had the dealer change out the tires from a LT265/75R16 to a LT285/75R16 (both sets were BF Goodrich) in order to raise the vehicle about an 1 1/2 inches for head clearance on the liftgate. The steering on the vehicle tends to have a mind of its own. It tracks straight, but then will just move to one side or the other and the driver (me) has to correct for it. The result is a drive that is more like a weave down the road.

Is this a result of the oversize sidewalls on the tires or is there something else wrong?

Thanks.

[bdcnst]

I have bfg's also and it does have a light touch at high speeds but my sister had firestones and it was hard to keep straight on grooved freeways I would like to try something with a 18" or 20" rim to get rid of some side wall to see if that helps

[mschn99]

look at your right side of the steering linkage and see if it has a steering dampener. it will look like a shock going from the axle to the steering linkage. if it doesnt, you can get one for it, if the brackets arent there ford makes some bolt on ones, and if the brackets are there, just get the dampender and the bolts to mount it to the brackets. this helps a lot with it pulling on its own.

[99Smokin73Stroker]

Hey mschn99 I have a 99, but it's been lifted 4 inches. Would the factory dampener still work or should I go ahead and get something a little more beefier to handle my 35's? They're wide too, 13 inches...

[mschn99]

i would probably look for a little beefier one if it was my truck, but the stock one will help no matter what....just maybe not as much as you would like

[99Smokin73Stroker]

I figured so. I don't really notice a whole lot of bumpsteer or wandering now. However this is the second lifted truck i've owned with 35's on it and neither one had steering dampeners on them, so i'm betting I would see quite a difference once I did put 'em on.

[mschn99]

i have a feeling that even the stock one would make a noticable difference if you have not had any wandering issues......the other main cause of wandering on superduties is the short drag link that attatches to the pitman arm, and the ball joints that heavily worked superduties, and ones that drive rough roads a lot eat like candy.

[99Smokin73Stroker]

I'll just have to wait for a while. I try to get a lot of my parts and stuff for the truck at shows. They always seem to have a lower price, or I just haggle the hell out of them until I get what I want. I definitely know how tires can wear them out faster though. When I first bought the truck it had 315/75/16 cooper discoverer A/T's on outlaw II's, and the seller gave me a barely used set of goodyear MT/R's on some black fake beadlocks of the same size. I could lift the wheel/tire combo of the coopers with one arm pretty easy, but when I took them off and put the MT/R tires on I could tell they were very heavy cuz it was everything I could do with one arm to lift them up. I had them on for about a month and switched back to the coopers until they got too low on tread. That's when I bought my nitto's on 18s.

[wesjones]

my michelin ltx ms' track a lot better than my old firestone steeltex's...i don't like those firestones...i think they're junk...

wes

[chigger]

i have a 95 350 2wd 4d brought it back from the lease and noticed a grinding followed by a loud pop doesnt grind now but i have alot of play in the swheel since any ideas