2008 F350 Diesel Steering problems

[elibenson]

My '08 F350 (drw cc 4x4)is rock stable, just like my older '03 6.0 (drw cc 4x4). My F450 (cc 4x4 wide front axle) on the other hand is pretty squirley. driving it empty is like taking off in a Cesna 152 in a crosswind. Freaky as hell. It really doesn't drive well unless it's loaded.

[NLR]

Thank god Im not imagining this. My dodge cummins dually you could go down the highway with one finger on the wheel. I just picked up an 09 f350 dually 2 days ago. Driving home from the dealership I thought it was just me being tired and not used to the truck. Yesterday I drove to atlanta and felt like the truck was playing ping pong with the divider lines. Seems like the steering is loose and when it drifts one way your normal tendency is to give a slight correction but then you have to correct more and it drifts pretty good and then back the other way it goes. My neck hurts, shoulders hurt from being so tense driving this thing...

Have an appointment on tuesday. The tech said they could test drive it and check it on the alignment rack but if theres nothing wrong they cant do anything. I told him Id go for the test drive with a video camera to record it. I said Id give him 100 bucks if he can keep it dead straight at 75-80 mph If he cant Ill have video proof and the call is theirs on what they want to do.

[dj1970ss]

Here is what I know about Ford steering problems I work on a lot of them. First you need to determain the main soruce of the problem by elemantion proces. 1. seperate the tie rod from the pitman arm, Start the truck and turn sterring left and right. is it hard to turn or smooth? If it is very hard steering then it is a steering gear problem but if it is smooth and esey we need to go to the next step ( reinstall tie rod on pitman arm torqe to spec. and install cotter key) 2. You need to jack up the front left side of truck so that the tire is off the ground, then seporate the left tie rod from steering knuckle, Let the tie rod hang down, Now you need to turn the sterring wheel all the way to the right. Now by hand turn the left wheel to the right and left is it hard to turn? or is it esey to turn? If it is hard to turn it is the ball joints and or the u-joints ( if it is a u-joint, As you turn the wheel it will be hard to turn but also as you get to the end of the turinng swing the axel shaft will thump) most of the time this is were the problems exsist. Repete the same procedure on the other side. I hope this will help. also the guy with the death wobble sometimes it is your u-joints that cause this because a very bad frozzen u-joint will not center itself, Also found that if u-joints are ok that a supper trail boss maid by MOOG works very well hope this will help.

[dj1970ss]

Here is what I know about Ford steering problems I work on a lot of them. First you need to determain the main soruce of the problem by elemantion proces. 1. seperate the tie rod from the pitman arm, Start the truck and turn sterring left and right. is it hard to turn or smooth? If it is very hard steering then it is a steering gear problem but if it is smooth and esey we need to go to the next step ( reinstall tie rod on pitman arm torqe to spec. and install cotter key) 2. You need to jack up the front left side of truck so that the tire is off the ground, then seporate the left tie rod from steering knuckle, Let the tie rod hang down, Now you need to turn the sterring wheel all the way to the right. Now by hand turn the left wheel to the right and left is it hard to turn? or is it esey to turn? If it is hard to turn it is the ball joints and or the u-joints ( if it is a u-joint, As you turn the wheel it will be hard to turn but also as you get to the end of the turinng swing the axel shaft will thump) most of the time this is were the problems exsist. Repete the same procedure on the other side. I hope this will help. also the guy with the death wobble sometimes it is your u-joints that cause this because a very bad frozzen u-joint will not center itself, Also found that if u-joints are ok that a supper trail boss maid by MOOG works very well hope this will help.

[NLR]

1 st dealer- test drove nothing wrong...cant fix whats not there. Drives fine...I said if you want to get pulled over for a DUI.

Appointment for tuesday at the dealer that I bought the truck from- If they dont do something Ill sell it and buy a chevy Absolutely retarded!! 50k doorstop

[alaskan9294]

I had a dealer pull the same thing. mech started piping up i asked him if he was currently busy he said no i told him get in and proved to him within 5 minutes. they had it for 2 days and fixed the problem.

[astig00]

Originally Posted by alaskan9294

I had a dealer pull the same thing. mech started piping up i asked him if he was currently busy he said no i told him get in and proved to him within 5 minutes. they had it for 2 days and fixed the problem.

What did they end up doing?? I just got my truck back from the shop and they replaced the fluid to see if that was the issue. It did not fix anything. However, I did find out, through my mechanicing, that my front right axle is broken. Hopefully when my "doorstop" goes back to the dealership they will fix it.

Why couldn't they figure that out themselves??

[alaskan9294]

No they couldn't verify the prob. I had to prove to them it was screwed up.

[NLR]

Well my wife went to the dealership we purchased it from today. 5 test drives with 5 different people and they all said they cant feel anything wrong. My wife was in the cab when I was on the phone with her and she was asking the guy why hes moving his hands so much..LOL!...

Anyways..the main service guy calls a engineer at ford and tells him the problem. The engineer was already aware of it as it seems to be effecting some e350 vans and some others. The senior tech guy asked why there is no tsb issued and the answer is they are writing it up...so its coming!!

Engineer approved a different alignment and loosen up steering box? Recenter steering wheel and then tighten up box?

I am assuming they are increasing the tow in of the front wheels. They are doing it as I type and she will drive it afterwards to confirm . They told her to drive it for a few days once this is done to see if it works. I told her youll drive it once they finish it and youll know then if it fixed it.

Ill let you guys know!

[f250 fx4 kid]

i had a similar problem and i just took it to 3 different dealers and then one was finally liek ya well the alingment was barely off and somthing else was bad... i dont remeber beacause my dad took it in and everyhing i was away at school