Steering bad - Stranded?

[FirstHorseman]

Hey,

Here is my situation, maybe you guys can help me figure out if this is as serious as I think it is.

My steering has always seemed a little loose to me, compared to my wifes truck and other vehicles I've driven.

Well today on a trip out of town, I noticed on the freeway that the truck began to pull, either one way or the other, and when i would attempt to correct it the truck would jerk in the other direction.

I pulled off the road and checked my tie rods... they seem to be loose. I can twist the arm and there is a fair amount of play in it. Do I have back tie rod ends?

Here is my other question... how serious is this? Can I still drive the truck albeit cautiously? Or am I stranded. This is my only ride except for my motorcycle and now in AZ the weather is over 100 degrees... so I dont really want to ride my bike.

Please help me out. Anyone know what this will cost me to fix if this really what is wrong? Thanks.

[FirstHorseman]

Gee... thanks for the help.

Here's what it was, in case someone has the same misfortune.

My front passenger tire had severe tread separation. I am no tire person, so I couldn't tell. It felt like my steering was bad though, so I thought it was my tie rod ends.

However, that was not the case. I took it to the nearest Ford dealer and here is what they told me. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with your truck. I personally drove it and got it up to 85, took my hands off the wheel and it did fine. You can feel assured that your truck is perfectly fine."

Great I thought, I must be crazy. I take the truck and leave, as soon as I get up to highway speeds (65-75) my truck starts shimmying. I thought great, must have thrown a weight, need to get my wheels balanced. Well the shaking progressed to the point that I had to slow down to 35mph on the interstate and limp my truck into a tire shop nearby.

There they broke the news to me, tread separation. I told them what the Ford service center said and they replied "What? Are they freaking blind?"

So lesson learned... question everything and trust no one. Rest assured that Ford will hear about this. If that tired had blown, that is a very curvy section of interstate with drop offs, I could have died.

The tires were in great condition, no abnormal wear or anything, just goes to show you that even something that seems good can go bad.

[dlonno]

Sorry bud, I just saw this. I would change the tie rod ends if you can turn them that easy. Their cheap.

[dieseldan2005]

Sorry no one got to a man! Sometimes we just miss posts. Thanks for the insight on the tires though. What brand tires were they? My truck had bad ball joints and would sway over the road and i hated that feeling, i can't imagine how much worse yours was with treads coming apart.