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Sloppy Steering...PLEASE HELP

3K views 23 replies 5 participants last post by  06reddragon 
#1 ·
Hey all I'm kind of new to the diesel world and am already having problems with my truck. When I'm driving down the road it feels like my truck is all over the road and i'm fighting it just to go straight. The steering wheel is turned slightly to the left when driving down the road too.

I just had it realigned and put steering stabilizers on it. They both seemed to help(took out alot of wobble), but it's still wondering all over the road and the steering wheel is still slightly to the left. Any suggestions on how to tighten up the steering and correct this problem?? Also since my steering wheel is still turned to the left is that something more than an alignment or should i be taking it back to the garage that just did the alignment?
 
#2 ·
With the lift you have, you will need a/m caster cams to correct the 'wander'. Truck Toyz is a sponsor here, and htey have them. You just swap them out, and then make sure your alignment is still good by takign it to a shop.
 
#3 ·
We had the same problem on our 04 and we just put $650 worth of new ball joints and tie rods on this weekend and it's fixed now bad ball joints on these trucks can make the steering stiff and unsmooth and as a result it woreout the steering linkage. I reccomend checking bjoints and steering linkage.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the suggestions guys.

It's hard to explain, but it almost feels like something is loose in the steering wheel?? I went from a car to a truck so i don't know if this much play in the wheel is normal or not, but it just doesn't seem right to me. Another thing it will do is when im going down the highway and im fighting it back and forth it kind of "slips". I don't know how to really explain it but it's almost like theres tention on the wheel then all of the sudden the wheel turns a few degrees to the left on its own. Almost feels like you hit a patch of ice and the tires are floating....but it's june so theres definetly no ice around now! haha
 
#5 ·
It sounds like you've got a couple of things going on here.

First off I'm a little suspicious of the shop that did you're alignment. The steering wheel should be centered after an alignment. The only valid excuse for it not to be if you've got so much lift that you've reached limit of the adjustment on the drag link. I really doubt that's the case and if it is they should have told you that.

You may very well need aftermarket caster cams to get the alignment within spec but again the alignment shop should have told you that they couldn't get it within spec. without them.

If there's worn parts in the front end the shop should have found them before they tried to do an alignment.

The steering boxes in these trucks suck. I've had 5 of them in my '01 including one that was junk when it went in. I suspect that's a big part of your problem.

I think you need to get the recommended alignment spec.s from ProComp and find another alignment shop.

Your truck is never going to drive like a car and the lift is going to make it worse but it should go down the highway without having to fight to keep it in your lane.
 
#6 ·
They gave me a printout with all the specs, but it doesnt really mean a whole lot to me. The tires are pretty wore down (around 40,000miles) so i dont know if that would play a part in it or not.

Am i going to do any further damage to the steering box or linkage if i keep driving it or is the damage already done?? The reason i ask is because i am heading to canada(500miles each way) next week and don't really have the time, or the money to fix it before the trip.
 
#7 ·
Tires could cause some of the handling issues but they won't cause and off center steering wheel. You won't cause damage to the steering box or linkage by driving it but if the shop missed something that's about to fall apart then you'll be running the risk of that happening and that won't be fun.
 
#9 ·
We took our 04 to ford for a reflash and told them to take a look at thesteering and see if they had any idea what was wrong with the steering anyway they look at the steering and reflashed the truck and only charged us for a reflash so what I'm saying is take it in to somewhere and have them tell you what's wrong with it before you start slinging parts at it just to have it looked at shouldn't cost you.
 
#10 ·
Alright Here's the numbers from the alignment printout

Left Front
Actual __ Before __ Specified Range
0.3 __ 0.2 __ Camber __ -0.08 __ 1.3
5.1 __ 5.1 __ Caster __ 1.5 __ 5.5
0.10 __ 0.00 __ Toe __ -.011 __ 0.14

Right Front
Actual __ Before __ Specified Range
-0.3 __ -0.2 __ Camber __ -0.8 __ 1.3
5.2 __ 5.2 __ Caster __ 1.5 __ 5.5
0.09 __ 0.13 __ Toe __ -0.11 __ 0.14

Front

Actual __ Before __ Specified Range
0.6 __ 0.4 __ -1.0 __ 1.0 __ Cross Camber
-0.0 __ -0.0 __ -1.0 __ 1.0 __ Cross Caster
0.19 __ 0.13 __ -0.22 __ -0.28 __ Total Toe
0.08 __ 0.12 __ Set Back

Can someone tell me what this all means and whether they actually did anything or was the alignment a waste of money???

Like i said before the steering wheel is still pointing to the left about 25 degrees....do you think based on these numbers i should take it back in??
 
#11 ·
redneck47441...you don't think the age of my truck(06 with 44k miles) and the fact its out of warranty will hurt me??? Along with the 4" lift and 35" tires??
 
#12 ·
Is the Steering box and Tie Rod ends something that can be tighted down, or once they are gone they are gone?
 
#13 ·
#15 ·
Thats what it says anyhow....seems like alot??

I wasn't real happy how it jammed all the numbers together when i typed them all in. I'll try to scan the actual printout and show you want it says.
 
#16 ·
Alright guys got the printout scanned so you can read it a little better.

Just goto this link:
Specs picture by cheddar1084 - Photobucket

Just make sure to make it fullsize or you pry won't be able to read it.
 
#17 ·
I would rule out tierods and balljoints before jacking with the steering box! Our truck when we took it in it had 45k on it and an 04 they told us what was wrong with the truck weather it was steering box or what for free.
 
#18 ·
There's a little more cross camber than I like to see but that won't cause a wandering issue although it might tend to drift to the left a little on a flat road. A little cross camber will compensate for the crown of the road so I wouldn't worry about that. The caster numbers look great. With a lifted truck with aftermarket tires you sometimes need to mess around with the toe to get the truck to drive nicely. I'd be tempted to crank in a little more toe since there's room in the spec for more and the little they added seemed to help.

With modified vehicles you sometimes have to do a little experimenting with the alignment to get them to drive right and it's not unreasonable to have to pay the shop more than the usual alignment rate to do the extra work.

I don't know about taking it back to the same shop. From your description it sounds like you've got some sort of an issue that's not going to be corrected with just an alignment. What you're really looking for is a shop that will make the truck drive correctly not one that will just check the alignment and shoot it out the door. It looks like they put it on the machine, adjusted the toe and wrote the bill. They clearly didn't drive it or they would have at least fixed the steering wheel so it's centered.
 
#20 ·
My buddy is a diesel mechanic on big rigs so we are going to lift it up and check the tirerod ends and ball joints tonight before we mess with the steering box.

Does anybody know(or have a copy) of the specifics on tightening up a steering box. He said he's never done it before, but like i said he's mechanically inclined so i'm sure between the two of us we can figure it out if we just had something to get us started.
 
#21 ·
The "by the book" steering box adjustment is intended for initial assembly and is done with the box disconnected from both the steering system and they hydraulic system. In some cases it's even done with one or more of the seals removed. Basically you adjust the pre-load nut to obtain a specific drag on the input shaft. Since that's not really practical your only option is to do it by trial and error. The procedure is to loosen the locknut and turn the adjuster a quarter turn, lock the nut and see how the truck drives. Be very careful during the test drives because you can make the handling really evil doing this.

For what it's worth I've never been able to fix one of these boxes by adjusting them. Whatever it is that typically goes wrong is not related to the pre-load. When I've tried this I've ended up with the steering being tight but the truck still wandering all over the road. Not fun at all.
 
#22 ·
So what you're saying is that i shouldnt mess with trying to tighten it, and i should just replace it all together???

If thats the case do you guys have any recommendations for aftermarket steering boxes? Sounds like the OEM's are peices of sh*t.
 
#23 ·
It won't hurt to try and adjust it. Keep track of how far and in which direction you turn it so you can put it back. I haven't found a source for an upgraded box. The last time I changed the box in my truck (which was some time in '07 I think) I was looking at a NAPA life time guaranty box but found out that Ford had updated the part number on their box so I gave theirs one more try and it's just now starting to have some play in it. I think I've put about 50k miles on it since the change. If I change this one I'll probably go with the NAPA one.
 
#24 ·
Alright thanks...I'll try to adjust it and see what that does. If nothing else i'll go with the NAPA lifetime one. Thanks for the advice.
 
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