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Can't figure out my wander/steering play

9K views 20 replies 5 participants last post by  TARM 
#1 ·
Well, i've put in a new steering gear box, pump, ball joints, and front hubs are tight, but I still have play in the steering and the truck seems to wander. If I lightly move the steering wheel back and forth, it seems like only a quarter inch of play, but if you use a little more force, you can go a few inches or so without it turning the pitman arm. The truck has 280k on it, can the rag joint get soft? What is there for replacements? I'm hitting my head against the wall lately with this truck. Still fighting codes also.:doh:
 
#2 ·
Tie rod ends could be worn. Also the actual steering shaft can have a good amount of play in it. The part that actually goes into the firewall. Try checking it and the tie rod ends. By the way you describe it, it may very well be the steering shaft. But check the tie rod ends. also do not forget about front end alignment. Screw up caster can cause serious wandering and loose steering.
 
#3 ·
Just had the front end alignment done about a month ago along with the ball joints. I've tried to watch the tie rod ends while having my wife turn the wheel and they seem good. Just seems like it's between the gear box and wheel. I'll try to check out the steering shaft some more. Thanks for the reply!
 
#4 ·
FYI gear boxes for the SD can be hit or miss. You can get good tight one and then others are completely sloppy right out of the box. This is no exaggeration either. If you have a new one I would check it to see if its sloppy. If its the issue return it and go to Redhead gear. They make very good rebuilt ones. The other thing you can do is take loosen the lock bolt and adjust the tension bolt on the gear box. Do a search on it and there are detailed instructions with pic. It controls the lash and will tighten it right up. But do VERY small adj at a time. You go to far you can ruin it or loose return to center. Its not hard or anything you just want to do it a bit at a time to see the effects.
 
#5 ·
I tightened up the gear box quite a bit. That helped alot and had my wife spin the wheel back and forth and noticed play/slop in the tie rod end that hooks to the drop pinion arm. Not a ton of play, but enough to notice it. I'd like to replace the track bar bushings also in the future. At least I've got an ideal of what to replace when I get some more money...lol. Thanks for the help guys!
 
#6 ·
Ordered some sway bar bushings and my gpcm for my truck. I hope to buy the tie rod end in a few weeks.
 
#7 ·
Yep with these heavy trucks and the beating they put on the parts IMHO if people really want to keep a good tight like new performance in handling I would say every 100K the front end needs to be completely rebuilt. The only other choice is to step up to much beefier parts. As its a progressive thing most do not notice it until it gets really bad but if you could jump back and forth I think the feel woudl be very noticeable
 
#8 ·
Yeah, I'm pretty much trying to play catch up on all the stuff the previous owner didn't do. You can tell he was the type of guy to just put enough money into it to keep it running and that's it. All of the front end components i've changed have been replaced with MOOG stuff. I ordered energy suspension track bar bushings and front bump stops. I've replaced all the glow plugs and the uvc harnesses, gear box, ball joints, ps pump (which the fluid already turned black), ps hoses, air intake, boost controller, brakes, suspension, sway bar bushings, sway bar links, lower driver seat cover, and soon the tie rod end and track bar bushings. Hopefully the gpcm gets rid of my engine light due to the #8 glow plug circuit code, but I also get an IDM code, so I won't know until I change the gpcm. Seems never ending, but i'm looking forward to when I just get to finally drive it without fixing stuff weekly.
 
#9 ·
Yep the catch up on the maintenance stuff is never fun and usually ends up being a good hunk of change when its not done on a timely bases. Most only want to to do fun stuff and let much of the other stuff go.

you will have on issue unless they changed it. The Engery Suspension bump stops will not be the correct ones. They will not fit. GO to Ford and get the super duty ones. They now use all the same one from what I have seen. They use to have the huge long ones on the 99.5-01 Ex. Then a bit shorter one on the 02-05 and then a even shorter one on all the SD PU. Obviously this is so stupid as why would you want to limit the travel and have a vehicle bottoming out sooner. They are now all a rectangle solid rubber BS. About 1" tall.
 
#11 ·
I almost went with them, but I figured I go the lifetime warranty route through O'Reilly's with the cardone brand. I ended up having to adjust most of the slop out of the gear box and also needed a new tie rod end that connects to the pitman arm. I also bought some new energy suspension track bar bushings because the stock one's are pretty rough looking. I hope to change out the bushings this week, but after the tie rod end and adjustment, it made a huge difference.
 
#13 ·
Kimmer,

Before you did the tie rods did you get any shimmy at higher speeds say 65-70 maybe higher especially if there was rough parts in the road that could start it. Trying to nail down a issue someone is having and basically everything has been done like you had except the tie rod ends.
 
#14 ·
I do get some vibration, but not all the time at those speeds, but most likely it's from my lift. My truck is still wandering all over the dang place. Every time I do something, it feels better, then goes back to extra slop in the steering and wandering. I'm about at my wits end with this thing.
 
#15 ·
You know the steering gears are really hit and miss and they will keep causing issues if you more than likely got a bad one. It seems to me their are actually more bad than good ones in the aftermarket. I would seriously consider a Redhead if you can track it back to that.

The unit bearing do not tend to cause wandering they more cause a wobble.

*Front End Alignment: Done DO YOU HAVE THE PRINT OUT OF THE SPECS?
*Ball joints: Replaced
*Tie rod ends: Have you done these yet?
*Drag Link: Have you done this yet? ( part form pitman arm to tie rod)
*Steering box: but was loose right out of the box ( I think its a bad one becasue of that)
*Unit Bearings: Checked and Tight

I would get those the drag link and tie rod all replaced. When all the other stuff is gone bad and gotten loose it almost always put the stress on everything and it all goes bad. So I am betting that is a good part of it.
I really think its the gear box. You say it gets better then gets worse agian. This fits the symptoms of a gear box IMO. After that if for some reason its still wandering and you have not killed yourself or torched the Excursion I really would go back to that steering box.

If you had to adjust the steering box right out of the box that should not be and I think points to it having very loose tolerances. The Red heads are night and day if you pull on apart you would see. I still have my stock one on this X but when I go over to ram hydraulic assist a Red head is going on just as all the past vehicles have had. Even they I am sure can spit out a lemon every blue moon but I know one thing they will send out another and make it right immediately. AWESOME CS.

The other thing is the alignment. Why I asked if you got the print out and still have it. Many of these places only go to get them in tolerance range not the actual specific spec. There is a ideal spec they should all be taken to and only changed for there if needed to correct for other issues.
 
#16 ·
I'll try to find the print out, not sure I still have it. I did replace the tie-rod end that connects to the pitman arm. Front bearings are tight in the hubs. One thing I noticed, is that the power steering fluid is burnt (black) already. I still haven't had time to change out my track bar bushings, i'm hoping to do that this coming week. I'll keep you guys updated on my battle...lol.

I'm down to one engine code, the P1316 IDM error codes detected. Not sure if that means the IDM is bad or if I have bad injectors. I know i'm flat broke, so it's gonna have to wait.
 
#17 ·
Flushing your PS pump will make things run much smoother. Not talking about the wandering though. You need to replace all the tie rod ends that go to each knuckle IMO. I would treat those like a unit bearing you can do one but you really shoudl do them both. You will need to get your alignment rechecked after you do it though. You likely will be OK as you will put it on with the same amount of turns it took to take it off but still they can be slightly different and change your toe setting.
 
#19 ·
The PW Steering issue is very normal. Just part of these trucks. Many have it from brand new. You can possibly do some mods to the pump to get it to have higher flow at idle but thats it.

For vibrations wandering, unless you have already check all the things listed in this thread and replaced any and all worn parts found that woudl be the first place I would start.
 
#20 ·
The PW Steering issue is very normal. Just part of these trucks. Many have it from brand new. You can possibly do some mods to the pump to get it to have higher flow at idle but thats it.

For vibrations wandering, unless you have already check all the things listed in this thread and replaced any and all worn parts found that would be the first place I would start.
Could you elaborate on the mods to the power steering pump.
 
#21 ·
You can pull out the flow piston fitting and drill it out ( the inside of it) to a slightly larger size. You remove the high PSI line and behind it will be the main fitting and a bunch of smaller pieces spring etc inside. You can drill out the main fitting 1/16-1/8 larger but start and go in the smallest increments you can buy drill bits for. This is suppose to increase low rpm / idle flow rates

Here is some instruction for sagnaw pump but its the same basic thing

powersteering

Do not mess with the pressure until you have tired the flow mod first. If you do mess with the pressure at all do it very small steps. Pumps are not real costly but you do not want to replace one if you do not have to just becasue you got impatient.

Some have good results others see very little. Either way its something you need to decide I am not responisble if you mess something up. But the way I look at it if you are planning on repalcing the pump becasue it sucks whey not see if you can mod it.


First and foremost do a full fluid flush. Msot people have the same 10 yr old fluid in the PW res that was in it when they bought it off the dealer lot.

The only sure fire cure I know of is to install hydro assist ram to the steering. You can do it for 175-400+ depending on how much you are willing to do yourself etc.. Heck you can spend over 1K if you want to.

Once done you would be able to turn your wheels with one finger from lock out to lock out at a stop.
 
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