At highway speeds the truck feels like it is moving side to side as if there are grooves in the road or a high wind. I have replaced tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, new tires, alignment and recently put in a new steering gear box. Each replaced part made the truck feel a little better but the handling/steering problem is still there. Feels kinda like someone is turning the wheel a little to the left, right, left, then a pause, then it starts again. No pattern to it, just kind of back and forth. Sure would be nice to figure out what else I can do. Took it to the dealer and the "technician" couldn't feel it. This was when it was really bad! Dealer was going to charge me 2k or so to replace the steering gear box and I bought one from Redd Head and had my mechanic put it in for a total of about 525. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

What are the lower control arm bushings like?

 

My old car did that when the pass sway bar end link broke off....same with my truck until I replaced them both with moog ones.

 

check out the idler arm and pitman arms.

2wd or 4wd?

 

Thanks for the help guys. my brother also said to check out the rack and pinion and see if somethings binding up there. I really like this truck and sure hope i can figure this out eventually. If and when I do I will post it. Seems like there are more than a few folks with a similar problem.

 

. . . of course there is no rack and pinion on this tuck. . . .

 

Jack the frontend off the ground and use jackstands then check the wheelbearing. Grab the top and bottom of the tire and rocked it back and fourth and see how much play you have.

If the front end checks good then move to the rearend and start checking things.

PS. check the lug nuts too

 

Problem finally solved - it was the idler arm. Yahoo!

 

sweet how much was that? new or used?

 

I bought a gear box from Red Head gears in WA for about $275 and labor was 250. Ford dealer quoted $2000 to 2400! Idler arm and labor was less than 200 and the Ford dealer couldn't find any problem. Truck is really driving nice now.

 

I have a very similar problem to what you had and I wondered how do you check to see if the idler arm is bad?

 

Good question. I finally found a good mechanic I can trust.