I talked to the service manager at the local dealership today about looking into the steering nibble issue he said that Ford really doesnt have a fix but they are working on one. He said that they are trying to develope a steering dampner could possibly be available soon. Have you heard anything about this. I have had the tires roadforce balanced twice it has improved alot but at speeds of 74 plus it is more noticable, thanks to the high gas prices I keep my speeds below that so it's not a problem now.

 

Usually, the latest rack and pinion fixes a lot of these trucks with steering nibble problems. Very special attention to wheel and tire balancing is crucial too; supposedly, as little as 10 grams imbalance can cause a steering vibration, along with roadforce variation. Max allowed roadforce is 25 lbs, but preferably I (and engineering) likes to see mid-low teens for all wheels, especially ones that'll be on the front. After the rack and pinion and tires, there's supposed to be a frame dampner kit that'll help some, but I've never installed one before, so I don't know what all that entails, but I'll find out in the next few days since I got one ordered for a customer's vehicle at work. I haven't heard anything about steering dampners through the grapevine though.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. The tires balanced at 2 at 7lbs one at 13lbs one at 4lbs. I wish the manager would try the latest rack. After you install the frame kit I would appreciate some details.

 

Ya, and if it doesnt work ?
Quintin whats the tech time on a steering rack ?

 

The roadforce looks good then...the next thing would be to index the roadforce high point (shown on the balancer) to the widest gap in between the wheel hub flange and the wheel itself...which is rather silly, because as soon as you pull the tires again to rotate them or whatever, the indexing has to be done all over again. I'd dare say your truck probably needs a rack and pinion.

 

Warranty? The TSB that entails all this ranges from like 1.7 hours just to roadtest with the EVA, balance and index the tires to like 4.5 to replace the rack, balance the tires, EVA testing, and installing the frame dampner kit. The rack alone is like 1.4 with toe in reset I think.