Hi,

I'm new to this forum. I have an '04 FX4 SCREW with 41000 miles. About 5,000 miles ago I started noticing a looseness in the steering feeling almost a clunking sound over bumps. Took it to the dealer and of course they said nothing is wrong with it. My Dad also has a '04 FX4 and when driving his truck I don't notice the 'nibble' or whatever it should be called. Tonight I tried to diagnose it on my own. This is what I noticed: When the truck is turned off and I turn the steering wheel back and forth, I hear a clunking sound coming from the steering gear. To further isolate the noise I violent shook both the left and right pitman arm. What I noticed was the left (driver side) pitman arm seems to be a little loose, making the same 'clunking' sound. The noise is coming from within the boot of the inner part of the pitman arm where it connects to the steering gear. Does anyone know if this is something that can be tightened? Also is there a special tool needed to get off the clamp holding the pitman arm boot to the steering gear? Any help would be appreciated. By the way, I'm out of warranty so I'd rather not take it back to the dealer.

Thanks,
Turk

 

The 04-up 150's have a rack and pinion steering setup, which do not have pitman arms. The part you are describing sounds like the inner tie rod, they are connected to the end of the rack with a ball and socket type connection. Sounds like yours is either loose or worn out. I don't know if the inner tie rods are serviceable or not on these trucks, if they are, it should only be a couple bills to replace buth sides. If not, you may have to replace the entire rack assy which could be as much a grand.

 

I just checked at www.fordpartsonline.com and they have the inner tie rods for 25 bucks each, they also have the boots and clamps if needed. A complete rack assy is just over 6 bills, don't know if the complete comes with new inner rods already attached or not.

 

Thanks for showing me that site. It's nice with the illustrations. You're right, what I was referring to was the inner tie rod. I guess I would need to understand how the inner tie rod is attached to the steering gear to know if this is feasible for me to fix.