I have a 2006 F-150 SCAB......5.4L.....4x4......40,800 miles.

I went in today for a tire rotation.

When they brought me my key they also gave me an estimate to repair/replace a tie rod (about $200 with the re-alignment). They claim I have a bad tie rod and asked if I have been hearing a lot of noise.

Anyway......I have had a lot of vehicles and put a lot of miles on them and don't think I've ever had a to replace a tie rod.

Is this normal??
What would cause the tie rod to go bad and need replacing??
Is this a routine/normal issue with F-150's.

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

Same thing happened to me at 40,000 kilometres. Was pretty pissed off too!

 

is the steering wheel loose?

does the truck pull to one side?

is it hard to keep the truck straight down the road?


a bad tie rod doesn't hide until found. You know when you have a bad one. The truck won't drive straight and keeping it in the center of the lane is a PITA.

You might want to get another shop to give it a look

 

There are a few people on here that have posted about the tie rods taking a dump. Do you have larger wheels and tires? If it does need to be replaced I would ask them how much it would be to do the other side too. It shouldn't be a lot more probably $60-$80 of the $200 is just for the alignment. Or do it your self if you can...it should be that hard.

The steering wheel on my truck wants to jerk side to side some but it is due to the 325/60/18 and 18x9 wheels I put on, so everytime I change my oil I always inspect the tie rods and try to jerk them side to side. So far so good on mine.

 

I should have included this before:

I am driving stock 18" wheels with stock size Bigshot Mudders 275x65x18. These Buckshots are an 8-ply (D) tire vs the 6-ply (C) factory tires and they should be a bit heavier than stock but not much.

Everything else is stock........no lift.....etc.

The steering does not "appear" loose and does not "appear" to pull.
Because I am driving Buckshots........it does wander abit on hard surface which is normal. It does not "appear" to be any different than it has been over the past 10 months with the Buckshots.

Same people installed the Buckshots that are now doing my 3rd or 4th free rotation and found the tie rod problem.

I am not hearing, seeing, or feeling anything that indicates a problem. That's why I'm a little puzzled and why I have posted here after doing some searching and thread reading.

Thanks again for any input.

 

Jack the front of the truck up. Hold the tire 9-3 and move it just a little and see if you can feel a click. You can also have someone else move it and hold the tie rod end to see if you can feel a click. I prefer for someone to move it for me

 

I just found out today that my drivers side tie rod is going out... get this.. under 15000 miles... ya you read that right.... less than fifteen thousand miles