Was driving home today and noticed a little shimmy in the steering wheel that felt similar to flat tires I have had in the past. Kept speed up and noticed steering wheel starting to pull. Eventually hit traffic and the truck did not stop nearly as responsively as it had this morning. Pull over and check tires; nothing. Pull back onto highway and notice grinding at low speeds with slight shimmy going along with it. Limp home with fairly consistent grinding. Definitely seems to be coming from the front end somewhere.

Here are a couple things Ive come up with on off the top of my head:

-U-joints on the front shaft as seizing.
-Front transfer case issue
-Front CV joints or wheel bearing(s)

Any help on where or how I should start looking at this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ditto

 

I had something similar happen to me on the right front and it was a bad caliper. I noticed mine when the brake pad started smoking. It's something you may check. If it's stuck and the pad has come apart it would grind and definitely not stop as well.

David

 

jack up each front wheel and see if you have play in the wheel. i grap at 12 oclock and 6 oclock and wiggle tire. should tell you if your bearing is bad or not.

 

Thanks for the input. I'll look into both of those possibilities. Was doing some thinking last night/this morning and it cant be the cv shaft because if it was then I wouldn't be able to turn or it'd lock up when turning.

 

Little update: Just walking into my house tonight and hadn't looked at my truck since thursday night's events. Take quick look around the wheel wells and notice metal shavings inside the wheels. My center cap was barely on so I pull it off to notice all 6 nuts completely free. Not sure what would cause this since it usually takes myself and another person with a 3 foot cheater bar to loosen the lugs on my truck. Weird

 

Sounds like sabotage.

 

Latest update: A few weeks ago I took off the wheel and cleaned it/removed any metal shavings. Took it for a test drive and the same grind and wobble came back. Inspected the wheel more closely to find the holes had become elongated and the nuts were shifting while driving or possibly pulling through. Found a set of oem wheels on craigslist for cheap and had the tire swapped over. Put the wheel back on and the grind and wobble went away but now my steering is loose and brakes are still very unresponsive.

For brakes: I checked for any leaks in the brake lines and cant find any. Is this a master cylinder or brake booster issue? Would the truck pull if one of the rear calipers is stuck? The truck doesn't pull either direction so I don't believe its a stuck caliper. I don't believe its the rod coming out of the brake booster because they would have been soft for the beginning if that were the issue. I'm leaning towards master cylinder but find it odd that it would fail at the exact same time that my wheel went out.

For steering: I replaced the lower steering shaft so I know what that issue feels like and I don't think that is the issue. Replaced the outter tie rod ends last year. Could this be an inner tie rod end issue or issue with the rack and pinion?

Any input would be appreciated. Going on a couple weeks here and starting to get frustrating.

 

Have you checked your wheel bearings yet?

 

Welp, it's back. I noticed the wobble when I was driving to work last week and haven't driven the truck since. One of those "I'll take the truck to work today".. and ehh I better turn around halfway into the commute.

Here's what I've done so far and have probably thrown good money after bad:
Replaced the master cylinder and front calipers. I figured this would solve the pedal going to the floor which it did, but once I noticed the wobble last week.. pedal went to the floor. Replaced the front wheel that was chewed up but the steering was still loose. Just drove with it that way.

I checked the wheels for play in the hubs but didn't notice anything. My current thinking is replace: hubs, rack and pinion, outer tie rod ends and take it in for an alignment. That should cover all the bases. Thoughts?

 

I had the kind of the same problem and it turned out to be bad check valves in vacuum lines for the 4wd. Was letting the hubs engage when driving causing the front drive shaft to spin with out being in 4wd. I replaced the Solenoid,Line assembly w/ one check valve in it, and Check valve that goes to the engine. My problem went away! I pulled them off and blew thru them in both directions and they blew both ways=BAD VALVES

 

Thanks for the tip, i'll look into that

 

Motorcraft #YG360
Vacuum Check valve to the motor $11 (also called Ac control valve!)

#XR3Z-19A563-AA & E4EH-19A563-AA
Vacuum line assembly with one check valve. $10
Got both off ebay

 

BRAND NEW FORD F-150 OEM LOCKING HUB VACUUM TUBE #4L3Z-3A788-AA $21
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-FORD-F-150-OEM-LOCKING-HUB-VACUUM-TUBE-4L3Z-3A788-AA/221682987087?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140602152332%26meid%3D025450fc129f499fb905b0cc64f45e25%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D281665586895