Have any of you experienced issues with steering? My 09 has been in the shop 3 times to diagnose why it is always pulling to the left. They inflated tires, rotated tires and put it on the alignment rack. Nothing is showing up as a cause for this issue. It is more obvious when in the left lane but it does the same thing when in the center or right lanes.

It's such a fun truck to drive but it gets tiring holding the wheel to the right as you can imagine.

 

I am right there with ya. A friend of mine, ase cert mechanic, worked at the local farm and fleet. He is a nice guy and is great with a wrench.i have known him for 11 years or so. and he has always had to listen to me complanin about my vehicles. My 99 xlt with 239K on it obviously had front end work here and there. but i am very picky, i would always tell him, ride with me , then drive my truck. did you hear that? did you feel that i would tell him. he would most times tell me i was nuts.

with my 09 plat, heavy tow pack. the steering was great , i have 22K on it now. it will be 1 year old the 13th of next month.

the steering sucks. when turning i can feel a little bit of a studder. like the fluid is low. and or a tight spot. and there is definatly a dead spot where bump steer occurs now and then.
i think the 16:1 steering ratio also will lead to a possible larger than life play area. but this is crazy.

i also have to point the wheel to about the 1:00 position most of the time. and on bumpy roads, the truck might decide to steer where ever it wants too.

i plan on having it looked at ( not ford ) the guy that runs the alignment machine at farm adn fleet still is great. he is good with alignments like i am with computers.

i know nothing is perfect forever . but come on now.

i am thinking about going to 18in rims and tires, when my pirellis bit it.

nice to know i am not crazy!!

 

Did they rotate the tires front to back or left to right? It could be what is known as a Radial pull which is a bad tire. If they rotate just front to back then the problem will not go away if the tire is bad enough. If they go left to right then the truck should pull the other way.

 

DB - good point; however, I thought that's why they don't recommed "cross rotation" of radials as it could cause that very problem...a bad belt/radial pull?

 

No problem with mine. Hope they figure it out.

 

HotLap,

That is true. My idea was just a suggestion for trouble shooting purposes. If they did the left to right rotation and then it pulled the other way they would know this with in a mile of driving so it would not harm the good tire. Then they go back replace the bad tire and put the good one back where it was to begin with. Its a lot of trouble but this very thing happened to me with my 06 F-150 but it was worth the trouble when it was all done.

 

Yep - They did front to back and swapped front left to right - same issue - pulls to the left. As well the alignment machine says things are perfect.

I did read in article in a Ford owners magazine that one of the Ford Engineers at the plant discovered alignment issues with the F150 and was responsible for resolution during manufacturing. Any of you read this? I'll dig out the copy and provide the date and article.