I'm looking at trading in my 2000 F150 7700 series for a 06 F250 Super Duty Crew cab. I found a truck with 57K miles, but when I test drove it the front end was real sloppy. The suspension seemed fine, but the steering was not right. It's a one owner truck and likely was used for plowing. It seemed as if at least 5-10 degrees of steering was lost...meaning I could turn the wheel right/left 5-10 degrees without the wheels responding. On top of that, it the steering wheel wasn't returning to center after making a turn. Of course, the dealer says he is going to fix anything that was wrong with it (don't they all say that?).

 

Sounds like the steering gear box either needs tightening (there's a set screw on the top) or replacing.

 

Or if you have someone turn the wheel and watch if there is any slop from the box to the drag link to the tie rod to the knuckles.

Adrianspeeder

 

ball joints are big issues. have replaced numerous with only 30k avg on them.