Have never done much front end work, so I am not sure how to go about finding the slop. I have maybe 3-4inches slop at the steering wheel
I have a 96 F-150 4x4 with a 4.9 and a 5spd. I have 260k miles on it, love the truck alot, its been uber reliable and I want to keep it.

what I was thinking I need to do is:
1) Jack up truck with jack stands on the front axel, so the suspension can be rattled and shaken.
2) replace what seems to be loose.


I have a bad habit of throwing parts at things till its fixed, trying to break thay cycle.

Anyone have a link that details how to trouble shoot my front end?

 

No, with weight on the ground, have a friend turn the steering wheel back and forth. See what moves together, and more importantly what doesn't where the slop would be. Steering box input from the steering wheel, pitman arm to the drag link, tie rod, tie rod endes, ect.

Changin' out some tie rod ends right now on a truck that had about one inch of play each direction. Any more driving, the ball would soon fall right out of the socket.

Adrianspeeder

 

What you say makes perfect sence, thanks man

 

My '96 is the same as you have with 240xxx miles, it wandered all over the road. I put on a rebuilt steering gear box and that fixed it. Drives great again. Good luck with yours

 

My '91 F150 4x4 had about 3 inches play in the wheel. I found that the steering shaft that goes between the firewall and the steering box is where the play was. There was a plastic piece that wraps around the smaller part of the shaft that goes into the upper or larger part, it had worked it's way down the shaft and caused the play. I worked it back up the shaft and secured it with some 33+ electrical tape to keep it from doing that again. That really tightened up the steering. Hope this helps.