Rotated the tires at 18,000 miles and grabbed hold of the tire and had alot of play. Went to Ford, needed to replace the idler arm. At only 18,000mi . I remember reading on this forum of front end problems did'nt believe them till now. My wife mostly drives the truck and she drives it like a baby. I will be keeping my eye on the rest of the front end

 

I posted this one over on the suspension forum...

We had ours less then A MONTH AND LESS THEN 1500 miles when....

The wife drove up and there was a popping coming from the steering when she would barely turn the wheel...

The pop was transmitted through the frame, so it was hard to find the noise...

I thought it would be the tie rod or adjusters, so I tightened them which were loose for my flavor...

I finally figured it was the idler and the zerk said it had grease in it...

So I went and pumped some more grease in and it smoothed out and quit popping...

Might grease those idler's....

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2000 F250 PSD Auto 19+mpg PIII propane exhaust Ramair ThermoWrapped
2001 SuperCrew 4.6 auto 19+mpg K&N
1969 Mach1 351C 4spd 3.50 LS Autocrosser

 

Im going in this morning for the second idler arm. Had the first replaced at 15k, had cupped the front tires baddly (ford replaced) idler arm is bad again at 18k, wanders , bump steers, etc. Keep an eye on it, .......

 

Check the "wandering" search and you will find my posts concerning this. Replaced the pitman arm, idler arm (2x), complete steering box, steering shaft. Ran 40 lbs air and the tires still cup! The real problem is the ider and pitman arms have "play" in them from the supplier. This is another "radiator" issue that Ford should be taken to the task for.

 

I just traded my 99 F150 4x4 this week. I new I had bad cupping prior so I took it in for a True Balance. They trued the tires and it came out of there riding like it was just out of the showroom. They told me that the cupping was due to a bad idler arm and it needed to be replaced or it would be right back in the same shape. I only had 32,000 miles on it and figured it would be covered under warranty...but didn't bother because I new I was going to trade...by the way, my 99 was slap happy too (from day one). The 02 Screw is smooth as silk at cold startup.

 

My 2001 Screw started making a front end clunking noise that "only I" could here. Took it to Ford and naturaly they found nothing wrong. So i waited another 5,00 miles until it got bad enough to where any bone head could hear and sure enough they replaced the idler arm.

 

Welcome guys,

Tonka has created his first thread and reueld has replied to his first. I copied the info below 'cause it shows you latest info no matter what so later this would be overwritten.

TONKA
Junior Member
Registered: Jun 2001
Location: nj
Posts: 1

reueld
Junior Member
Registered: Dec 2001
Location:
Posts: 1

I'll be watching my front end close too after reading this.

DaveMan,