99 F150 2wd. 80k.

I had play in my wheel, figured it was a bushing on one of the arms. Put it off for 6 months. This morning when I pulled into a parking lot I heard a POP when turning left and my now my steering wheel spins round-and-round like a big-wheel.

Any ideas? I'm living in rented space, can't work on it on my own if I wanted to. Have a referral to a good shop, but I'm not sure what to expect.

Anyone want to offer up some scenarios from cheap to expensive? We've got cash, but it's being saved for a new baby and a house.

 

Sounds like you broke a tie rod. Dunno how much that is, but I'd like to know how much it is, cause I've got a bit of play on my steering wheel and I have like 82K miles. Good luck

 

If the steering wheel just spins and spins and spins, then you probalby broke the shaft that conects it to the gear box.

 

Well, it was a fun day. I got my rig towed to a shop that was recommened by my boss. Mechanic says that the shaft got stripped going into the steering box. He's going to look at the box and tell me if there is any problem in there or not too. Probably is. Either way it's going to cost.

Would that be causing the play in the wheel?


He mentioned something else about something going up into the airbag, but I had an angry customer on the phone so I had to let the mechanic go.
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Another issue. My odometer will come on and off at times (like when hitting a bump). I can tap on the dash and it will come back on. Anyone have any hints about this?

 

Got it fixed. The steering shaft had stripped out completely where it connected to the gear box. I'll get some pictures up of it before too long.

This is what it cost me, any mechanic want to chime in if I got a deal or got soaked?

Parts:
Contact Assembly $80.74
Steering Shaft $120.96

Labor:
Replaced the seperated steering shaft. It was stripped at the gear box. $140.00 (2 hours)
When the steering shaft stripped out it broke the clock spring, replaced the clock spring. $140 (2 hours)
Front end alignment $75.60

Total before tax $481.70

 

(figured out what a clock spring was)

 

no thats not bad at all, i mean hell parts and a alinment are over 200bucks easy so its not bad. if you ask me of course. and for the odometer it sounds like you have a lose wire under there you need to go hunting and find it.

 

Well, I paid them an additional hour of labor to see if they could find any loose connections for the odometer and they took it all apart and didn't see anything loose.

I would really appreciate a solution on this. My wife's got a baby on the way and my rig is a '99 regular cab 5-sp ... so I'm going to have to sell it in the next 3 months and get a supercab. It will certainly not ensure top $$ if the odometer craps out during a test drive.

I once bought a whole dash w/ instrument panel for an old mustang I had ... if worse-comes-to-worst can I get a new instrument panel and plug it in? Not sure where the mileage is stored at in memory on new systems. Any concern with that?

 

Well the odometer reading are not held in the guage cluster its self, its in the ECU, so if worse comes to worse like you said just get one from the same year and molde truck, dont get different year ones, they have differences, my freinds 2002 has a different plug setup then my 99 f150 does, also the lights are in different places to, so just get one with the same year and style Like with tach or with out tach, and you will be set.

Dustin

 

Do a search here for the disappearing odometer. Mine does it too but a slap on top of the instrument cluster brings it back. You need to take out the cluster, open it up and clean the ribbon cable from the odometer LEDs to the circuit board.

Fritz

 

Thanks for the advice on the dash. I couldn't find any other postings about it though.

Is this a common problem with the f150 odometer?

 

Mine goes on and off

 

Ever since I got the work done on my rig, the chime the sounds when the keys are left in the ignition, or the lights are left on has been going off all the time when the door is open.

The shop that did the work is going to fix it, but it's a pain that I have to take it back in, and in fact I haven't been able to get it in since I got it back from the shop. Who's fault is it? He's saying that something likely was defective when they hooked it up. Maybe the didn't hook it up correctly? Anyone have any input on this?

 

I have the same issue. May I know the mechanic name and address so that I can get it fixed.

 

You know this thread is 14 years old? And what issue are you talking about, the odometer or the steering? Do a search of this forum for the odometer fix. It's quite common on this vintage trucks. The steering can only be diagnosed by an in person inspection.