Stearing Wheel Wiggles??
#1
10-12-2002, 12:34 AM
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Rochester, MN
Posts: 66
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Stearing Wheel Wiggles??
I have had this rattle/wiggle in my stearing wheel since I bought my truck. I have ruled out many reasons for this symptom (new Rancho 9000's, ball joints fine, ect...) , so I think I am down to one.....when I get under the hood I can grab that stearing colum/bar that runs between the engine and ABS module and make it wiggle too, I am wondering if this is causing the problem, should it be tighter and is there any way I can tighten it myself???
Thanks much to all who reply!!!
Thanks much to all who reply!!!
#2
10-13-2002, 03:07 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Northern Kentucky
Posts: 1,678
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yep, know what your talking about. As they say " Been there, done that". I've been dealing with the same issues for a year now. As soon as I get one thing fixed something else breaks or causes a new vibration.
What your looking at is called the lower steering shaft and there is no way of tighting or greasing it to help. It's all replaced from the steering box to the u-joint type knuckle inside the cab at the steering wheel. In my truck you could feel it most when turning and going over washboard roads. Actually you could feel a bump bump feel in the steering at all times. I had new shocks, new hub bearings, and new balljoints (the balljoints helped), not to mention the fact of numerous tire balances and alignments.
I finally decided the steering shaft had to be it. What's wierd is I compared it to two other 4x4 F150's of the same year and theres had about as much play but no bump in the steering. I couldn't stand it anymore so I took it to Ford. Tech drove it about 1/2 mile and said yep it's the steering shaft. Went back put one in and problem solved. Tight steering again and no bump feel. Expect $65-100 for the shaft and 1- 1.5 hours labor. I got mine cheap ($65) cause I knew the service manger owned a F150 and I showed him the price off of www.fordpartsonline.com and he matched it. A tire balance after that and it was real smooth for a while. Now either a tire is out of balance again, the shaft is gone aleady (not likely), a bad cv ( no noise) or the front axle bearing (not wheel) is bad.
What your looking at is called the lower steering shaft and there is no way of tighting or greasing it to help. It's all replaced from the steering box to the u-joint type knuckle inside the cab at the steering wheel. In my truck you could feel it most when turning and going over washboard roads. Actually you could feel a bump bump feel in the steering at all times. I had new shocks, new hub bearings, and new balljoints (the balljoints helped), not to mention the fact of numerous tire balances and alignments.
I finally decided the steering shaft had to be it. What's wierd is I compared it to two other 4x4 F150's of the same year and theres had about as much play but no bump in the steering. I couldn't stand it anymore so I took it to Ford. Tech drove it about 1/2 mile and said yep it's the steering shaft. Went back put one in and problem solved. Tight steering again and no bump feel. Expect $65-100 for the shaft and 1- 1.5 hours labor. I got mine cheap ($65) cause I knew the service manger owned a F150 and I showed him the price off of www.fordpartsonline.com and he matched it. A tire balance after that and it was real smooth for a while. Now either a tire is out of balance again, the shaft is gone aleady (not likely), a bad cv ( no noise) or the front axle bearing (not wheel) is bad.
