Steering box, or shaft?

[RLDSL]

My god man..6" of free play and your driving that thing....get it off the road and fix it...STOP driving it it's NOT SAFE....FIX it...

If not capable...pay someone..but FIX IT don't drive it....

I see that you havent been around long enough to have driven very many older trucks. There was a time that 6 inches of play in a wheel on a truck would have been considered downright performance handling You can get a LOT of combined slop in the front end of one of these things and they will still be safe, you just have to be a more alert driver Only have to worry when parts are actually failing. They are designed to give an extended rough service life, but that doesnt mean that they will handle like a sports car the whole time.

 

[firehawk]

I see that you havent been around long enough to have driven very many older trucks. There was a time that 6 inches of play in a wheel on a truck would have been considered downright performance handling You can get a LOT of combined slop in the front end of one of these things and they will still be safe, you just have to be a more alert driver Only have to worry when parts are actually failing. They are designed to give an extended rough service life, but that doesnt mean that they will handle like a sports car the whole time.

That is just a poor excuse not to do maintenance. These trucks did not have free play like that when new, and should be considered unsafe with that much play. A failure of steering components is serious. Replace worn parts before they break.

For the OP, it sounds like the steering box. Replace with new, or good luck finding one that is still good in a yard. I found one, but checked five trucks before I found a good one.

 

[warhog]

I see that you havent been around long enough to have driven very many older trucks. There was a time that 6 inches of play in a wheel on a truck would have been considered downright performance handling You can get a LOT of combined slop in the front end of one of these things and they will still be safe, you just have to be a more alert driver Only have to worry when parts are actually failing. They are designed to give an extended rough service life, but that doesnt mean that they will handle like a sports car the whole time.

x2. My last one wasn't a diesel, but everyone else was scared to drive it. I threw a suicide knob on there and never even noticed. Sure you can't drink a coffee, text, smoke, play with the radio, yada yada...but you're supposed to be paying attention anyways.

With that said, I'm obviously still waiting for the shaft to get here, but i jacked up the front end with the tires off the ground again, everything seems real tight as I already decided. Now, I hung my head out the window and played with the wheel...turns out, that 6" of play, isn't dead space. It IS actually turning the wheel every so slightly the entire time i'm turning the wheel. That combined with the strange 'sticking' feeling around certain corners makes me wonder if I should order a box as well to have it when i get the truck back (going to the shop tomorow for unrelated issues). I don't know much, but i'm leaning towards that being the main culprit. Any opinions?

 

[warhog]

Welp. I ordered my shaft from tal4x4 for $199 shipped. Best price i've seen for it, so i paid extra for next day. It never came. tal4x4 was awesome to work with, and shipped it out right away. But ups says it is "undeliverable due to Emergency event outside of UPS control." Truck probably crashed into a giant inferno with my luck.

 

[tbirdfiend281]

That is just a poor excuse not to do maintenance. These trucks did not have free play like that when new, and should be considered unsafe with that much play. A failure of steering components is serious. Replace worn parts before they break.

For the OP, it sounds like the steering box. Replace with new, or good luck finding one that is still good in a yard. I found one, but checked five trucks before I found a good one.

what kind of procedure where you doing to check the used boxes on the trucks before you found one that is good? I need a box for mine, but feel cheap.

 

[warhog]

That is just a poor excuse not to do maintenance. These trucks did not have free play like that when new, and should be considered unsafe with that much play. A failure of steering components is serious. Replace worn parts before they break.

Didn't see this post earlier..This thread is about finding out what parts to replace, who made excuses not to fix it? Nice of you to rag on me over something you concocted though.

 

[tbirdfiend281]

The smarter me agrees with him. The one who likes to pushes the envelope, also drives a truck with a lot of free play and knows he wont hit anything.

 

[warhog]

Got the shaft finally. Kind of disappointed it's not anywhere near a direct fit. It's a good 6" too long. The sticker on the shaft matches the part number so it is infact right, just seems like they could have made it a closer fit for the $..

 

[towcat]

is this shaft OEM?
if so, it does retract.

 

[towcat]

That combined with the strange 'sticking' feeling around certain corners makes me wonder if I should order a box as well to have it when i get the truck back (going to the shop tomorow for unrelated issues). I don't know much, but i'm leaning towards that being the main culprit. Any opinions?

how lubed up are your kingpins? with the front end off the ground is there still binding while turning?

 

[warhog]

borgeson. Got it collapsed as far as it'll go...

 

[towcat]

borgeson. Got it collapsed as far as it'll go...

give the seller a call. there's something wrong there.

 

[warhog]

http://tal4x4.com/borgeson-ford-steering-shaft/000980

That's what I got, and both the box, and a white sticker on the shaft itself matches the part number?

 

[Dave 001]

http://tal4x4.com/borgeson-ford-steering-shaft/000980

That's what I got, and both the box, and a white sticker on the shaft itself matches the part number?

I would want to buy an exact fit also, however, the ad does point out that the shaft is oversize and will probably need to be shortened.

 

[warhog]

Borgeson does advertise that it may need to be cut, i understood that, but 6 inches seems a little extreme. I might as well purchased any shaft if that was the case. I don't recall anyone else with our trucks needing that much adjustment, so maybe something is wrong.