Steering is going to put me in a ditch

Cainon

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1985 Ford f350 dually single cab. I have replaced tie rod ends I have replaced center link I have replaced anything I can think of sway bar end links...... The only thing I have not replaced yet is the steering gear and the steering coupling. it drives straight but there is a lot and when I mean a lot there is a lot of play in my steering wheel in my wheels will not line back up by themselves if I'm turning I'm coming out of the turn I have to turn my wheels straight they will not straighten back out is this the steering gear and steering coupling is that why I'm still having issues? Is this an alignment issue? is this a bearing issue? Please help before I wreck my baby lol
 

dgr

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You should also check your rag joint. Real easy with two people.

Caster returns your tires to center. Is there something with the suspension we don't know about? Has someone tightened the lash on the top of the box trying to take slop out of the wheel? That can cause bind in the less used sections of the steering gear.
 

Cainon

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Yes the steering box was tightened in an attempt to take out the steering play and then loosened a quarter turn because it was too tight.
 

dgr

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OK. Inside the box is a pair of gears. One of them is just three teeth on the sector shaft. 35 years of sawing on the steering wheel to keep it centered is going to wear the other gear right in the middle. When the truck steering is turned beyond the middle, the sector shaft gear meets with an area that is less worn. By tightening that bolt, you may have caused interference in the gears.

Set your sector shaft back where it was. Check your rag joint. That maybe where a lot of the play you were trying to remove is coming from. If the rag joint is bad, you might consider an after market shaft that eliminates it.

I don't believe that rebuilt steering boxes come with new gears so you're getting the same old gears in a rebuilt box.
 

Cainon

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OK. Inside the box is a pair of gears. One of them is just three teeth on the sector shaft. 35 years of sawing on the steering wheel to keep it centered is going to wear the other gear right in the middle. When the truck steering is turned beyond the middle, the sector shaft gear meets with an area that is less worn. By tightening that bolt, you may have caused interference in the gears.

Set your sector shaft back where it was. Check your rag joint. That maybe where a lot of the play you were trying to remove is coming from. If the rag joint is bad, you might consider an after market shaft that eliminates it.

I don't believe that rebuilt steering boxes come with new gears so you're getting the same old gears in a rebuilt box.

Any good shaft upgrades recommendations?
 

Danielle

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I do apologise if you've done this and are waaay passed this, but when you have vehicle off and have someone rock steering wheel, can you feel play anywhere? With these set ups you have to do it pretty hard. Sometimes the slop can be somewhere quite unexpected.... Or it is justtjust steering box/shaft
 

Slicknik

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If your steering wheel doesn’t come back to center after making a turn it’s ball joints , if you have already replaced the drag link ,inner tie rod , outer tie rods ,

just do a ball joint test , takes all of two minutes and it’s free

tightening up the steering box only adjust slop , and if it’s too tight , in 3-6months the box will be toast
 

Cainon

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I hit a bump and my wheels went all over the place. Very unsettling feeling. It's like nothing is holding them straight. I jacked it up today and made all the nuts were tight on the end/center links those were fine. Installed to new sway bar end links today and now it's seems even worse. I'll check the ball joints. Something is off. A feeling it's the steering gear/coupling. But not sure if I did something wrong on links. I counted turns when removing and measured. Pretty sure I did it correctly.

Also when it hits a bump and either throws me in the ditch or into oncoming traffic and I try to correct it by turning the wheel it turns sharp and if it's not corrected just right it swerves like it wants to lose control. Hope I'm making sense here
 

Thewespaul

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What front end do you have? Sounds like you need a steering shaft, box and axle pivot bushings if not a solid axle
 
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