96 F350 M/home steering problem

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96 F350 M/home steering problem Group: alt.trucks.ford Date: Wed, Oct 8, 2003, 5:29am (CDT+5) From: mo_drewxmo snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Mo)

I have a 96 Ford F350, 22ft motorhome and the steering has been adjusted but it still wanders like a drunken sailor.

Anyone have this problem & managed to correct it? If so, how? Really not impressed with "Twin I Beam"...

Mo ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Mo, either tell us that the front end has been checked out and is in top condition.... or....... get it to a top front-end shop for diagnosis...

I have run across the problem once or twice, and here's what I have found to be.....

Possible causes.....

Mismatched tires (bias..and radial installed) Loose tire rods Loose radius arms Loose idler arm Play in the gear box Overadjusted gear box Out of alignment Improper tire preasure Binding Kingpins Loose wheel bearings Loose Pitman arm Loose Steering sector coupler Loose steering damper Drunk driver

let us know if that helps.......

Scrib Abell

Guess I didn't make myself clear enough by saying the alignment had been adjusted - it went into one of the best shops in the area & they said it was hardly out at all and that everything checked out OK. Some time later I took it to a different shop & had them go over all the components - it checked out good. Took it to the Ford dealer who said there was nothing wrong. Boosted the tire pressure to max. rating on tires & it seemed to improve only marginally (imagination?)... Mo

~ (orig. post....start of thread)

I have a 96 Ford F350, 22ft motorhome and the steering has been adjusted but it still wanders like a drunken sailor.

Anyone have this problem & managed to correct it? If so, how? Really not impressed with "Twin I Beam"...

Mo ~~~~~ ~~~~~

Mo, =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0either tell us that the front end has been checked out and is in top condition....

or....... get it to a top front-end shop for diagnosis...

I have run across the problem once or twice, and here's what I have found to be.....

Possible causes.....

Mismatched tires (bias..and radial installed) Loose tire rods Loose radius arms Loose idler arm Play in the gear box Overadjusted gear box Out of alignment Improper tire preasure Binding Kingpins Loose wheel bearings Loose Pitman arm Loose Steering sector coupler Loose steering damper Drunk driver let us know if that helps.......

Scrib Abell ~~~~~ ~~~~~

Group: alt.trucks.ford Date: Wed, Oct 8, 2003, 5:03pm (CDT+5) From: mo_drewxmo snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Mo)

Guess I didn't make myself clear enough by saying the alignment had been adjusted - it went into one of the best shops in the area & they said it was hardly out at all and that everything checked out OK.

Some time later I took it to a different shop & had them go over all the components - it checked out good.

Took it to the Ford dealer who said there was nothing wrong.

Boosted the tire pressure to max. rating on tires & it seemed to improve only marginally (imagination?)...

Mo ~~~~ ~~~~~ Mo, what's the chances this is your first motorhome, and you're not sure how it should handle? Or..... that you purchased it recently from an individual that may have the wrong tire set-up on it?

If you've had some "sound" inspections by good technicians, I would suggest one more thing before you go insane....

Run the Motorhome by an RV center and let someone there give you an opinion on how the things handling, and have them look at the tires, just to see if they would reccomend a different set-up.

hopefully we're helping,

Marsh Monster ~:~

At least you're getting the right impression so far. :) It's not the best handling it is however the srongest and the easiest for a hammer mechanic (like me) to work on.

Do yourself a favor and get a piece of cardboard/carpet and climb under there and feel of all the joints and find out what's loose. You'll need help by having someone wiggle the steering wheel back and forth differing amounts according to what you need to get movement in the joints.

Any looseness or lost motion is bad! Good enough for others but not worth a damn for the owner/driver of the rig that's going to spend hours keeping the sucker on the road. The main thing to keep in mind is the twin-i-beam system is a good one if everything is right.

The other day I drove my old clunker '75, >80 miles per hour with a cross wind and it drove smoother and straighter than when it was new!

No kidding on that. But it doesn't have any looseness in the steering. At one point it had about 2+1/2" of play at the steering wheel now it's about a 1/4". What sucks tho is how the 2+" of play is figured to be ok by those that should not accept it.

Ford's better idea about steering gear bearing surfaces... ;) The pitman arm end of the sector shaft's side to side play was where my worst problem was. If you have any side to side play there get back on here for the cure. :) The factory fix sucks.

Alvin in AZ ps- I hardly ever drive my pickup over 68 mph.

Mo, what's the chances this is your first motorhome, and you're not sure how it should handle? ****** Nope, had everything from camper van to 32' Class A and most everything in between.

Or..... that you purchased it recently from an individual that may have the wrong tire set-up on it? ***** Don't think so - near new Firestone load range D of right size - if there is a slight dip in the road only on one side the steering wheel will turn ... Mo (looking for a Chev!)

If you've had some "sound" inspections by good technicians, I would suggest one more thing before you go insane....

Run the Motorhome by an RV center and let someone there give you an opinion on how the things handling, and have them look at the tires, just to see if they would reccomend a different set-up.

hopefully we're helping,

Marsh Monster ~:~

At least you're getting the right impression so far. :)

This has been done twice at different shops

Coming home in the spring thru Nevada the cross winds nearly drove me nuts...especially when a truck went past...

If you find a solution to your problem, let me know, I have been driven nuts trying to fix this same thing on my van. New ball joints, new tires, new shocks, problem is as bad as it ever was........ it only has 92K on it, I want it to last to 200K, but this is driving me to drink!!!

Something else to consider if the steering components appear fine:

I realize it's only a 22 footer, but how much overhang is there? Plus, how is it loaded? If a large portion of the weight is toward the rear, it will handle exactly like you described.

John

You guessed right - there is a lot of overhang and we try to put everthing forward of the rear wheels that we can, but that sure can add to the problem. Thanks Mo

Something my old pickup has that's unusual is extra heavy front springs. Factories are notorious for installing too soft of front springs.

You claim the shops checked for loose parts in your steering but you didn't say how much play there is in your steering wheel. A certain amount of play in the steering gear is considered "normal" but still sucks and can be reduced by an individual that wants their vehicle to steer good or "better than normal".

Radials get squirrely feeling when over-filled too.

Alvin in AZ

Mo, A year ago we bought our first MH, a used 29' F450 class C. On the test drive it was all I could do to keep it on the road above 45 mph. But I figured everybody else did it so I could too. Then they suggested that I might do better if I installed a Safe-T-Plus. So they installed it and I picked it up a few days later. Before I knew it I was doing 60 and it was rock solid, although the steering was a little stiffer. We took a thanksgiving trip to NJ last year and on the way back we were coming South on I81 about a day ahead of the first big snow storm. The wind was blowing across I81 and I just had to sit there and hold it. I didn't have to fight the wheel at all. If everything else in the front end is ok, you might want to think about it. That may be the next thing I do to the "A" we have now. Ron

Thanks Ron - worth a look Mo

Cool! :) But what the hell is a safe-t-plus? :)

Alvin in AZ

Checking the web & found it is a large shock absorber on your steering - sounds like it might work but $400 to $500 !!! Mo

Thanks for answering the question, Mo, the web address doesn't help me at all. :/

I installed a Rancho steering stabilizer to my '75 F150, it didn't do much! The big clunky mounting brackets cost extra so I didn't use them, I returned them after figuring out how to make it work without them with much less crap clamped all over the place. :)

The radius arm end I simply drilled a 9/16" hole in the radius arm and chamfered the edges nice. :)

The tie rod clamp I made from a 1" piece of black pipe that I welded a 5/16"" thick hunk of steel to, it had a 9/16" hole in it. The angle and placement is kind of tricky but not hard to do. Then I cut away half the 1" pipe and hose clamped (used 4 of them) it to the tie rod. A year or more later I ran a (gas) bead along the top and bottom of the 1" pipe so no more hose clamps. That was only because I was doing some other welding requiring pre-heating and post heating anyway and I had it all apart too. :) ...otherwise the hose clamps held up great. I had tappered off the edges of the pipe so the hose clamps fit nice and that may have helped? For sure the hose clamp setup is needed to establish where the sucker needs to be etc.

Ok, but the point is- the steering stabilizer didn't do much ...if anything! :/ Only after getting the steering gear back from the machine shop was the steering on my pickup worth a hoot! Never was all that good -new- either, but over a few years (by '78) it got pretty bad, part of which was the sorry narrow stock wheels that came with it. They were 5+1/2 wide wheels, what a piece of crap to put on a pickup by any factory. :( And we haven't gotten inside the steering gear yet and what a sloppy POS that is. :/

I like my ford pickup but I'm not in love with ford motor company, there's a difference you know. :) The same way I liked my '67 bug or honda dirt bikes.

Alvin in AZ