01 Excursion wandering / ford truck guys

Stormy81

Stormy81

Club Member
My cousin has been complaining that when she goes down the road, the truck pulls hard to the left and to the right, but it is only sporadically. Tie rods are new, new steering stabilizer..

Could this possibly be the trac-bar, or steering pump/lines have some crap in it???:headscrat

Dealer looked at it, and couldn't find anything. (lapeer ford)
 
Does it follow crowning and rutting in the road surface ? Or does the wheel shake voilently when its cold and damp outside and the vehicle has high steering effort ?
 
She says it pulls hard to the left and will stick and that point until she pulls over and shuts off the ignition??:gr_confus and then restarts it and its fine.. I test drove it, and it didn't do it for me. She says it also happens once in a while when you turn it hard lock to lock.
 
U-joints or ball joints binding.

Stormy81 said:
She says it pulls hard to the left and will stick and that point until she pulls over and shuts off the ignition??:gr_confus and then restarts it and its fine.. I test drove it, and it didn't do it for me. She says it also happens once in a while when you turn it hard lock to lock.
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its front axle u joints for sure.... ive done many of these for the same exact complaint. when u pull the axle shaft out the u-joints will be rusted up and binding.
 
82bird said:
its front axle u joints for sure.... ive done many of these for the same exact complaint. when u pull the axle shaft out the u-joints will be rusted up and binding.
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He replaced the ujoints last summer. That was my first question to him. He is thinking the vacuum operated hubs might be kicking in sporadically, since she says she pulls over and shuts off ignition and it correcs itself.

sounds logical. i will let you know what he finds out.
 
Sounds like a tight ball joint to me, with the truck in the air, remove the outer tie rod ends and turn each knuckle, if one is tight it needs ball joints on the side.
 
Its the nature of the beast. Mine pulls also but not that. Is the truck clunking from the front (loudly) under breaking ?
 
Ponyryd said:
Sounds like a tight ball joint to me, with the truck in the air, remove the outer tie rod ends and turn each knuckle, if one is tight it needs ball joints on the side.
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Not entirely true.. when your turning the knuckle you are not only turning the ball joints, but the front axle u- joints have to rotate as well.

It is possible it is a locking hub problem. are they auto's or manuals?
 
alot of times bad/frozen axle joints will cause a vibration while turning at high speeds(on ramps, big curves)
 
82bird said:
Not entirely true.. when your turning the knuckle you are not only turning the ball joints, but the front axle u- joints have to rotate as well.

It is possible it is a locking hub problem. are they auto's or manuals?
Click to expand...

Yep, that's true. I'd think that would cause more of a vibration than a pull to one side though. Maybe check it side-to-side, then turn the wheel 1/2 turn and try it again? not very likely that 2 ends of the joint are siezed.
 
Ponyryd said:
Yep, that's true. I'd think that would cause more of a vibration than a pull to one side though. Maybe check it side-to-side, then turn the wheel 1/2 turn and try it again? not very likely that 2 ends of the joint are siezed.
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thats the test i do before i condem the u-joints... disconnect the tie rods from the knuckle, clock the u-joint in the right spot, turn the assembly by the rotor, then turn rotor/axle 1/2 turn( or clock the u-joint 90 deg), and try to turn side to side again
 
Have them do a quick check by lifting the front end so both tires are off the ground. Turn the wheels to one side (almost to the stop), lock one hub and make sure the other is unlocked. Now rotate the tire of the side you locked. If the joint is siezed the tire will not rotate and will try to turn the steering. Do that to both sides (remembering to lock and unlock the hubs). If everything checks out, pull both front hubs and test drive, try to recreate the situation when the problem occured. I have seen the factory Ford hubs not release into 2wd. To remove the hubs, first spray around the hubs with a light penatrating oil, pinch the retaining ring and wiggle/ pull the hub. It maybee stuck in place (the rubber O-ring is stuck), in that case you can use a rubber mallet to knock the hub around to work the oil in. You do not need to remove the tire to do this.

Also per Ford, have them push/ pull on the tie-rods (checking the ball and socket joint) and lift up the boots on the tie-rods and inspect for rust. Rust means replace.

Have the ball joints been replaced recently? Is the steering damper bent or dented (would cause the shock piston inside to get stuck).
 
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