Steering questions

[Twizted1]

I've had my HD for a few months now and I have been fixing massive amounts of stuff that the previous owner did to the truck. Now that I have fixed 99% of his wrongs I'm moving onto the maintenance part of this truck. I'm getting ready to rebuild the entire front suspension and I was wondering if anyone had swapped from the outdated steering box to a rack and pinion setup of the newer trucks or if can even be done. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated because I'd like to do the whole front end at the same time.

[Harley#356]

There was one kit made as a bolt-on power rack swap, and several guys have had it FALL OFF while driving. The only way to properly do it is weld-on, and there's nobody who makes a kit. I plan on doing this mod next winter and having my chassis shop guy build a custom power rack setup for me.

[Twizted1]

Any idea as to what car or truck woukd work for this application?

[Harley#356]

the custom applications are a mustang rack, not sure which year, but it definitely requires welding and custom brackets and steering shaft, it's not a bolt on mod

[Blind]

crown vic rack might have long enough ti-rod ends to be wide enough for the truck, mustang rack would need different ends.

getting it safely onto the trucks front end is going to require fab work, and I wouldn't take somewhere you don't absolutely trust with your life as there is a TON of stress put onto the rack during turns even at moderate speeds that only want to rip the rack off the chassis.

[shanker]

simply getting the OE components in good shape and a MOOG Steering Stabilizer (like found on most every 4x4) is a HUGE improvement.

I got my MOOG steering stabilizer kit from RockAuto.com for around 45 dollars and it was by far the best sub 50$ mod I did to my truck....I wouldn't even call it a "MOD" as it should be a requirement.

[Harley#356]

yeah I had an LFP steering stabilizer on my street truck and it was a great mod, especially for around $50 bucks!

[SoCal Waite]

yeah I had an LFP steering stabilizer on my street truck and it was a great mod, especially for around $50 bucks!

Josh was that the *finger quoting (lol) "Bump Steer" kit seen here? LFP Bump Steer Stabilizer Kit Ford Lightning / Harley at LightningForcePerformance.com - Your American Muscle Parts Depot that you're talking about?

I ask because today I had a weird experience, braking to a stop sign from about 50 mph, I hit a small bump and my steering wheel started to shimmy pretty bad. At least 1/2" back and forth until I slowed below 20. I have not seen this before, and could not induce it again. I put the truck in the air, and checked all the control arms, ball joints, steering joints, sway bar & bushings, lug nuts, both hubs, shocks front and rear, as well as leaf springs for good measure. Nothing felt loose or showed abnormal wear, though I did find my left front tire was about 8psi lower than the right front, but I doubt that would do this. The one thing I did find that was peculiar was with the tires off the ground still I could shake the steering wheel left to right about 1/2" (as it did on the road today) and the wheels where not moving. Maybe my steering box going bad? The alignment shop said it was worn, but not enough to replace. The tires are the Kumho's (I hate them, but will replace them when needed) 275/45's.

Sorry for thread jacking, but its still on subject...kinda.

[Blind]

steering stabilizer / steering shock won't do much to correct that.

my buddy had a completely stock ~2006 jeep wrangler and occasionally it would do that ON THE FREEWAY while going 70mph, hit a bump and the steering would violently shake until he slowed to almost a stop then it would be fine again for miles until he hit that perfect kind of bump again.

he installed a double shock steering stabilizer after the dealer found nothing wrong with the front end and the problem persisted, he said he basically couldn't tell the difference. Ended up having a worn out pitman/idler arm.


something is worn, take it to a GOOD alignment shop, some place that only does alignments / performance suspension work. You need to lock the steering wheel in place and test each component until you find where the slop is, something is worn out and installing a band aid shock to slow the vibrations a little won't fix the problem.

[SoCal Waite]

take it to a GOOD alignment shop, some place that only does alignments / performance suspension work. You need to lock the steering wheel in place and test each component until you find where the slop is, something is worn out and installing a band aid shock to slow the vibrations a little won't fix the problem.

Yeah, I thought it was a good alignment shop, they do a manual alignment (I forget the type, but it isn't computerized, and set to a factory spec) when I took it there I asked for a very thorough inspection, guess they missed that.

Guess Ill have to put 'er back in the air and tie the wheel to the brake pedal and start disassembling the steering components to find this. Would a steering shock help keep this from happening in the future?

[Blind]

It might, though I don't get any vibrations through my steering wheel at all and it doesn't tramline/follow grooves on the highway/get any bumpsteer when hitting bumps and I don't have a steering shock. I have 285/35r22 tires up front. At about 80k miles every steering component except the steering box on my truck was replaced with moog parts, I'm at about 125k now.

I had a steering shock setup on my old `86 f150 4x4 that had 35" tires, and I drove it with and without it while I rebuilt the front steering parts, the only thing the steering shock did was reduce wheel vibration going slow, and reduced how much bump steer I felt when hitting bumps while playing around off-road on trails.

I think they're kinda bull**** to be honest, but again I have not felt one on one of these trucks before, but them being 2wd street driven I really don't see the need.

[SoCal Waite]

every steering component except the steering box on my truck was replaced with moog parts

Did that include upper and lower ball joints?

[Blind]

yep, the originals had a couple of torn rubber boots.

[TX Harley Guy]

Josh was that the *finger quoting (lol) "Bump Steer" kit seen here? LFP Bump Steer Stabilizer Kit Ford Lightning / Harley at LightningForcePerformance.com - Your American Muscle Parts Depot that you're talking about?

I ask because today I had a weird experience, braking to a stop sign from about 50 mph, I hit a small bump and my steering wheel started to shimmy pretty bad. At least 1/2" back and forth until I slowed below 20. I have not seen this before, and could not induce it again. I put the truck in the air, and checked all the control arms, ball joints, steering joints, sway bar & bushings, lug nuts, both hubs, shocks front and rear, as well as leaf springs for good measure. Nothing felt loose or showed abnormal wear, though I did find my left front tire was about 8psi lower than the right front, but I doubt that would do this. The one thing I did find that was peculiar was with the tires off the ground still I could shake the steering wheel left to right about 1/2" (as it did on the road today) and the wheels where not moving. Maybe my steering box going bad? The alignment shop said it was worn, but not enough to replace. The tires are the Kumho's (I hate them, but will replace them when needed) 275/45's.

Sorry for thread jacking, but its still on subject...kinda.

Sounds like the dreaded "Death wobble" very common in solid axle trucks, in these trucks its usually ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, or control arm bushings worn out.

[SoCal Waite]

I am going to follow Blind's lead, since I now have almost exactly 80k miles and just rebuild the entire front end. I sourced all the moog parts from Rockauto and they are just shy of $400, and I'll do all the work myself, aside from the alignment. Then maybe summer time I'll do the tires and they'll last more than the year and a half my Kumho's did.