skairkrow

I'm about to pick up. 2004 f150 fx4 4x4. The only problem is the steering box is leaking and it needs a track bar according to the owner. I ask could I drive without the track bar and he took me down the road and it was all over the place. It would randomly try to veer off left or right.

The truck has an 8 inch lift. On 37's it has 02 F250 straight axles in the front and back.

Is the track bar the issue or do I need to dig deeper into this?

I'm somewhat of a mechanic I can rebuild engines and old school transmissions but this truck stuff is uncharted territory for me.

maxpat82

Custom suspension up front and steering issue going down the road in a straight line:

someone doesn't know how to setup Caster angle!

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like it's either a hack job SAS or just plain beat to ****. Either way, if the price isn't extremely low then I'd pass..

I doubt it's just a track bar issue.. It probably is the ball joints, a sloppy pitman arm, track bar and I wouldn't doubt if there is no sway bar at all.

Pics would be nice, you don't see too many 04-08's with SAS jobs around here..

skairkrow

I'll post pics when I get a chance. But to further explains what it does you basically have to rotate the steering wheel from 12 o clock (straight) to 3 o clock back to 12 then to 9 just randomly if that makes sense the truck only has 107k miles and I'm getting it for free basically

skairkrow

F150

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

Well I'd say when the truck is next to free then the price is right!... The truck looks bad *** btw..

All that slop is probably a stripped out pitman arm and or a stripped out spline on the steering box.. The damage could be internal on the steering box itself, so I would certainly be looking to replace pretty much all of it.. Add in a couple steering stabilizers to cope with the big tires, and you will probably have yourself a pretty damn capable rig..

Whatever made it break might also need to be addressed. The stabilizers will help, but adding a couple ladder bars (torsion bars) from the frame to axel if they are not already there will probably keep that SAS in place.. Sounds like its going to be a fun truck to own after you do a little work to it...

I'd like to see some up close pics of the SAS job if you can provide them.. I'm wondering how the front suspension is set up..

skairkrow

Yeah I was trying to upload the pics of the actual suspension but its telling me I cant. Yes the truck needs a Bit of work but like I said its basically free. I'll upload some pics soon. And he did say the steering box was messed up but he was adimant about the issue being the lack if a track bar. But everything I read on line says driving with no track bar wouldn't cause the dangerous steering issue