jared311

So my truck is experiencing a violent wobble from left to right and it can be felt through the floor and all the way up to through the steering wheel. In fact I can see the steering wheel shaking left and right. Hitting a bump in the road over 40 mph will set it off into the shake and then it slowly dampens down. If I let off accelerating it dies down quicker. I also notice it slightly when going into a turn at speeds over 40 mph.

I jacked my truck up this morning and I noticed there was a good amount of play when pushing the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock. Also, I seem to feel it a lot more on the driver side and that tire definitely had more play too. There doesn't seem to be any play vertically though.

I have no experience with tie rods and wheel bearings and was wondering how I distinguish which one may be the problem?

Wes96

jack your truck up and grab the top of the tire and try and shake it in and out. if there play there its your wheel bearrings.

or

just grab your tire rod and try to wiggle that and look for play. or u can have a buddy jump in the drivers seat and turn the stearing wheel back and forth while you are under to see if theres play there. you will notice it very quickly either way and be able to tell right off if its your problem or not.

youtube has some great videos on how to tell if these parts are wore out or not as well

jared311

With the truck jacked, should I be able to rotate the tie rods? I can spin them a good 1/4 or so turn back at the bushing.

jared311

Update: I replaced my tie rod ends and the problem still exists...

Since wheel bearings are pretty cheap and easy, I think I am going to replace those next. However I am really not sure of what is causing the play in steering. I also have tried wedging a pry bar under each tire and the ball joints didn't seem to have any give.

I certainly could go through and replace the front end part by part but that wouldn't make sense for me since I am trying to save money by doing the work myself. Anyone have any good suggestions? I was thinking maybe it could be the stabilizer?

Javi_F-150

how's the pitman and idler arm...do they look okay? Did you replace both outer and inner tie rods on both sides?

DIABL0

have you balanced your tires recently and an alignment?

jared311

Another Update:

So I jacked up the driver's side front end and kicked the inside of the tire at 3 o'clock and could see significant play in the steering. The tie rods seem to move in sync with the center link and this goes all the way in sync with the pitman and idler arm. So does this tell me anything? Should I replace both the pitman and idler arm?

jared311

Javi_F-150, I replaced only the outer tie rods on both sides.

Diablo, I had all tires balanced and rotated along with an alignment less than a year ago.

Javi_F-150

Jared, what I would do is have someone turn the wheel, while you are under the truck and go from there.

Keep us updated & good luck.

jared311

So it looked like there was some play and a slight clicking noise in the pitman arm so I decided to replace it and the idler arm as well. Removing the idler arm was a piece of cake. I had it off in under 15 minutes and the pitman arm puller worked like a charm for separating it from the center link.

Next I moved onto the pitman arm and had the nut off in no time whatsoever. I figured I was on easy street at this point... All that was left was to separate the arm from the steering box. I put my pitman arm puller on and cranked away on it. I ended up using a 3 foot cheater to get enough torque. Just when I though I couldn't crank it anymore, "BOOM". Sounded just like before when the pitman arm puller popped off... or so I thought. The pitman arm puller cracked and then proceeded to fall off. At this point I said EFFF it, and decided to just keep the old pitman arm on until I could find some more time to work on it. Except that when I went to put the old castle nut back on, the threaded bolt spun in place.

My two options are:

1) Tow it to the shop and have them separate the pitman arm and finish up.

or

2) Go get another pitman arm puller and remove the steerinbox and see if I can torque it off.

Suggestions???