Mark_883

Good luck to anyone going through this ! Ive been dealing with this for almost a year now pretty much the whole time ive owned the truck . completley stock and have had 3 dif racks put it and the current one does it at all temps . After dealing with this and being jerked around by dealerships and even ford , saying that its normal . I will NEVER purchase a ford again these trucks are overpriced pieces of crap ! Extremley dissapointed in the quality of these trucks . And if you are planning on getting one save yourself the money and hassle

theApoc

First off I am going to say that I was one of the first group of people to report this problem a little over 4 years ago. I had my EPS rack replaced early in the summer of the first year that I bought my truck. I have not had an issue ever since.

I do not know why Ford won't own up to this problem, probably because based on the amount of trucks sold the issue is not prevalent enough to warrant a recall. That said, you are completely wrong about the quality of the vehicle as a whole.

Yes I am biased as I love my truck and it has been the best vehicle I have ever owned. I had the rack replaced early on and have not had any issues since. No, I do not drive my truck into the ground, but I have used it to haul all sorts of materials(no off-roading yet) taken it on lengthy road trips, etc.

I live in a region where the summers can get over 100 and the winter temp today was a negative number. It rains all the time and a vast majority of the region is surrounded by hills. My truck gets a workout.

The racks for the trucks are ****. The trucks themselves are awesome. And compared to any other similarly equipped vehicle I would(and plan on) taking a new F-150 over any other brand without hesitation.

Don't buy from the dealers that won't take care of the problem. Petition to get a class action lawsuit against ford. But don't make ridiculous claims about a vehicle model as a whole. YOUR truck has a defective EPS rack, which they seem to keep using. That is not going to be the case for everyone.

Now, that being said, if you are buying a new truck, tell the dealer up front that you are aware of the EPS issue and that you will be returning the vehicle should any issue arise with that part. Sorry for all the hassle you have endured. It truly does suck.

cmalk98

I had my steering rack replaced around 6000 miles. Initially it seemed to be better but now that it's super cold out where I live it pops and rattles as bad if not worse before it was replaced. It only does this on non smooth road like dirt or gravel roads with pot holes. Very frustrating. Had a difficult time for the dealership to even acknowledge there was something wrong because they would drive it on a smooth road and say everything seems fine...ie can't duplicate the problem. At this point after 200 plus pages of posts with no real remedy to the problem I guess I'm gonna have to live with it or dump it and get something else. I love everything about my truck except this! Drives me nuts!!!

Ecoboostin

Took mine to the dealer last week and found out this was the problem. But unfortunately this part is not covered under the extended power train warranty I bought. So now I get to replace it myself, once I save enough money. I am still curious of why this has not been recalled yet if this many people have had the same problem.

winchested

Not worth it to replace it until the whole unit breaks. Mine has actually subsided and is barely noticeable now. A year later.

K.jfitz

So, first I had this problem on my 2011 XLT and it's FIXED, and it was the rack! Now for the saga...I bought the truck from Carmax and noticed the dreaded clunking when wheel was at neutral in the 4 and 10 o clock positions on the wheel. Carmax first replaced my rotors and did a balance as well as checked all bushings, rod ends, etc... The problem stayed so they changed out the lower steering column. This actually made the clunk slightly worse. It was always there, sometimes barely felt and other times I swore I could hear it. About that time I found this thread and immediately directed my mechanic to it. I know forums are not the best way to trouble shoot but I figured a 200 page thread with my exact problem was a good place to start.

At this time the mech was ready to replace the rack, but, the Service Manager directed him to take it to Freedom Ford first to make sure. Of course the guys there said it was not the rack and that they have never had to replace one so I was a crack smoking idiot for the suggestion. They instead replaced both inner and outer tie rod ends, test drove it and called it good. The problem always takes a few miles, and about 15-30 min to surface so a ride around the lot was not going to expose it. Low and behold when I took the truck from Carmax I didn't even make it down the road before I felt it again. I turned right back and dropped it off again. They called me right back to say there were no issues with the truck and to come get it.

Now, I had been getting loaners in the mean time and that only convinced me that in every other aspect this truck was heads and shoulders above the rest so I was determined to get the rack replaced either free from the dealer or at my own expense. At this point, I took the truck on a 450+mi trip and just about drove it into a tree just to stop the maddening clunk! I went straight to the dealer on a bad day and asked the mech to hop in. Well, he obliged and in about 2.5 sec apologetically said I was correct, the clunk was still there. The manager took just about as long to tell me Hell with Ford he was getting the rack replaced.

Well, 6,000 mi later the truck drives like it should and puts the smile on my face I always knew it could. The key was I knew I sounded like the crazy, hypochondriac where every problem I found on a forum is on my truck. I approached the situation with that self awareness in mind and openly stated as much to the mech and the SM. It was through titanic amounts of self control and good humor on my part that Carmax continued to deal with me long after the deal was done. Some things to note are that the problem takes a few miles to manifest itself. Ford STILL has not acknowledged any rack problems. You are not crazy the clunk is there and you might need to ply your mech with bribes to get him to ride along when it is there. And, show them this thread, it's a lot of discussion on a pretty specific problem, it's hard to ignore.

Good luck to the rest out there and thanks everyone for your posts. They helped and now I couldn't be happier with my truck.

FX4EB4.10

A year after having my rack replaced, this problem has returned on my 2012 with 28k now. And again, the first dealer I took it to is telling me it's normal. I sent FordService a PM with the info again. This problem is so aggravating that I hate driving this truck.

Has anyone heard of someone doing a 6.2 conversion and using the factory equipped hydraulic power steering?

toomanyc

I was wondering the same thing.

ElGordoTejano

I got rid of my problem easy peasy.

I got a new truck. They could never get it fixed.

lewis26

iTrader: (1)

Unless you got a 6.2L, you still have the same components and risk of the problem reappearing.