newcoyote

I've been having some front end issues with my 07 F150 FX4. I had to replace a driver side outer tie rod end. Except for the steering wheel being off to the right a little, it was ok. Steered normally and straight down the road. I took it in for the alignment and was told the Inner tie rod was shot too. Rather than pay a couple of hundred bucks to have a shop do it, I bought my own parts and did it myself. I expected the alignment to be off of course and rough measured it until I can get it in. Now the steering wheel is about the same degree off (which isn't much. Maybe 2" of travel right of 12 o'clock) but the steering is very resistant. It feels like I have no power steering at slow speeds. Resists then releases a little then resists again. I still don't think that is unexpected prior to having a proper alignment done. What does concern me is, I lift both wheels off the ground to see what the turning felt like. I wanted to see if the resistance I was feeling was due to the tires gripping the road unequally. Up in the air, the feeling is much less but still not as light as I would think. The turning resistance is not consistent either. It will feel tight, then give a bit then tight again and so on. Besides the obvious discrepancy in measurement, the job was very straightforward to do. I looked up several videos on how to do it and mine went the same. I'm taking it in tomorrow. I hope it is just a case of getting it properly aligned and nothing got buggered up. I can't think of how I could have damaged anything other than the measuring. Hope all this makes sense. Ideas or normal?

PerryB

Your steering shaft U-joints are probably binding. Not an uncommon issue. Give them a soak with Kroil or PB Blaster and see if there is a noticeable improvement.

newcoyote

Not sure about that because of the change from normal to very not normal was immediate. Fine before inner tie rod replaced, instantly very different after. EDIT: After researching a little that problem, my symptoms do seem similar to that. The one major discrepancy is the suddenness of how it happened with mine. The binding steering shaft and u-joints sound like something gradual. I'll certainly keep this as something to look at. Thank you. SECOND EDIT: OK so that got me thinking. I went out to look to see and just give the U-joints a blast. WD-40 is all I have on hand and of course, you know of the 158 half full cans, all but one had a gibbled nozzle or would not spray. Anyhow, I gave em a soak and right away it feels noticeably better. Still a bit stiff but I will chalk that up to needing to it soak in longer. I hope. I just don't understand why it would correlate so perfectly and suddenly after working on something else. Could be related, maybe not. If I have learned one thing trying to do repairs, is just because something is wrong, doesn't mean there is not something else independently wrong contributing to the same issue. More often than not. Also, it reminds me of the rule of threes. "They say the rule is, bad things happen in threes. If a fourth bad thing happens, it doesn't discount the rule. It just means the cycle is starting over." Thanks for the pointer. Optimistic.

newcoyote

After soaking overnight and driving today, the problem I was experiencing is all but gone. Much gratitude.

PerryB

Any time. Every once in a while I get something right.
A parallel to the rule of threes : Be wary of the light at the end of the tunnel. It might be the train.