Hey everyone. I'm a new F150 owner. I bought a 2004 F150 4x4 with the 5.4 (new body style) last Friday. I purchased it knowing there was some play in the steering wheel. The guy I bought it from said it needed tie rods.

When I say play I mean, if i put my hand on top of the wheel I can turn it maybe 1 1/2" to 2" each way before I actually turn the wheels at all.

Last night I bought some tie rods and installed them. It made no change. Now, I realize I goofed by not actually checking the tie rods first to make sure that was the issue, but live and learn right?

So here is my issue. Sitting in the garage with the wheels straight if I wiggle the steering wheel you can see the steering shaft (proper term?) move with the turns of the wheel. It seems to be solid all the way into the steering gear box. I can grab the shaft and turn that and it moves the wheel as well. So, to me, it seems like the problem has to be at some point after that shaft enters the gear box. Right?

It appears as though the most economical way to do this is to replace the whole rack and pinion (again...proper term?) See the link for what I think it is.

Here is my question: Is this something that is super hard to do? I am fairly mechanically inclined but i don't have a lot of experience working on cars and less on trucks. It seems fairly simple.
Pull the wheels off.
Unhook the outer tie rods.
Unhook power steering lines.
Clean up power steering fluid that I spilled all over myself and the floor.
Then it seems like a few bolts and its out.
Repeat previous steps in reverse with the new parts?


Sorry for the long post. Any help you guys could give would be great!

Thanks!