97 F350 Torque Steer

forddieseldoctor · July 18, 2014

I got a 97 F350 2wd dually at work with 160,000 miles on it. 7.3 with an auto. When you get to highway speeds it has torque steer. I can bounce it from line to line using just the throttle. I checked all of the suspension and steering over, the only thing I found other than original shocks and steering stabilizer was a small amount of play in the ball joints. Replaced all 4 ball joints today and took it for a ride, it still has torque steer. Threw it up on the alignment rack, took readings, I have -0.1 degree of rf camber, 0.2 degrees of lf camber. The caster was right dead nuts on the left side and 0.3 degrees more on the right side. Toe was set at exactly 0. I changed nothing. The rear tires are new within the last 3 months, the fronts are the best 2 that came off of the rear and still over 7/32. The only reason there was any tires put on it was because the fronts were shot and the customer decided to buy 4 for the back instead of 2 for the front. :shrug: I also noticed today that it feels like it's got an overtightened steering gear cause it seems to want to fight in the center of the steering. The gear was replaced about 2 years ago with a Motorcraft one. I adjusted the meshload down a 1/8 turn and drove it and there was no change what so ever. I can spin both front wheels freely in the air. I've had someone moving the steering wheel while I watched the tie rods for play. Radius arm bushings look normal, I pryed on the control arms and can't see any movement in the bushings.

Can junk shocks cause this?

Has anyone else heard of this before on one of these trucks?

BigWalt · July 18, 2014

check the rear suspension.

broken leaf spring, loose u bolts, crack / broken shackles, worn or missing bushing or boken leaf spring center pin / bolt.

Jim Warman · July 19, 2014

Is "torque steer" really an accurate description here? Usually affects front wheel drives with different front axle lengths (you don't mention if this is 4WD etc. ). As BigWalt suggests, check the rear suspension - broken leafs, U-bolts out of position, "splayed/loose" broken centerbolts? Is this a twin I beam truck or a solid front? Whoops - just noticed the ref to radius arms.

Does this have real tie rod ends or those fakealoo rubber bushed abortions? Improper installation will result in induced memory steer - and that statement is somewhat inaccurate. Whenever you adjust a steering gear looser, use a bar on the end of the sector shaft to physically neutralize the relationship between the ball nut and the sector. Swap your front tires side for each to see if that makes a difference..

Good luck!

Matt Saunoras · July 19, 2014

I had a later super duty with an over tightened gearbox get me recently. Just for fun check your steering effort with the wheels off the ground. Common sense usually can dictate if it's too tight.

When I tried to decrease the meshload on the steering gear it did not change anything. A new one fixed it.

forddieseldoctor · July 19, 2014

Customer stopped in to pay the bill today. I got to talk to him for a couple of minutes. He said that its better with the new ball joints. He also told me that it seemed to show up after we did the tire work, which I'm almost positive he didn't mention that the other day. He said that he's gonna run it for a while. I told him that I wanted to swap the front tires and try it but that i ran out of time yesterday. So we'll see what happens when he decides that he doesn't wanna live with it.