2005 F150 steering rack

[Colt45ws]

My friend brought his F150 over today for me too look at. Symptoms are a thump when hitting bumps with the front suspension. It seems to have been growing worse over the last 10k miles or so. The only thing I could find was the steering rack was thumping like some backlash in the gears. You can't really feel any looseness in the steering.
What do you think is going on? Will it need the rack replaced?

 

[ejes]

Could be a tie rod end. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint them as the culprit because it doesn't take much to make them thump like that. I had that on my 04" Ram. It would thump on the driver's side over bumps like railroad tracks and washboards, but I could not pry the tie rod end enough or rock or move the wheel enough to find that it was bad. The rack was leaking bad enough that I needed to replace it anyway and thought that would solve both problems. The thump remained. I replaced the tie rod end and that did it. If you don't think it is the outer tie rod end, but feel looseness or clunking by moving and prying on the rod that leads you to think it is the inner tie rod, it could still be the bushing where the inner tie rod meets the rack. To make sure it is not the inner tie rod end, but rather the bushing in the rack, take a pry bar and pry on the rack where the bushing is and the frame. If there is clunking there, it is the rack and it needs replaced. If it is the bushing, you'll probably see some leaking of fluid around that bushing anyway.

 

[Taildragger]

Also take a look at the swaybar links.

 

[MNgopher]

Ditto on the sway bar links. Makes a clunking type sound on bumps - both times they failed on my '04 f150 (176,000 miles).

 

[Colt45ws]

Oh, I should add, It has 120k miles on it. I checked the links, they seemed fine but I only had it for a bout 45 minutes and I spent most of that just trying to pinpoint the source (also, figuring out how to make the noise appear while its static)
Im going to have it all day in a week or so while I do spark plugs and boots (4.6L, so no broken plugs) on it so Ill be able to go over it.
The inner tie-rod end or whatever its called where it attaches to the rack was something I thought of too, but wasnt too sure how to check them since it looks like I have to break the rings that are holding the boots on the end.

 

[crazyoildude]

with engine off turn wheel back and forth with someone under the truck and look for play everywhere you will see it id its there unless its in the rack also check all stabilizer links those are also common. How many miles?

 

[bdcardinal]

FWIW I sell a ton of racks on F150s, and can't remember a time I have sold an end-link on a F150.

 

[Chris142]

Upper arm bushings too

 

[ejes]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
FWIW I sell a ton of racks on F150s, and can't remember a time I have sold an end-link on a F150.


I'd say that advice is worth plenty from a Ford parts man, lol. I would always like to have some statistics like that when I'm looking for the problem.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: ejes
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
FWIW I sell a ton of racks on F150s, and can't remember a time I have sold an end-link on a F150.


I'd say that advice is worth plenty from a Ford parts man, lol. I would always like to have some statistics like that when I'm looking for the problem.


BTW this was referring to the 04-14 F150s. Sell a ton of links on the -03 ones. Also sell a bunch of lower ball joints and upper control arms on the 04-14 ones.

 

[Colt45ws]

Copy on the stats. Ill check over those parts. With a bar if needed. When we were moving the steering wheel back and forth it really did sound like backlash in the gear it self. But, it can be made by rocking the truck a certain way, too.

 

[bvance554]

Your friend brought his truck to you, and your asking an internet forum for suggestions...

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: bvance554
Your friend brought his truck to you, and your asking an internet forum for suggestions...

I do research, not make assumptions. This isn't the only place Im looking for information, though only posting here as I don't have an account on the F150 forums out there. Still lots of data to troll through.
If this was my job, that would be different, but Im just looking at it as a favor.

 

[Colt45ws]

The only thing I could find have a decent amount of movement, was the upper balljoints.
Observe:

This is the right side upper control arm. I had it on jackstands, so full droop, and placed an prybar so it was levering off the spring and pushed down and could see it move. The left side also did it, but didnt seem as pronounced.
He said the noise usually comes up when making a right turn and something, like a driveway, bumps the suspension on that side.
Bad balljoint?

 

[JetStar]

Definitely some movement. That would be a good place to start. It looks like the spring seats in the lower arm? Is there a jack under the lower arm? I ask to determine if it's fully un-loaded. It might clunk if you get it un-loaded.

I don't know what year your F150 is, but the Mustang 4.6L (3V) had two piece plugs that can come apart upon removal up through some time in late 2008. Do the 4.6's in the trucks have this issue as well?

 

[bdcardinal]

The front dampers on the 04-14 F150s is a coilover strut type setup. Any play past .8mm when unloaded is grounds for replacement per the book.

That year truck should have a 4.6L 2V which does not have the plugs that break in the head.

 

[andyd]

Yah BD, I was a parts guy in the phone co. I learned a lot from giving and taking in parts. .8mm is barely measure-able play, so any play

is bad.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: andyd
Yah BD, I was a parts guy in the phone co. I learned a lot from giving and taking in parts. .8mm is barely measure-able play, so any play

is bad.


I was about the use the blanket term "any perceptible play" but I took the 30 seconds to fire up the FSM to double check.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: JetStar
Definitely some movement. That would be a good place to start. It looks like the spring seats in the lower arm? Is there a jack under the lower arm? I ask to determine if it's fully un-loaded. It might clunk if you get it un-loaded.

I don't know what year your F150 is, but the Mustang 4.6L (3V) had two piece plugs that can come apart upon removal up through some time in late 2008. Do the 4.6's in the trucks have this issue as well?


No jack, it was fully unloaded.

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
The front dampers on the 04-14 F150s is a coilover strut type setup. Any play past .8mm when unloaded is grounds for replacement per the book.

That year truck should have a 4.6L 2V which does not have the plugs that break in the head.


Okay, Ill go with the upper balljoints being bad, with this one worse than the other side.

And yeah, Romeo 4.6L 2V is whats in it. I happen to have a spare one sitting from my '04 CV in case it blows too.

 

[Ojustracing]

You need to place a jack under the lower control arm. This unloads the Ball-joints. Jacked up at full drop is trying to pull the joint apart which doesn't show worn joints very well. Re-test with a jack under the lower control arm and report back. Especially the lower.