"loose" steering / wondering - Fix E brake labor day project

[MountaineerGreen]

Ok, instead of doing 12 oz curls all day tomorrow, I am going to try to fix my loose steering problem. I need some help with some diagnosis first.

When I am driving down the road the mountaineer wonders from side to side. I find myself steering to correct the problem, then steering the opposite way when it wonders the other way. It drives me crazy.

I checked my front end while I had the wheels off of the ground. There is some slack and or slop in the steering wheel with the engine off and the key on sitting on concrete. With a helper, I checked the shaft from the wheel to the rack and all seems tight. With the wheels off the ground and the key off, both wheels move from side to side slightly. Both wheels seem to move together, and the tie rod ends seem to not have any slop. My thinking is my rack is worn. Is this a common problem? The front end squeaks and groans when driving slow through parking lots and when turning. I don't know if that is related or not. Anybody have any suggestions?

Secondly, my rear brakes seem to be dragging. I think it is my rear e brake. I suspect that when I did my F150 leaf pack swap, it pulled the cable. I think that because my e brake no longer works, the petal just sinks to the floor board. Any suggestions?

 

[Turdle]

Are you sure the slop isn't in the intermidiate shaft? The symptoms sound just like my expeience.
Mine got sloppy right at the slide joint. Try twisting both sections in opposite directions.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

^^^ I'll check that out. I really don't want to have to tear down the front end, so the intermediate shaft would be a nice fix. ^^^

 

[Turdle]

get one from a '96, Ill tell ya how to get it to work

 

[MountaineerGreen]

ok, I got a hold of the intermediate shaft and it seems to be tight. I can take it and twist while watching the boot on the rack, and the boot moves with it. When sitting, I think the rack is squeaking when truning the wheel. It dosent matter if the engine is on or off. I dont have anyone to help today, so I cant move the wheel and look at the same time. The tie rods seem tight, I cant get them to wiggle or pop. Is it the rack?

 

[sethpdx]

steering gears?

I had 2 inches of play from center of steering wheel either way.. replaced steering gears assembly and vola.. tight steering.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I changed out the rack and pinion and tie rod ends yesterday. I got the alignment today and all seems to be better. My intermediate shaft was tight as a drum, even at the double joint inside the boot. What a job it was to change that rack out- I had to loosen my driver side motor mount nuts and jack the motor up to get enough clearance. The pinch bolt that hold the steering shaft to the rack was almost impossible to get to as well.