Steering noise after upper & lower bal joint repair

[davem]

My 2001 XLT V-6 with 108,000 miles was really creaking/groaning over bumps/turns, so took it to a shop. They replaced the upper and lower ball joints.

When I picked up the vehicle, they mentioned it will take a little extra 'steering effort' until its 'broken in'. That surprised me, but sure enough, when I first drove it, I did notice what seemed like the power steering pump kicking in sooner than normal.

Do these parts take awhile to 'break in' ? Or maybe something was installed too tight ? Or something else got messed up during the repair ?

Thanks.

Dave

 

[my pos mounty]

The front end should only feel "tighter" in a different sense of the word. It should not take more effort to steer the vehicle, but you might feel small steering corrections sooner (if that make sense). You changed the worn parts that had some "slop" in them and the new ones will not have that slop. However it should not take any more effort to turn the wheels either direction.
If it is taking more effort to steer the truck, give it a few days and if it still is, take it back to them and complain.

 

[davem]

I probably should not have said 'more effort', because its really no more effort in terms of turning the steering wheel. But I can defintely feel and hear the power steering kicking in sooner. Normally it would take a nearly full spin of the wheel to the left/right ('lock to lock') to hear the power steering kick in.