Hello everybody, Good day to you and welcome back! Glad you guys are here. For those of you who it's your first time here, just welcome. I'm also glad you're here I Know I'm super glad to be here. This is a third.

F250 Super Duty It's got six seven. Power Stroke It's a little lifted. It's a little squatted. Customer states that while driving the steering feels like it's sticking and binding.

Yeah, something's going on with the front end on this thing. I'm not really sure what we got going on here. Looks like we have a solid front axle. It's four wheel drive.

again, kind of lifted. We've got some Fox 2.0 performance shock absorbing units on this, but it's got some kind of issue with something in there that's a movable part. So what I think we need to be doing is go out and drive it. We're going to duplicate our customers concern.

Get out there. and then, uh, once we have verified that the steering doesn't backstick, we'll bring it in, lift it up, get it on the rack, and see if we cannot diagnose a set issue starting the engine. Six seven nice. I Bet a-rod's super jelly right now.

This is a beautiful truck with nine four thousand, four hundred, five point four miles on the odometer. All right, let's get her out in the wild real quick. go through some gears, drive it around some, and see, uh, see what else this particular. F250 So stay tuned because this is gonna be a very good video opening.

Z Hood Thank you! Oh, that turbine sounds good I Want one for my truck? I Mean hang on I'll rephrase I Have a turbo on my truck, but this one's louder. It makes the pew pew pew pew pew pew. sound. Steering sticking sticking steering.

Yeah, kind of you point it that way. it stays going that way you pointed. that way, it stays going that way. Interesting.

Yep, we're probably gonna have to take some components off and isolate the system here around manually to see and feel what is, uh, what's sticking or binding. Maybe it's just got a bunch of stuff loose and she's flippy flopping around. They never complained of the death wobble I'm wondering if it has that. Also, let's get it up to some speed on top of the bridge.

Ah, lucky me. Green light there we go. Four on some horsepowers here. See? So um, yeah.

front ends not the greatest here. it's out of alignment. I Know that because the steering wheel is favoring the left and it seems to have a bit of a pull. All right.

let's go back to the shop under the bridge. We'll swing it inside, get it up on the lift, and, uh, start disassembly and diagnosis. All right then? I Got the shop here. Let's uh, let's get this unit nosed in.

You know what? I Might I Might back it in. We might. We're doing front end work and it's hot in the corner. I Think I'm gonna back this unit in.

Yeah, that's probably best. Okay so I have this thing backed in it is uh, it's set up I'm big rack. this is 12 000 pound Atlas lift and we're far forward as we can get on our front lift arms and we are as far back as we can get on the rear lift arms. Ideally I Wanted this truck farther back than when I parked it.

The back of the bumper was right about yeah, like right here on the building. like we barely had any space. but my issue was is these arms would not reach that location. So I nudged it forward a little bit.

Not the best CG in the world, but the uh, the rack is not leaning and falling out of ground when I when I put the weight of the truck on it. watch this. look at that. We didn't get a whole bunch of lean and flex out of it.

So I think we're good. Check the floor real quick and make sure uh, it's not trying to pull the bolts out of the ground. All right. I didn't feel the uh the base of the rack flexing so this is gonna be okay I'm still probably gonna put a support under the front of it because I don't want to knock this truck over and make me flat because that would that would be a bad day for me if I flattened myself with an F250 So this, uh, three axle their three-legged jack stand device right here.

that's gonna go right. Smash dab under the front of this. Ranch Hand Hey, look at that. This is the same Ranch Hand bumper that my truck has.

That's pretty cool. See you guys. Four people and Chevy people can all learn to get along. We have the same awesome bumpers, you know some might go.

Wow. This seems remarkably unsafe and dangerous. And you know what? You're probably right. It is unsafe and it is mildly dangerous.

That is just the territory of the job. Like, it doesn't matter if we have an F-550 or a Honda Civic on one of these racks, they will both flatten you just the same. And they're both just as dangerous because we are squishy pieces of meat and these are made out of metal and aluminum. and if they run into you, it's gonna hurt.

You need to set this down on the locks here. Sketch-o-matic I'm going super slow. We don't like the jostle things like that. see that it's all shaking and wandering around.

Spin this guy down. Set it under the bumper here and that's going to give us some stability stability so this thing can't rock back and forth and shake its way off the rack because that would be bad, especially if I'm under it. Also super bad. I Get in there.

Okay, that's pretty much all we need. We just need. We don't need a bunch of pressure on this because then that's going to sort of unload the rack the way it is right now. It's fine so that can stay, That can stay, That can stay.

Let's see what's going on with this uh, sticking binding steering situation down here. Okay, so down below under our front end here: I uh I'm gonna tell you I think right off the get-go I think it has a binding ball joint. Very possible. But we're going to go ahead and do a full-on inspection and we're gonna check out all of the ball and socket joints and one, uh, there we go one there one there.

all the stuff on the steering over here that end this end. this one's been replaced. Looks like it's not a forward part, but we're gonna check out all of these components under this steering and then see if there's any play or looseness. Now if we, if we shake this wheel left to right, we're not going to see much Motion in this stuff right here? It's just it's large equipment and it's hard to see unless the stuff's literally just, you know, dirty, just falling out.

So what I'm going to do here is we're going to do a different method for checking uh, front ends, uh, steering components and that's the use or with the use of very large Channel Lots What we will do is we will place one end of the channel lock on the part and then the other end on its mating component. We're going to squeeze those together If there's anywhere in those ball and socket joints we're going to see potentially see this joint compress up and down so we can squeeze it and they compress and they move around. They show where or they can flop side to side to show where usually the side to side ones that have wear those are worn out excessively. This is uh the squeezing up and down.

That's where we find like the first stage. So let's uh, let's figure out which where to start from. Let's start up here at the steering gear box. That seems like a good place to start right where the input comes in.

So what I want to do is we're going to come up with the pliers. So what we do here is we're going to come in with the big channel lock pliers and we're gonna Place one side of the jaw on the pitman arm and then the other side of the jaw on this piece of steering linkage. We're going to compress those Now the ball. Uh with that ball and socket joint, the ball goes through the steering arm and then it's bolted on.

So this piece and this piece are going to remain solid. This component and what's under this dust boot is is part of this component here and if there is wear in this joint area here, we'll see it via this compression. Yeah, we do have a little bit there see that it's not horrible, but there is somewhere coming in a little closer. I'll squeeze it again and you can see the thing moving up and down.

So we do have some wear in this component so there is a problem here, but that is not the problem. Remember we are looking for a binding suspension, not a loose suspension so it will be noted, but we need to move on and check until we find what's binding again. I Think it's ball joints, but we are going to check everything All right. Moving on to these tire rods.

I Don't expect this one to be loose because it's fairly wow. Fairly newish. That kind of hurt it pinched my finger in the end of the thing. Get a good squeeze on it and that one's good.

That side's just fine. Let's squeeze this one here and see if we get any motion out of it. Yeah, a little bit. Nothing crazy.

It's a It's enough to note and enough to recommend. but again, it's not the problem here. This is not the problem. it's a problem.

Not B problem. Okay, one more primary component to check on the steering. Let's maneuver on back over here. We'll check this side right there.

A little bit of camera weebie, wobbly action. Let's open up our draw some and you have a decent amount of play here also. Okay, so here on the driver's side: outer tie rod. This is where I want to disassemble or begin disassembling.

This is a very good place to isolate components. Starting with this tie rod, When we take this off, this steering knuckle here will be completely free of anything holding it in the forward position. Once this thing is freed up, we can go to the outside of the wheel and spin the wheel, rotate it left and right as if we were turning the vehicle, and we'll be able to tell if these ball joints are sticking or binding. So we'll pull our Cotter pin.

We'll pull our old castle nut lock ring device uh thingy over here I Have to get exactly what it's called. That guy. it looks like a castle nut, but it's just a locker and now we can. Oh a lot of dirt on that.

Let me get some air. we're going to blow that off and get some lubricant on it. So I came back I've got some penetrating lube and I've got my little blow gun here on the air nozzle and blow some of this dirt out. I Don't want to risk damaging these threads because if we don't do any repairs gonna take this apart and damage it I'm kind of on the hook for the cost of it I Don't want to do that Okay, We've got the I think it's 21 mil and a 90 degree impact.

small size. that should get us in here for this bolt here. Unclick action that's good came right out. That's nice.

I Like that and for good measure, throw some more. Lube In there we need to get a puller. I Think to pop this, uh, tie rod out of here. What I'll do is put that nut back on to protect the threads on the tie rod and then we'll get the puller.

Okay, got a tie rod puller coming in. I'm gonna try to squeeze this guy in there without having to take the brakes and whatnot apart if it's if it makes it in and we're able to pull this out with this device, we're good after this. I might just bash that with a hammer and and drive it out. I'd like to do the least potentially damaging thing first.

Kind of good. Okay, okay, let's switch out our our socket on our 90 degree here. infant. Fail.

Look at that. it already didn't work. Losing it. Okay, that didn't work I wonder if I can squeeze that puller in on the back side? now? No, yeah, that was that thing's in there.

We'll try one more time, see what happens. Maybe it'll come out. Maybe not. All right.

Well, that didn't work. Let's bash this thing with a hammer some. I've asked you guys for the hammer. sorry you? Okay everybody.

Okay there. that was super easy, right? So what we're gonna do? I'll pull that nut off. We're gonna drop this tie rod down. We don't need to remove it just to disconnect it from the steering linkage here.

Let's bring that guy out. give him a nut and a little bit of encouragement here to drop that out. Oh no, no. the uh.

this rod runs all the way through and it's connected to this bracket and now it won't come down any farther. See that? Okay, well, maybe we don't need to move it any farther. Let's see here. Let's uh.

let's just try to maneuver this wheel. Yeah, I don't know I mean it's moving. but I don't know if we're binding or not. Let's see.

Could it be one of the U-joints Yeah, those are moving. They need to be greased. See that grease zerk that's never been restarted before? You throw some grease in it? Maintenance though. Maintenance see.

Here's my thing though. just because this is not binding here doesn't mean it's not binding somewhere else. I Don't really care for that. Uh, let's disconnect some parts on the other side as well and then we'll see.

Uh, let's see if we can come up with something over here that that may not be it. Moving over to the right front, this is the passenger side. same procedure bit of business. We're gonna pull the pull our Cotter Keys here.

Cutter Pin Cutter Peeking pin. Whatever. Split pin. Yeah.

that thing 21 coming in to take her loose Loosey Goosey put that on for some Safety Action and then give this some Tamara Tamara halves some Hammer Taps Look at some Hammer Taps here. look at that. We're not out of the woods yet though. there's two parts on this side.

see the upper see if that's free or not. it is a not-free situation. So let's see if we can't drive that outer tie rod upwards with uh with the hammer and the castle nut here. they kind of clamp together with one stud.

y got it upper came loose. See that I'm gonna have to take apart this uh, that bar thing that was holding on to this lower lower tie rod I think but this is also it's not a binding ball joint situation. Okay, all right so as it stands, I'm not of the opinion that those ball joints are sticking just yet. most of the stuff's in good shape.

I'm actually starting to think that these, uh, those U-joints inside of that inner axle right? there could be the issue. See, that's the inner axle and there's a locking hub on this on this wheel hub. I Think What we need to do is lock in these hubs and then turn and then rotate the wheels to see if they are going to bind All we need to do. And fortunately, they still have aftermarket wheels that cover up the lockers.

All we need to do is grab this little knob inside of here, rotate that to the locked position. That's going to lock the gearing inside of that hub assembly and that is going to allow us or allow the Hub to engage the inner axle that's inside the tube. here for four-wheel drive applications. So now we turn it.

It locks the axle. If I come through and unlock. Watch that There we go see unlocked. And now that axle is no longer turning.

Yeah, so we're gonna lock her again. So that proves that our hubs are in fact locking and give that a turn. Okay So these are in a straight line position. So these U-joints and those cups and bearings in there are not really moving much.

they're just kind of in there hanging out. So what we need to do is rotate this wheel. We're gonna grab it both sides. We're gonna turn the wheel as if we're turning the vehicle and then we're going to rotate it.

and that's going to change the the uh angle of attack on those U-joints And that will tell us if there's binding in those U-joints or not. Turn out of it. Now we can rotate it with no Locker engaged. which we see there's no binding or no the locker is engaged I Must have forgotten to disengage.

Okay, so with the locker engaged, we can see all the motion that's taking place at that universal joint right there. You guys see all that. Watch this. See how we can see those cups rotating left and right as they make their Circle that's with our unit locked? Let's go ahead and unlock it.

give it a couple twists. There we go. and now she is unlocked. I Don't think that's the problem.

Let's run over here to our other side and turn the wheel again the other direction. and then we'll check that inner U-joint on this side. Over here, let's give the right front a good turn off to the side. Come on.

now. turn you turn it. Here we go. Okay, we can see we are not locked, wheel is turning, the axle is not turning.

So what we do, come around. Turn that lock and get it engaged. Give that some turns. Now our axle and our U-joint is locked into position.

So let's try rotate this guy now. and oh, look at that. Look at that. I Think we got it.

Yeah, there's definitely something binding here. Look at that. and I don't think it is inside of the differential because if we watch that axle over there the input axle from the transfer case, it's not getting any feedback. We're getting feedback on that side on our outer Universal axle.

But this side over here, that one's binding up. we're not. We're not turning so we have it. Doesn't appear to be this joint or this joint see that that one seems to turn I Think it's going to be one of this one or that one over there.

So what I need to do is kind of power through this, turn it 90 degrees and then see if we can't turn the wheel. If I can't turn the wheel. that's going to confirm that those two U-joint cups are binding up and we're gonna have to replace those and it looks like yeah, I'm putting a lot of meat into it here. and I can't turn this wheel? You know? let's try it.

Two hands We Roll On over here. Oh barely. It turns. barely.

Yeah. But if I rotate this 90 more degrees, it turns quite easily. See that? Okay, got it. We have an issue here with one of those cups inside of that U-joint and just to prove it, we'll unlock this turn.

We'll give it a shake. So it unlocks, rotate 90 degrees and this wheel is going to turn very easily. And more importantly, those U-joint cups are going to turn very, very easily. Yep, see how it did that? See how it's turning as we, uh, jostle it.

It's trying to find a good good Center to turn off of. Yeah, it's one of these joints in here. Gotcha. Let's turn it again.

Yep, I Can feel it binding right here just by hand. It's binding right there. So we need to pull this thing apart. All right, Let's uh, let's pop this.

uh, cap off here with some angular pry bar. It's a curvy angular unit. It's great for stuff like this: fuel injector rails, things like that. I Love these things.

A viewer sent those to me as a gift. Thank you. All right Big 21. Coming in, it has lots of lots of Mass to deliver.

the torque socket with more mass will be more powerful on a gun than a socket with less Mass I Know that seems counterintuitive or incorrect, but that is the cold, hard truth of the physics. It's a fun science fact of the day. This one. there we go.

Pop this unit off of here. Come here. Tire Oh, you're heavy. Oh, that is massive.

Oh no, we have spacers. Oh no. okay, whatever. Well pull those guys out too.

What size are those down there? also? 21s? Oh my yeah, yeah, those are 21. pull these guys out. Oh no, it's stuck. Give it back to me there.

Oh I missed that one. Spacers snippages. Now what? I got one more What do I have one more, two more I have two more I don't got nothing but I have two more. Ah, there we go.

Oh man. I should have just left these like right here. didn't slick about it. Whatever.

All right Spacer, Why are you stuck? Did I miss one? No, Nah, that thing's just kind of. It's just on there. There we go. one spacer removed.

so next up we need to pull off the rotor and the caliper and bracket. But look what we have here, we have some light emitting diode wrap around wheel well lights. so I'm going to have to disconnect that little system. Uh, before we can continue, looks like it's held on with some drywall screws, A couple of those, and uh, we've got one connector unit here for, uh, for the electron circuits.

So what we've got to do? we'll lose that tie wrap. and fortunately for me, it appears that these things are just going to unscrew and disconnect. That's cool. Okay, so we'll go behind that with the screwdriver unit and pull these drywall screws out.

They're not really drywall screws I just like clowning on unscrews a little bit. But let's uh, let's pull these guys out and we'll lose this uh, little light ring business right here. And then we'll pull the the brakes apart and start removing this axle here. What I want to do is pop this axle out and isolate it from the rest of the car.

Just to 100 confirm that it is in fact that you join binding. Um, that's a fairly common thing. So I'm like 99.45 Positive that that usually is cause of our issue, but just got to make sure. Okay, I've got the bottom two screws out of this guy.

So now take that little ring of illuminators, remove that thing, set it aside, we'll get the caliper off. What I wish to do is just pull the caliper and bracket off at the same time you come out. You're here. Impact gun strong.

Bottom one. Nope. Impact going strong. Got it? I Did not think that was gonna pull it off here.

Kirby Angel or Pry Bar Regular pry bar works. but since I have the Kirby angular one out, that's what I'm going to use today and we're going to take this little Red Hook device. hang that up on the coil spring and then we can use that to suspend the caliper right here. So let's get that thing up and out of the way.

let's see how we're gonna do this. The idea here being is not to suspend the caliper by the hose trying to protect the hose here. Check it up and hang it right. Whoa.

Gravity. Get in there trying to get it to hang up on the spring right here. It's not being compliant to my wheel there. Okay, got it.

So now down below, you should be able to work this rotor back and pull that guy off. I May need hammer for that as well. Well, it's more like a mallet just to give it some. Shock Pull that off.

There we go. Set the rotor aside and now we've got a visual on our wheel bearing slash hub assembly. So what we shall do next is go around the back side of this unit. We'll pull the nuts off of these studs and then, uh, we can pull this Hub out and away and that will allow us to pull that axle out.

I Don't think I need to pull the front cover off of this Hub to disengage it from the axle I I Don't know. Um, if that's the case, we're gonna find out real quick. All right. Torx bit coming in for this wheel speed sensor.

Let's just pull that guy right out and a little pocket screwdriver will encourage it to come out of the hole. There we go. That's our wheel speed sensor. Tuck that thing aside and then we need to go around to the back side of this guy and pull those bolts nuts off of the studs.

now. I Do need to get this tie rod right here off of the knuckle because this knuckle is kind of stuck and I can't I can't get the tie rod off because our sway bar is stuck here. So let's pull this upper nut off the sway bar to raise the sway bar up and then I can finally get this tie rod out of here. Rapid onions.

Yeah, that's a pinch lock nut so it's got a grip on the stud. We're going to go in there with some aggressive pliers and just hang on to that stud. Y there we go. Okay, quick trip over to the other side real fast and I'll pull that uh, sway bar link loose.

Okay, that was loose. Foreign. There we go. Now our tie rod is up.

sway bar is up. It's the thing that goes up. Yeah, the sway bar is raised so we can pull this tie rod out. We'll just set that thing aside.

So now we're Exposed on the back side here and we should be able to get to those. Fasteners See those guys one two, and then two on the other side and that's going to allow us to pull that Hub and then pull this axle out of this axle? Well, actually, this is the housing. that's the axle housing. and then that's the actual drive axle.

And then together they would be considered an axle assembly. So when you hear the term assembly, that's going to refer to multiple parts, one of our big nuts: Two Nuts I Think my 90 degree is a little outclassed on this truck. just can't handle the Ford torqueages foreign. Okay, so our front two are out.

Let's get around to the back side here. Spin this thing. we're going to rotate it this way for some access and we'll go around and get those rear nuts removed. I Really hope.

I Don't have to take apart that. Hub It's not my favorite thing to do. Stay. Come here you and you and these are going to go right up in the passenger.

Corner Okay, so we have that thing disconnected, unbolted. Let's grab another hammer and try to, uh, encourage this hub assembly to leave the knuckles. I Can't wait for A-Rod up in Detroit to see this. He works on these things all day, but they're all covered in Northern corrosion and I'm gonna make him jealous.

Let's try bigger hammer. Yeah, it's not moving I think perhaps stuck on the axle thing? Yeah, because it kind of wants to spring back I think I have to take this front Puck face off right here. Yeah, let's do that. Let's see, we are in the unlocked Auto position.

Got a Torx 25 here. Let's pop this guy off. There might be like one nut that holds the end of that axle. Wiggle wiggle wiggle.

Yeah, she goes. that's our locker assembly. Yeah, yeah, there's a there's a snap ring in there. We've got to pull that snap ring out.

Taking a good hard look down inside of there, we can see that big snap ring. I'm gonna go in with some snap ring pliers and get that guy spread apart. Tough. Wow, Got it.

It slipped but I got it there she is. That's the snap ring. So now there should be nothing holding that axle to the uh, the hub assembly. Okay, let's try something real quick.

It's not the appropriate use for this tool. See that? Yep, the axle moved inward. So I'm thinking the Hub should move outwards. Most definitely here she comes.

Okay, let's get behind it with some pry bar action just a little bit help separate this thing. Beautiful. You guys see that sliding right out. Definitely enough to create some greenness in our uh, our friends from the north.

I have no rust. it's our Hub Set that guy down and let's see what we've got going on inside of here. So that's our seal at the outer seal. and I believe there's nothing else securing this, uh, this axle.

So what I'm gonna do, we'll go around behind it, put a tap on it with a hammer, some see if we can't walk it out, it does not seem to be coming out and I believe it's supposed to come right through here. Let's go ahead and start the pry action to get this axle assembly to come out. It's going to take this dust shield with it and probably this uh seal right here. also that's going to get pressed out with it I Don't know if that seal is going to get ruined or not.

I'm going to bank on it. So what we need to do: I'm gonna get behind the uh, the U-joints assembly right here behind that little seal and we're just gonna push this thing this direction and it should push that seal and the end of this axle outwards. Let's give it some pry action here. There we go.

pop loose, see that, give her a tug and our entire axle shaft assembly comes out. Look at that guy. There's a big old shaft here. Let's check this unit out.

some real quick. I Believe we have found the uh the issue regarding the stiffness of our flippy floppy joint here. So that side's in good shape, right? Look at this one cannot even can't even bend it. Oh, that's that height.

Yeah, yeah, so that one's locked up or that one's locked up. Either way, we only have one one joint that is functioning. the other one is not functioning. That is the ultimate stiff big end and this is the cause of our binding steering condition.

so that's a confirmation I Need to go ahead and get this stuff guesstiminated and uh, we're gonna see when I can get some parts for this I Know we're going to do the work, but uh I need to order parts and since it's about 4 30 today I Don't think that's going to happen today now in a situation like this. I would recommend replacing both U-joints on both sides because it stands to reason that since those lives in the exact same environment that if one of them has failed and seized up, the other one has potential to also fail and seize up. Yeah, that shaft's looking good in there. There's a seal at the inside of this axle, that's what SEALs that so this part of the axle is always exposed to.

Atmosphere Anyway, we just need to clean this guy out a little bit. A little bit of blow gun and perhaps a wire wheel just to get the crusties off. That's all in good shape. The uh, the ball joints.

Those are in good shape. We do have a couple things to notate as I mentioned earlier on the front steering, suspension or steering system. Not a huge priority. This is our this is our primary point of failure right here.

So I am at this point waiting on a yay or nay in order to replace that U-joint Uh, possibly the other U-joint while we're at it. And until I get that yarnet, there is nothing more that I can offer you guys on this particular F250 with the exception of a thank you for watching this video as always, I Hope you enjoyed this video. If in fact, you did enjoy this video, please feel free to let me know about that in the comment section down below. Do not forget to tap that like button while you're down there.

And most importantly, every cell is a fantastic day.