2013+ steering gearbox in older trucks

[Charles]

That's not the reason, drilling and tapping the knuckle "stop" for an adjustment bolt would be easy. Easier still would be reaming the 02 knuckles to accept the 05 tie rod.

The problem would be the leafspring physically occupying the point in space where the drag link comes down. The reason the draglink connects directly to the top of the knuckle on a radius arm truck but not a leafspring truck is that the front quarter elipse of the spring arch occupies the space where the drag link would go. Hence why a leafsprung superduty has a place a few inches back, nearly under the leafspring perch where the draglink attaches.

Now I've considered bending the 05 draglink to make it clear, but in my experience non-straight steering links tend to drive like crap and seem to "roll" around instead of just push-pull.

And it's possible that the draglink might miss, but if it did, I can't imagine that it would be by much, and I'd be worried that the spring and link would eventually find one another and compromise a very serious connection. I've had a drag link rod end shear off at the pitman arm on my reg cab going about 60mph down the road in a turn.... Luckily that truck didn't have ABS so I was able to stab down on the pedal hard enough to lock the tires without them pulling one way or the other and luckily nobody was coming the other direction as I slid for a loooooong way with the right side on pavement and left side on grass. The extra grip from the pavement helped the truck make the turn anyway.

 

[6.0 Tech]

That's not the reason, drilling and tapping the knuckle "stop" for an adjustment bolt would be easy. Easier still would be reaming the 02 knuckles to accept the 05 tie rod.

The problem would be the leafspring physically occupying the point in space where the drag link comes down. The reason the draglink connects directly to the top of the knuckle on a radius arm truck but not a leafspring truck is that the front quarter elipse of the spring arch occupies the space where the drag link would go. Hence why a leafsprung superduty has a place a few inches back, nearly under the leafspring perch where the draglink attaches.

Now I've considered bending the 05 draglink to make it clear, but in my experience non-straight steering links tend to drive like crap and seem to "roll" around instead of just push-pull.

And it's possible that the draglink might miss, but if it did, I can't imagine that it would be by much, and I'd be worried that the spring and link would eventually find one another and compromise a very serious connection. I've had a drag link rod end shear off at the pitman arm on my reg cab going about 60mph down the road in a turn.... Luckily that truck didn't have ABS so I was able to stab down on the pedal hard enough to lock the tires without them pulling one way or the other and luckily nobody was coming the other direction as I slid for a loooooong way with the right side on pavement and left side on grass. The extra grip from the pavement helped the truck make the turn anyway.

That makes sense too. Didnt think about the difference between draglinks either. Like I said, not much of a suspension guy, and havent really looked at them side by side. Makes sense though thinking about it...

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[Jomax]

Just change to an 2005+ axle..


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[13fist]

Came across this thread quite some time ago when googling for steering gear upgrades and couldn't remember what forum it was on. Finally found it. I'm doing this to my '01 Ex.

What I have done is go with a used gear I found for less than core charge so I could do a mock up, source fittings etc., and make sure it was going to work before committing to it. An added bonus was the used gear came with the lower part of the input shaft, providing me with the input coupler & rag joint to swap over as well.

Used M18-1.5 -6 jic adapter for input, M16-1.5 -6 jic for the outlet, same on the hydroboost. Fabbed the line from the hydro boost to the gear.
M16-2x130mm bolts from bolt depot to mount the gear.

The pitman arm is where I ran into a snag. I took it for granted that certain geometries would be close enough that I could mod a 2016 pitman arm to work with the existing drag link.
For that I used a taper repair bushing from Sky offroad. That part worked great.
What I didn't catch during the initial mock up was the pitman arm angle. Used a rough country drop pitman arm seen in the pic, and that's when I started to go uh-oh. It hits the head of the track bar bolt turning left, just above the lower bend in the arm. That could also be the BDS drop bracket, but I haven't found my stock track bar bracket to compare.
Even with the slightly wider left turns, it handles so much better.
A few options I'm mulling over to solve the pitman arm.

 

[Charles]

Yep....

I have already ordered two johnny joints to make up a new trackbar so I can push the driver's side mount about an inch rearward for this reason. I don't think the diff will ever get high enough to strike it, but I'll have to try and cycle it some to see. I ordered tie rod ends that fit the larger 05 taper to build my own drag link to solve that end of the issue.

I used 2016 ford steering hoses, although the connection at the hydroboost thread pitch is correct, the sealing surface is questionable.... so I'll have to see how that pans out when I crank the truck.

Why..... oh why..... did they have to shorten the centerline radius on the pitman arm.....


Bottom line.... $hit don't work out too well....

I feel like off the shelf parts have got to be out there, I just don't have time to find them.

 

[Charles]

Just change to an 2005+ axle..


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Deathwobble and powerhop..... no thanks....

Otherwise that would be the easiest fix in history, lol. I would love to run parallel 4 link with king coilovers, but every year Ford tries to fix that system it gets worse than the year before.

 

[MeTo]

Charles, if you had to do it over, would you? I'm seriously thinking I'm going to ram a 2016 box in my 97 f350. I have everything tight, but the stock box is less than a precision device. WWTT

Do you fabricate? If so, make a custom pitman arm. If done right, custom is always better than stock. Hence, why these forums exist.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[sootie]

Deathwobble and powerhop..... no thanks....

Otherwise that would be the easiest fix in history, lol. I would love to run parallel 4 link with king coilovers, but every year Ford tries to fix that system it gets worse than the year before.

Once you've had a taste for a decent turning radius, it helps overcome the two negatives mentioned...

 

[Jomax]

Deathwobble and powerhop..... no thanks....



Otherwise that would be the easiest fix in history, lol. I would love to run parallel 4 link with king coilovers, but every year Ford tries to fix that system it gets worse than the year before.

Disagree there, but whatever works for you. Death wobble comes when you have an issue. Had three trucks with the coil axle. Never an issue.


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[13fist]

05+ axle is eventually going on mine. that'll pretty much solve the drag link taper and make easier crossover steering geometry. pitman arm will still be short.
for now I think my next step will be to move the splines from the new arm over to the old.
Once everything is sorted, out I should have more pics and measurements.

 

[j.mo]

I'm interested in this as I'm ready to upgrade my stock box in my 06 at 93k and big tires.
However, with this pitman arm issue, I have an aftermarket drop pitman arm for my lift kit obviously. Would I still encounter an issue?

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[13fist]

I'm interested in this as I'm ready to upgrade my stock box in my 06 at 93k and big tires.
However, with this pitman arm issue, I have an aftermarket drop pitman arm for my lift kit obviously. Would I still encounter an issue?

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Far as I can tell, you wont have an issue with the pitman arm fitment. At least for aftermarket, '05-16 pitman arms all have the same part number. For those of us doing this on older trucks, our draglink taper is the problem. It's also shorter center to center than the 99-04, by about an inch just eyeballin it.
05-16 taper is:
0.81 Large OD
0.72 small OD
99-04 taper is:
0.71 large OD
0.62 small OD
Technically, the pitman arm you have should swap over fine. I'm not sure what year the input shaft coupling changed... 08 maybe? The 11-16 boxes use a double flat instead of splines.

 

[Charles]

Alright, I had a couple days over the break to look at this again and am seriously considering doing coilovers and a new axle, despite my reservations about ruining an otherwise perfectly good riding/handling truck...

Here's my question.... OBSWIZ has done these axles or been a part of doing them on a number of trucks. Where is that guy? I need that kind of input on which axle to get, what donor parts to snag and what other BS is going to be in the way and so on.

I tried calling the number at CT Performance but I've only tried a couple times just today and hell, given the holidays they might not even be up a running this week.

I feel like this guy would be a real serious source of parts and knowledge.

 

[Charles]

So.... I've got 2 2010 axles sitting on a pallet now with the stock radius arms, draglink and track bar with stock ford radius arm brackets.

I have Carli 4.5" radius arm drop brackets, adjustable track bar, coilover upper and lower mounts and 2 degree caster shims coming.

I was about to be ordering some king coilovers when I noticed something at the dealer today...

The F550 has a different steering box than the 350. It also has a pitman arm with a longer centerline radius!

Do I just need that box and drop arm for it? Looking up the box itself, it appears starting pretty long ago the 450/550 got a much larger box, about 4 lbs worth according to shipping weights...

WTF? Why are you people not running that steering box? Does anyone have any info on them? Surely people lift 450's too?

 

[sootie]

They are specifically designed for the additional turning radius of the wide track axle.

 

[co04cobra]

The 450-550 boxes are monsters. They have a different bolt pattern then the 250/350s though.

 

[Charles]

The 450-550 boxes are monsters. They have a different bolt pattern then the 250/350s though.

I measured ours a year or so ago, and the bolt pattern was identical. It's a 2012 IIRC.

 

[FrankTheTank]

I don't think Cary from CT is around much anymore.

 

[PDT1081]

I don't think Cary from CT is around much anymore.

He's not on often, but does reply to PMs. I bought ****** kit he had for sale back in October.

 

[13fist]

Would the output shaft location be right on the 450/550 boxes? Anything can be made to work, but I don't have one compare. I'm certainly curious about what it would bring to the table in terms of steering. Given that so far bigger is proving to be better.

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