My 2000 f250 wandered when on the highway. After getting the front end aligned and installing a KYB steering stabilizer it seemed fine. But when I towed my 26ft travel trailer the wandering was bad. Constantly correcting to keep it going straight. At first I thought it was the trailer swaying. But after installing a husky sway control and having a friend follow me I came to the conclusion that it is the truck. I did some searches on here and found out that there is an adjustment on the steering box. But I am not sure about the adjustment. Some threads say to tighten and some say to loosen. I have also read that if I over tighten the allen head screw it will damage the gears. Has any of you done this or know more about it. Any help would be great. Also the alignment shop said that the tie rod ends and ball joints are good. I hope to get this fixed soon because it freaks my wife out. She thinks we will drift into an oncoming car.

Thanks
Budman

 

Tell us about your trailer's weight and hitch set up. If it is fine when not towing, it may just need some "set-up" tweaking.

 

Sounds like a trailer problem.

Make sure you have enough tongue weight.

Too little tongue weight will cause exactly what you are describing.

 

Im with Monsta on this. You said you have a sway control, but do you utilize an equalizer hitch as well? If not, you may want to consider it. I've pulled the trailer (about 4600 lbs) in my signature with my SD using sway bar and equalizer and havent had any problem with wandering. If you utilize an equalizer hitch, it is important to have the trailer sitting level while hitched for towing.

I did, however, have this problem when I pulled it with the Expy. I assumed this occured, due to with the short wheelbase.

 

A good set of shock absorbers may be in order for your truck, if everything else checks out that is listed above. Check tire pressure. If they are low, it may cause the truck to sway because of the tires rolling side to side too easy.

 

Thanks for the replies. The trailer is around 4500 lbs loaded. I do use an equelizer hitch. I have tried different tension on the bars to see if that would help. I also put a set of bilstein shocks on last fall. The tires are farely new cooper ATR with E load rating. I put 65 PSI in the tires when towing. The trailer does sit slightly high in the front but it is so close that I didn't mess with that. My old 97 f150 would pull this trailer straight as an arrow. (Not enough power though) The reason that I think it is the truck is that without the steering stabilizer I can feel it drifting. It feels very simular but easier to control. I think without the trailer the steering stabilizer is enough to keep it staight.
Budman

 

It may be your tires. A few years back I put on a set of Yokohama Geolander AT's. The truck and trailer towed fine before them, but I couldn't hardley hold it on the road after I put them on. I went back to the tire dealer and he said that it was the amount of plys in the sidewall was not enough and suggested BFG AT's. I hesitantly tried them and have been completely satisfied ever since.

 

I started thinking about it and realized that this is the first time I have had these tires on the highway at all. I went to the tire shop and talked to them. They called the tire distributer where they got the tires. He said that they have had a lot of complaints about this tire wandering. They did offer me full credit for some different tires. They recommended Yokohama AT-S. I was also wondering about the tire size. The original tire size was 235/85/16. The tires I bought are 265/75/16. They have the same diameter but the 265's are wider. They didn't know if the narrower tire would track better but I am thinking that it will. Also I tightened the adjustment on the steering box a 1/2 turn. It did make the steering tighter but it still wandered. Is it easy to tell if I get the adjustment to tight? It turned very easily. Any comments about Yokohama or the narrower tire size? Safety while towing is the main issue.
Thanks
Budman

 

Does anyone else think that narrower tires will track better.

Budman

 

You said you have 65psi when towing. If you have a fair amount of tongue weight, I'd run 80 psi in the rear. That would help eliminate any tire give. I wouldn't think the difference between the 235 and the 265 would make a difference in towing. I've got the ATR's on both of my trucks and like them a lot, but I don't do any towing with either of them. I will say this, when I put the ATR's on my work truck, (the rear duals) it did wander at first. After about 1000 miles it disappeared.

 

Thanks john, I did some more searches on here and have read on several posts that there tires wandered untill they had some miles on them. I have adjusted the steering box a full turn and the steering is a lot tighter. It helped the wandering some. I think I will have the front end aligned again and put more presure in the tires. Then take the trailer back out on the highway. Also I will try to contact cooper directly on monday. The tire shop wants another $140.00 to switch to the yokahamas. I already have $775.00 into the coopers.
Budman

 

If you switch tires, make sure that you have at least a 3-ply sidewall. My tire guy said that this was the major difference in the reason for handling problems on the Yokohama Geolander AT's. They had a 2-ply sidewall and the BFG's had a 3-ply and was supposed to be much stiffer. Changing air pressure on the Yok's didn't help much. If you can find someone that will swap tires with you for a day, just to check them out, I think you'll find that this is your problem. I'd check out some BFG's or Michilen's. Most guys I know that tow with them are satisfied. Two years from now you won't remember the differnce in cost, but you will remember the terrible handling when you towed with a tire that you tried to save a little $ on. I speak from experience on this one.