Wandering "X"

[JOE_M]

My "X" wanders a bit too much on the open road,puting up with this for 10,000 mi's now, and I'm afraid to take my eyes off the road for a second.What is the solution? Thank You, Joe M.

[CHPMustang]

HMM,I'm not an alignment expert,how's the wear on your tires? are they equally inflated?Is the front of your X higher than the rear?Rear sway bar installed?

I know our 2002 X had some wander in it till the sway bar came in at about 6,000 miles,goes pretty straight now.

Perhaps others will chime in that had some wander and how they resolved it.

Bill in Dallas Texas

[JOE_M]

Bill, I there is no sway bar. What happen FORD forgot to put one one every "X". Tires and the truck are equal. It looks like its going to be a $150 fix unless I can hound the dealer a little more,maybe he will throw one in just to get me off his back. Joe M.

[TXANGLER]

Joe, have you narrowed it down to a sway bar? Being that I did not own a Ford truck before I was amazed at how vague and lifeless the steering is. This is not X specific or year specific. This also didn't change when I added the sway bar. All superduty's do this off the lot. If someone tells you that their SD doesn't 1) they haven't owned/driven a car with well engineered steering or 2) they spent some $ correcting ford's lack of engineering. Here's where I would start:
1. Check tire pressure (45-65 PSI) is the low to high side. Make sure you are side to side accurate within 1 PSI.
2. Rotate the tires. If there is a change then you may have a tire problem. Also check you bearings. Mine started going bad at 15K and I didn't know the symptons. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]
3. Alignment. Take it to a speciality shop that works on SD suspensions, not the dealer. There are alignment specs posted on this site.
4. Add a sway bar. Heck it does help the overall handling!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smokin.gif[/img]
5.Change tires. If you can justify it, the FS's are terrible!!
6. Live with it. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/depressed.gif[/img]

I hope this helps. I gotta stop drinkin coffee this morning or I'll wear out the keyboard. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Txangler

[CHPMustang]

Oh yea definitely pursue the dealership,turn their screws a little more [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif[/img]

If not the Hellwig is no big thing to install [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

BILL

[Texas Tank]

I used to have this problem. Bilsteins and a good front end alignment made all the difference. Now I can sleep and drive.

[JOE_M]

I installed the full set of bilsteins,and a hellwig rsb this weekend. The improvement is incredible. The dealer has the truck now and is checking the front end allignment and rotating the tires hopefully it will be 100% when done,if not l'll take 85% for now! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[CHPMustang]

Shocks and a swaybar and any Excursion will be stylin' [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Kewl to hear got em installed,what a difference!

BILL