2001 Ford F-350 SD: pulls to one side

Filed May 9, 2007 · Brakes, Engine · 30,000 miles · OK

I have several complaints with my truck....all of which were potential safety risk. First was the transmission failure mine and my dad's ,both failed at similar times at identical trucks. -after ford gave us the run around we took the trucks to a repair shop and had transmissions fixed.....note that the failure of the coast clutch in transmissions prevented the trucks from engine breaking. This was particularly serious when towing, which was what this truck was made for. My dad found out the transmission failed on his way down a mountain pass in colorado pulling a 11,000 pound fifth wheel. The next complaint was regarding the cam position sensor, which failed faster than can replaced. The next complaint was about the brake system. I have dealt with dealerships time and time again to try to resolve the problem, and they couldn't do it, so I fixed it myself! The problem was a severe pull to the left when applying brakes, that progressed to a severe pull and shimmy. .again, ford couldn't fix it, I did. All of these were trend items. I highly recommend researching www.dieselstop.com and brians truck shop. Either one of these sources can accurately reflect the failures in these parts on these trucks----the reason ford didn't get many complaints-----they cant/wont fix it until someone died. *ak!

Filed Jul 6, 2005 · Tires · 41,100 miles · FL

I noticed a pull to the left on my 2001 ford f350 with firestone steeltex radial tires lt 265 75r 16 thinking it was air presure related the day before the incident I checked the presure in all tires and all had required presure, so I thought there may be an alignment issue. The next day the left front tire failed without notice while traveling 70mph down the turnpike causing signifiant dammage to my vehicle an almost a catastrophic crash. Upon installing the spare the pull to the left disappeared, thus no aligment issue the tire must have been on it's way to failure causing the pull to the left. The tread seaprated from the tire completly, but the tire sill held presure.

Filed Aug 12, 2004 · Brakes · 34,500 miles · NV · crash · 1 injury

The brakes started pulling left around july of 2003. Three different dealers worked on the vehicle. Instead of fixing the problem, they changed the toe-in to counteract the truck pulling left on braking. As a result, the truck pulled right from excessive alignment change, which caused an accident. The dealer initially changed the rotors, and calipers, but it did not solve the problem. The only reason I knew that the dealer changed the alignment is because I took the truck to a goodyear tire store for an alignment before taking it to the dealer for the brakes. After the first time the dealer changed the alignment, I took the truck back to the goodyear tire store. They made the laignment right, but the truck stilled pulled left and the steering wheel was way off centered. Goodyear tire told me to take it back to the delaer to fix the problem. Once I got the truck back, the steering wheel was straight, but the alignment was wrong and it did not handle properly. In fact, the truck was dangerous to drive. After that I took ti to a dealer in reno, nevada and in dixon california. All dealers insisted that the pulling was caused by a tire pull. Each dealership backed up the other dealership 's story, since I told them I had an accident that was caused by their work.

Filed Apr 25, 2003 · Brakes, Steering · 45,000 miles · CT

2001 ford f-350 7.3 crew cab super duty purchased new . At 48000 miles bought it in for a steering wander problem and front brake pulsation. Dealer diagnosed the problem to be bad upper and lower ball joints and bad drag link. I do not tow or plow with this vehicle have had it serviced at dealerships for most of its service life don't think that the truck should have bad ball joint this young in its service life. The wander makes the truck tricky to drive in winter conditions when you have to stay in the tire tracks on snow covered roads . You cant take your eyes off the road for a second the truck starts to wander not that your supposed to take your eyes off the road. As for the brake pulsation had the rotors turned @ 34000 miles because of the same problem it came back at about 38000 miles on a long trip now no towing and no unusual hard braking. The pulsation makes the truck hard to steer during moderate braking events.

Filed Feb 13, 2003 · Brakes · 8,000 miles · MD

While breaking the vehicle sometimes pulls to the right or left, sometimes to the point that the vehicle is almost impossible to control, other times we get a server vibration while breaking again it is almost inpossible to control,we are geting only about 11000 miles out of a set of breaks, this unit is an ambulanceand although ford has replaced the break pads three times and the rotors twice in 33,000 miles this doe's not resolve the problem, now that the warranty will soon end they are now telling us that it is the ambulance manufacture problem. They still have not resolved the problem of why are we having all these problem they just keep changing parts. We all so have a 1999 that is almost a twin to this one but we have no breaking problems and are geting about 35,000 out of a set of breaks

Filed Jan 18, 2003 · Brakes · MN

While braking, vehicle will pull to left, right & sometimes to both directions. This degree of pulling will vary depending upon vehicle run time and temperature. Sometimes this pulling is extreme other times only moderate or slight. When pulling a trailer with any wieght, it is greatly accentuated. I have argued with the ford dealership regarding this complaint without a satisfactory conclusion. The dealership brought in an engineer who said this was a "normal" condition and your department had investigated this complaint and found no fault with this issue. My vehicle has had this problem since day one of ownership. This vehicle will pull/chatter constantly for days and other days it will not. Since 20 dec 2002, my family has tracked the issue everytime the vehicle is driven all for the puroposes of assisting the diagnostic repair of this issue. It appears the more the vehicle is driven or the warmer the vehicle gets, the more it acts up. If fomoco says this is not an issue, why then have they replaced my front springs, ball joints and installed special expensive brake pads? I firmly believe this vehicle and many others have a braking issue fomoco refuses to deal with either by not having proper diagnostic tools and knowledge to repair this problem. I have 20+ years of experience working on military vehicles and was ase certified in 1987 on brake systems. Please review this complaint carefully as I believe accidents will occur with many serious injuries. As of this date, we are still monitoring this vehicle in hopes you can and will investigate this and conclude there is a problem so ford will fix it. This information is available for your review.