Hello All, I hope that someone can give me some advice. All of the sudden, it is very hard to turn my steering wheel to the right. 1994 F150, 5.0, power steering, power brakes, automatic. It is as if the power steering has gone out, but only when turning the wheel to the right. Fluid level is fine, no leaks, belt is fine...I'm guessing ghe problem is in the steering box, but I would appreciate any helpful suggestions. If it is the steering box, is that a difficult job to replace?

Thanks in advance
Ray

 

First thing I would do is get the front end in the air and turn both sides by hand. You may just have a seriously bound up ball joint or tie rod end on the right side. If the box were bad, it would be hard to turn period, not just in one direction. My guess is you have something buggered on the right side suspension. Get er' in the air and check it out...

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but it turned out to be the steering gear box. I replaced it with another one and everything is fine now. I havent taken the old one apart to see what was wrong with it, but I plan to because it seems odd to me that it would only have a problem in one direction. Oh well.
Thanks
Ray

 

Very surprising. I've never seen one that was bad in one direction only. You see that more with rack & pinion type systems then box designs. Good thing to know in case I ever run across it sometime! Glad you got it figured out regardless!

 

How hard a job was the power steering box to replace? Mine is leaking and needs to be replaced. I was thinking of trying to do it myslef and save the $200+ labor costs.

 

It wasnt too hard, luckily the box I got from the junkyard, I mean, auto recycling center, had the correct pitman arm still attached. I think the hardest part was separating thetie rod from the pitman arm. Oh, and that steering box is surprisingly heavy, it helps to have someone helping to get the thing in place. I also would just assume you need to replace the hoses, mine twisted off instead of breaking loose.
Good luck
Ray

 

Does you, anyone really, know if they have rebuild kits to replace the seals in the power steering gear box? Mine is leaking and it would be a lot cheaper to replace the seals than the whole unit.

 

They do make rebuild kits for the steering box. If you just have fluid leaking from the area of the pitman arm seal, you can just replace the seals that surround the pitman shaft and be good to go.

If you do rebuild the unit, the easiest way (but messy) to get the old seals out is to remove the retaining clip that holds them in, fire the truck up, and then turn the wheel al the way in one direction. That'll usually spit the seals right out of the shaft sleeve. Have a good size bucket/pan underneath when you do it though cause the fluid is going to come flying out with the seals!