power steering lines

[Austin86250]

background:
my power steering has always had a persistent drip so i replaced the return line and it slowed it down but still leaked so i bought a high pressure line i was unable to get it off so i just put the old one back in now when ever i start the truck it just drains the power steering fluid
im just going to replace the pump and all the lines while I'm there and its original as far as i can tell

what are all the lines besides return and high pressure? i know that there is a cooler but that is all metal and cant leak correct? Hard for me to tell as there is about an 1/8” of grease minimum everywhere

 

[Cubey]

There's a high pressure hose and a return hose. That's it. No factory cooler, at least not on my 85 E350 or 87 F250. I have replaced everything on the E350 with new, and replaced the gear box with a used one (and new hoses if I remember right) on the F250.

Old original lines can be prone to doing this when you try to undo them. This was the return line on my RV:

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I bought the proper replacement but I couldn't get the threads to line up for the life of me, because the short hard line is supposed to route a certain way and it was impossible to get lined up right. And it's a bit deep down in a van so it was impossible to ever get it not trying to crossthread. I ended up getting a swivel 90 degree to hose barb connector and just running a longer 3/8" hose. That made it far easier to install, since the Saginaw pump has a 3/8" hose barb, so I just need a long piece of 3/8" hose now to change the return line.

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[Austin86250]

thank you that's what I needed

 

[IDIBRONCO]

That's it. No factory cooler, at least not on my 85 E350 or 87 F250.

I don't know about your RV, but your F250 should have one. The type of cooler these trucks use is the metal lines that run in a loop on the front side of your engine cross member. It's not a fin type of cooler, but the long metal lines do shed heat. Here's the one on my 85 F250.

 

[Cubey]

I don't know about your RV, but your F250 should have one. The type of cooler these trucks use is the metal lines that run in a loop on the front side of your engine cross member. It's not a fin type of cooler, but the long metal lines do shed heat. Here's the one on my 85 F250.

Where does that connect to though? That looks familiar actually but I can't remember if I saw it on the RV. Does the return go through that? If so, that wasn't hooked up on the RV when I got it and maybe I didn't do the hoses on the F250 after all. The return line from the gearbox on the RV is going straight to the pump, just as it was when I got it. But, someone had replaced the hose section before so maybe they bypassed it.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Does the return go through that?

I believe that it does.

 

[Cubey]

Ok, yeah, vans didn't get that.

First, I went out and looked and couldn't see anything like that, at least not without crawling under. It must be the F250 I saw it on.

Then I pulled out my Chilton Econoline manual, and it shows the hoses going directly to/from the pump/gearbox:

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And that's from the 85-86 diesel specific diagram page:

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Looking up 87 F250 power steering hoses, only the pressure hose can be had with a hard line at the ends. For return, it's only showing bulk hose. Econolines (with Saginaw anyway) have this return line. I guess that short steel line is meant to be for cooling. Oh well, my power steering system seems to be holding up fine without it, since it hasn't been there since 2020. I fought so much to get that to go on but that stupid bendy shape makes it impossible to get positioned right, so I went with the swivel connector instead.

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My F-series Haynes manual shows that long line. Maybe it's only needed on Ford style pumps since it's a plastic reservoir, where as Saginaw pumps have a metal one, and therefore have built in cooling? My Chilton E-series manual stops at 88 so it only shows Saginaw.

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So anyway yeah, sorry about the bad info above about F-series. I have done the most work on the Saginaw E350 so I was going off of that.

 

[Austin86250]

alls good cubey,
i replaced all the lines and the power steering pump complete with a power steering flush and a power steering filter no more obnoxious ford power steering wine and hopefully wont have another power steering issue for many years
feels good to do something the right way I'm usually always doing shortcuts and only fixing what's broke

 

[Cubey]

alls good cubey,
i replaced all the lines and the power steering pump complete with a power steering flush and a power steering filter no more obnoxious ford power steering wine and hopefully wont have another power steering issue for many years
feels good to do something the right way I'm usually always doing shortcuts and only fixing what's broke

Yeah I put a P/S filter on mine too when I did the Saginaw pump because it's so bloody hard to do on a van. The pump said to use one, so I did. I figure that adds extra cooling too, since it's metal and probably gets of airflow from the fan.

 

[ifrythings]

This is the stock power steering cooler that will fit all F series trucks and maybe the vans also.

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And the stock pressure line,

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[Austin86250]

with the all metal design of the cooler do they leak/ fail?

 

[Cubey]

This is the stock power steering cooler that will fit all F series trucks and maybe the vans also.

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Nope, through 91 Econolines had Saginaw pumps no such line. It seems even 92+ didn't, they used a similar short steel line with attached hose as 91 and older used. Even into the PSD years, no such cooler return lines on Es, at least now shown on RockAuto.

And it's odd, RockAuto doesn't show that at all for 80s Fs.

I guess they figured people would be abusing Fs more than Es? Odd, considering the E platform was the higher end one for Class C motorhomes back then, and a lot of people pull a trailer or car behind it, on top of the heavy weight on the chassis all the time. Or they were just too lazy to come up with a way to fiit it on a van chassis.

 

[ifrythings]

Nope, through 91 Econolines had Saginaw pumps no such line. It seems even 92+ didn't, they used a similar short steel line with attached hose as 91 and older used. Even into the PSD years, no such cooler return lines on Es, at least now shown on RockAuto.

And it's odd, RockAuto doesn't show that at all for 80s Fs.

I guess they figured people would be abusing Fs more than Es? Odd, considering the E platform was the higher end one for Class C motorhomes back then, and a lot of people pull a trailer or car behind it, on top of the heavy weight on the chassis all the time. Or they were just too lazy to come up with a way to fiit it on a van chassis.

For some reason rockauto doesn’t show the return line under the 6.9L or 7.3L engine option, but if you look under a gasser engine it shows the cooler line which hasn’t changed since 1983.

It appears that the vans never got the cooler line though they should of had the option in my opinion; though they did get the better power steering pump then the F-series.

 

[Cubey]

For some reason rockauto doesn’t show the return line under the 6.9L or 7.3L engine option, but if you look under a gasser engine it shows the cooler line which hasn’t changed since 1983.

It appears that the vans never got the cooler line though they should of had the option in my opinion; though they did get the better power steering pump then the F-series.

Actually.... it only shows for the a 5.8L and smaller, not the 7.5L. At least not for 1987 F-250. No idea why. I looked at 7.5L earlier and didn't see it, so I made the statement that they don't have it. But now I see it under 5.8L.

Vans only had the better pump through 91, then it got the Ford one in 92... and still didn't get the cooler line.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

with the all metal design of the cooler do they leak/ fail?

I don't know how likely it is, but they sure could. Steel brake lines rust out and fail so I don't see why this one couldn't as well. I can also see where maybe it might not have been mounted right for some reason and it could rub on something and rub a hole in the line too.