What are the symptoms of a bad power steering box?

mattplumber

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Mine DEFINITELY has manual steering turning left, and a little bit of power assist turning right.
My front end is also completely trashed. Every u-joint is either loose or broken so it looks like I may have multiple factors working against me here. I want to fix this truck so damned bad I can taste it but cant tear into it until I get this stupid track bar bracket. So frustratiing! And to add insult to injury I tried to charge my AC today since its like a blast furnace here in memphis now and as soon as I pulled a vaccuum and started adding a can of freon the damn compressor locked up. I swear, if i wasn't so completely and utterly upside down in this truck I'd have given it away to someone on here by now as its so needy I couldn't in good faith take payment for the *******. And even worse is once I fix EVERYTHING thats wrong with it, its still only a $2500 truck. Sucks, but thats a Ford for ya.........love the engine, hate the truck.
 

Blind Driver2

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Yup, if you've got that rebound steering thing going on, then it's worn out. If you plan on keeping the truck, check out the REdhead steering gears. They cost about a hundred bucks more than what you will get at autozone, but, you also get a case full of real live bearings of top quality . They go in and replace any bushings and machine the casing out to accept a bearing and if a bearing is too small and wears too easily, they hog that out for a bigger one so the things will last. The steering is so smooth is like night and day.

I like Redhead boots ;Sweet

But seriously, Howe makes a blueprinted box, but I think they cost somewhere in the $500 neighborhood.
 

typ4

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Uhaul has steering gears for 72.00, and it is the box bad mine also failed going left.
 

GOOSE

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Mine DEFINITELY has manual steering turning left, and a little bit of power assist turning right.
My front end is also completely trashed. Every u-joint is either loose or broken so it looks like I may have multiple factors working against me here. I want to fix this truck so damned bad I can taste it but cant tear into it until I get this stupid track bar bracket. So frustratiing! And to add insult to injury I tried to charge my AC today since its like a blast furnace here in memphis now and as soon as I pulled a vaccuum and started adding a can of freon the damn compressor locked up. I swear, if i wasn't so completely and utterly upside down in this truck I'd have given it away to someone on here by now as its so needy I couldn't in good faith take payment for the *******. And even worse is once I fix EVERYTHING thats wrong with it, its still only a $2500 truck. Sucks, but thats a Ford for ya.........love the engine, hate the truck.

Don't feel bad, I probably hae over $15,000 in my truck and know all too well where you are coming from.:eek: I can only say that my truck is what I would choose from almost any lineup. I like the ease of wrenching on it, the dash and interior layout, no computers and so on. I can only hope there comes a time where I get a length of trouble free miles.:angel: Ten years out of any $15000 truck is ok by me. My $15,000 rig is just a tad older than most:rolleyes:
 

typ4

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Goose, I have about the same in mine and would do it again without hesitation.
 

brdmh44

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Well looks like I need to order a gear box! My truck wanders so much, it's almost scary to drive....a couple potholes will give you white knuckles when approaching on coming traffic!
 

1994Diesel

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My "bad box":eek::rolleyes: had power steering turning right but manual turning left. I replaced the pump first but it wound up being the box.

Thats how my box started to go bad. The truck fell into a huge hole dug by some varmint. It spun the wheel to the left so fast i couldnt hold on, then crack! No more power steering to the left. :D
 

brdmh44

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Just looked at the odometer, I guess 287,389 miles isn't too bad on the original box:D
 

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