Broke steering I think 78 f150

[Thumpszilla]

78 f150 460 c6 205 6" lift 35" tires spooled front and rear 4:88 gears. The steering box leaked at the pitman arm when I traded for the truck and it had stiff steering. I drained the steering and found that the P.O had tranny fluid in it. I replaced the seal at the pitman arm shaft refilled with p.s. fluid jacked it up and steered side to side to get the system full topping off tank when needed. Then dropped started it and went for a drive. It was alot better so we thought we had it fixed till today. Today my son had a friend over and he wanted me to show off for his friend a little. Nothing big just a couple burnouts. Well one got more than a little sideways and when I went to correct I felt and heard a big pop. Now the steering feels kinda like a broken gear and it is leaking at the pitman shaft again I have not jacked it up yet to see how it feels with no weight on it or anything but I cannot see anything wrong but the leak. What did I do now? How can I keep from doing it again?

[Robs79BBbronco]

Originally Posted by Thumpszilla

78 f150 460 c6 205 6" lift 35" tires spooled front and rear 4:88 gears. The steering box leaked at the pitman arm when I traded for the truck and it had stiff steering. I drained the steering and found that the P.O had tranny fluid in it.

that's what ford reccomends.the 34 yr.old steering box is probably in need of rebuilding or replacing....if it is wore slap out, replacing the seal won't stop it from leaking.if you do rebuild/replace it, check for cracks at the frame where it bolts on.

[Thumpszilla]

I have never heard of putting tranny fluid in power steering recommended by Ford. It was foaming up so bad you could not keep the tank full not to mention the leak. After I replaced those seals it quit leaking until whatever happened last night.

[Alvin in AZ]

Originally Posted by Thumpszilla

I have never heard of putting tranny fluid in power steering recommended by Ford.

Just what is "tranny fluid"? :/

Old manual steering gears got SAE 80w-90 hypoid "gear oil".
Power steering systems (at least used to) can take "automatic transmission fluid" (ATF).

Alvin in AZ

[TheUnforgiven]

Most any power steering can use ATF. Last time i flushed mine i refilled it with Dex/Mercon.

except honda. they have to have "honda" power steering fluid. idk why but they do.

Ford pumps have atf from factory. they like that better than power steering fluid.

[Thumpszilla]

Well fluid type aside that has nothing to do with it feeling like a broken gear inside my steering through the steering wheel. What could be causing that?

[Alvin in AZ]

Originally Posted by Thumpszilla

Well fluid type aside that has nothing to do with it feeling like a broken gear...
What could be causing that?

It's broke. :)

Get a dune buggie or dirt bike or a quad if you want to do that stuff? :)
BTDT and my '75 F150 is better than new in almost -every- way except
for the paint and a few other non-operational ways. No kidding.

YMMV

Alvin in AZ
ps- You know, a dune buggie (using the turning brake) can turn around
180* and drive back on one of the tire tracks. Wouldn't that be cooler
than breaking the Bronco? Or rolling the Bronco over?

[Thumpszilla]

Yeah not interested in a dune buggie never wanted one. So is there a steering upgrade for these trucks? I have been searching the net but no luck finding one. I am currently trying to find someone local who can drill and tap a replacement steering box for hydro-assist. Now to find a used box cheap and buy a rebuild kit.

[Robs79BBbronco]

Heard redhead makes a badass repl. Box, although I went with one from o'reilly's.....mine doesn't see much rough off road.

Sent from my XT603

[Alvin in AZ]

Originally Posted by Robs79BBbronco

Heard redhead makes a badass repl.
I went with one from o'reilly's...
..mine doesn't see much rough off road.

Yeah but. :)

---> Redhead's rebuilt boxes have needle bearings in 'em. <---

Our original boxes are -without- sector shaft -bearings-! :(
...that's why they wear so bad and get so stinkin sloppy.
The sector shaft twists right-on the cast iron.
Ford saved some money at our expense.
Sweet of 'em huh? ;)

They didn't do that with the car boxes but a lot of them only had bronze
bearings and not needle bearings for long life. But they -could- replace
those bronze sleeve bearings when they wore tho. Problem was, Ford
ran out of those bearings and didn't bother to order new ones. :(

Also Redhead uses larger balls to take up even more slack in the box.
Redhead boxes' best use would be for highway use, see it now? :)

I had the original steering gear (box) on my '75 F150 line bored locally
and they installed some bronze sleeve bearings in it. Made it less sloppy
than when it was new. No kidding. I got those bearings over the brand
spanking new Internet! LOL :) Bearing shops said they couldn't be had
at any price. I told 'em I'd look on the new-Internet "good luck ;)".
(Emerson Bearing in Missouri(?) No pics, only text on the Internet then)

Redhead line bores the boxes without factory needle bearings then
installs new needle bearings for long life.

My old pickup steers and handles way better now than when it was new.
Anybody wannna argue about that, just go for it. LOL ...I'm game. :)

After the box gets wornout there's a single-shot-band-aid that can be
applied but it has a limited life span then the box is shot without line
boring it and installing bearings.

The band-aid is: They re-engineered the lower seals so they're thinner
allowing space for a ~1/4" thick hard steel ring to go inside where the
seals go, giving the sector shaft a new tighter surface to work from. :)

But. :/

The cast iron under the ring beats/wears out and there you are again,
besides that, the upper bearing surface for the sector shaft is worn too
and nothing is done about that slop.

BTDT

When I get some money ahead, Redhead boxes are in my future.

Alvin in AZ
ps- Dear Thumb,
In my dune buggies I've driven up the side of a mountain and back
down in front of 4wd's that were stuck and blocking the road. No shit.
Let alone when we were on dirt bikes. LOL :) Or around obstacles like
6 foot diameter tree fallen across the road. Tracks showed the jeeps
etc turned around. Dune buggy climbed the hill and went around it no
sweat, using turning brakes to steer! Way-too-steep to steer using the
front tires, see it? :) The main trick is to use an old bus axle that has
the reduction gears, makes the buggy not-want-to-wheelie-out while
climbing a steep spot. Bug-axle buggies couldn't keep up with me in
the steep stuff. Showing up with a dune buggy was one sure way to
piss off all the 4wd guys. xD They had more money in their tires than
I had in the whole dune buggy. LOL :) (prob'ly a dumb idea for me to
mention DB's on a 4wd forum huh?;)

[Thumpszilla]

Thanks for the info guys. Alvin sell that dunebuggy then you can buy a Redhead box for your Ford.

[Alvin in AZ]

Originally Posted by Thumpszilla

Thanks for the info guys.
Alvin sell that dunebuggy then you can buy {two} Redhead box{es} for {both} your Ford{z}.

Oops, too late. :/
Done give it away. LOL :)

Butthead in AZ

[BakerBaker]

@ Alvin,
Thanks
You gave a more details about the redhead box's than their own website. Interesting. The redhead box is affordable, but I went with a reman box for the BKO from advanced auto for about 140 bucks. I can beat it up and exchange locally if needed.

Thump, I gotta agree with Alvin. You need a VW. They are a blast. However, The steering box in my superbeetle is about 500 bucks right now. That's insane for vw part. Makes that redhead price look like chump change. I was gonna baja it until I found out about the sturts.

Mine is the green on the right
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/797331.jpg

[Alvin in AZ]

Originally Posted by BakerBaker

Mine is the green on the right

Cool. :)

You got black polyurethane bushings in that-there Stupid Beetle, Baker? :)
Learned that fix on the Usenet newsgroup ramva, it was -the- fix for SB
death wobble. Did that along with replacing (or hammering snug again;)
any loose ball joints and a 4-wheel alignment and don't remember what
else (but feel like I'm leaving something out tho).

BTW, ramva was years before any website forums were up and running. ;)

rec.auto.makers.Volkswagen.aircooled

Alvin in AZ
Had a '67 bug, no bumpers, no running boards, no chrome, color scheme:
factory white with gray primer and surface rust. No one ever stole it. xD
Friend at work needed money after getting laid off so bought his '67 bug.

-----------------------------------------------------------
{ps- snipped from a ramva thread...}

With a full tank of gas my 67 just plain ol' handled better.
Yours too? {he responds "Being full of gas does help some."}

A little does good a little more does better.
I filled the spare tire plumb full of water.
With that extra weight the toe-in changed.
{already a discussion on setting your own toe}

Bragging on it here on ramva, I was challenged to try this...
I took the water filled spare tire back-out, re-adjusted the
toe-in and yes... it drove like {"bad" words deleted}. No kidding.
{hey, Porches had weights in them (I learned that much later tho)}

{but now that the Internet's got pictures and digital camera's are
common etc I can post pictures of how to adjust your own toe...}
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/toe-in2.jpg
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/toe-in1.jpg
{fiNgured it out while trying to check the toe on the rear end of
a sway bar type dune buggy}

[BakerBaker]

Yes, poly bushing's all over. These struts helped remove the sandbags. Lowering helped too. Plus it's a super with struts instead of the tractor from end standard bugs have.
http://toplineparts.com/index.php/maxx-strut-71-72.html

I never had shimmies, But one thing I did to prevent them was to replace the rubber "Idler Arm Bushing" with Brass. Kinda like what you did with your steering box itself? I think if BKO had an idler arm it would help reduce wear on componants


sorry guys I got us a little But, who doesnt like billet aluminum?

Ok back to business
Hey thump, I think your steering box and hose's need to be checked and or replaced. But the big pop makes me think you blew out a ball joint or tie-rod. Not sure about your year, but my 87 BKO was a breeze to replace the box. Three bolts, two hose's and it's done. I could have used a helper to hold the box up while I got the first bolt in, but overall it wasn't a bad job.

I went though probably 50 bucks in Lucas stop leak before I got off my ass and replaced the box. I heard heard that power steering fluid is flammable, but from my experience it wasn't all that bad. It was sprayed all over the drivers side manifold and never caught fire.

Can you get a helper to start it up and turn from left to right while you observe the steering components?

[jopes]

redneck ramp or psc motorsports will get you into hydro assist which is going to be better than factory steering.