blew something up inside my steering box?!

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flyboy1400

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Well...the title sayes it all...

I went to straiten my wheels in the driveway, engine off, and as i turned the wheel (which seemed a bit stiffer than normal) i heard a loud pop followed by a hiss, like pressure bleeding off. Got out and saw about half a quart of power steering fluid had blown past the cap on the pump and was all over the kmember, and ground.

I cleaned it up, refilled the now nearly empty resevoir and went for a test drive...and man its all over the place!! make a left turn and it pulls HARD to the left, make a right turn and it pulls HARD to the right!!

So I took it to an alignment shop today, for a long overdue alignment, and he said that the steering box had gone bad??

i spent a little time tonight pricing out my options, and I gotta say their pretty limited. Firm Feel and steer and gear are both well out of my price range..

generally i try to stay away from autozone/kragen type places for actual hard parts, but i may have no choice as its my daily driver and only running car. The only other thing i can think of is to try to find a good used one, but then im risking the same problem happening again if that one is worn out too...

any suggestions or thoughts?
 
You can probably find a good used steering gear. I suggest you replace pump, hoses, everything. Reason being, contamination will kill the next one.
 
well I took redfish's advice and replaced it all, but unfortunetly im still having some trouble. the steering box was an A1 cardone reman. got it installed and found the steering to be very stiff, even after bleeding the system a several times.

when i was comparing the boxes side by side i noticed that on my old box i could grab the splined shaft that the pitman arm was on, and twist it by hand. However on the new box i could not twist hard enough by hand to make it turn. is that normal? is it supposed to be that tight? or could the box bad? I can feel some power assist but no where near as much as the old set up.

Also after reinstalling everything the steering wheel is off center a bit (the 12 o'clock position on the wheel is at about 10 o'clock when driving strait) ....im 90% sure i lined the splines up right on the pitman arm and steering coupler properly with the wider grooves on the shafts. (wouldn't it only go on if they were lined up??) And i did not toutch the tie rod adjusting sleaves or anything alignment related. Is it possible that the two splined shafts on the box are not propperly alligned inside the steering box?

I'm concidering pulling it and sending it back, especially if you guys think its a bad box too, but its a tough call to 'disable' my daily driver while i wait for another box to be sent.
 
You shouldn't be able to turn a good steering gear with your bare hand. The master splines wont let it go together wrong. Alignment shop can recenter the steering wheel.
A new box will have a little more resistance than a worn one.
It's not nessesary to bleed the system. It is nessesary to fill it, turn from lock to lock then turn it off and let it sit. Foam in the fuild will exit the resivoir. Recheck fill level.
That foam will make it hard to steer.
 
Might be a good time to consider manual steering. There was a "poll" on FABO not to long ago in which the question was "Power steering or manual?" The manual won by a land slide. Especially now since they have better ratios for the gear boxes. You wouldn't have to worry about leaks, belt, more room without pump, etc....

I tried to find that link to the mentioned steering thread but can't seem to find it this morning.
 
RedFish said:
It's not nessesary to bleed the system. It is nessesary to fill it, turn from lock to lock then turn it off and let it sit. Foam in the fuild will exit the resivoir. Recheck fill level.
That foam will make it hard to steer.
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats what i did, guess its not called bleeding, anyway i'll give it another go. I have been checking the fluid and there's no foam in there. thats what lead me to think about the box being bad, but it can't hurt to try again! thanks!

I have looked into manual swap, and am planning on doing it eventually for my weekend project (66 440 satellite), but i cant really aford it now for my daily driver...from what i've seen manual boxes go for $300-500, adapter for collumn $100, pitman arm another $100 ish. just not somthing i can aford right now
 
the pump is a reman federal style..it does make a little noise right at start up, especially when started in fast idle. could that be air still trapped in there?
 
No air or foam issues at this point. I dont have more to offer at this point either.
There are other parts that will cause resistance in the steering from loose pump belt to dry ball joints.And since Firm Feel and others have rebuilt steering gears in a manor that provides more resistance of feedback at the wheel, others have tikered with the relief valve to lower the fluid pressure, I cant say whats mormal or ok today.
 
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