Sticky Steering

[paulkeith]

i'm not sure how long you've owned the truck or if you had someone work on the steering recently,

but...

yes, the boxes can be adjusted for slop. the adjustment alters the spacing between gears, and if adjusted too far, can press the gears against each other too hard and cause binding. kind of sounds like what you've got going on, but it would seem unlikely if you haven't done any work on the steering recently.


the binding and slop is most likely the box, and the needing to rev the engine to be able to turn the wheel is the pump. if you've got the $$, i say get a new pump and box in one move. Putting a new box on a shitty old pump with dirty fluid and failing seals just quickly reduces the life of the new box.

hth, good luck

Paul

 

[dpantazis]

you havn;t pinched a PS hose somewhere?

might try seafoam tranny flush in the PS pump can help clean out the PS. read the can: pour some in, run the truck/steering. washes gunk out of the PS system then flush and refill. remember there is a cooler behind the bumper valance. coolers = clogs.

 

[jobaa]

my '00 F350 4X4 has the same problem. it wanders. it also has a hard spot at center when driving but only sometimes. if i correct to either side of the hard spot it darts to that side. i pull over and turn the wheel back and forth a couple of times and that seems to help but it still wanders. i tried to adjust the gearbox with no success. i flushed the system and tested the pump pressure (about 1400 lbs.) still no good. i replaced the gearbox with a readhead unit, still no good. it acts like others i've heard of in that you can't turn the wheel but about 1/2 turn standing still. i hear that's a common problem with the super duties. my '96 had none of these problems. replaced 1 tie rod end that has very little slop but i honestly don't think it helped. it steers almost as if the caster is negative. i had the front end aligned for the 3rd time (at 3 different places) but i'ts no better. has anyone had this experience?