Now that IS weird. I just had to replace my water pump today because the bearing went out last night!

Chris, if you do this, your power steering will work. You're describing exactly what I went through.

Manfred, If your power steering works easily with the front end jacked up, it won't steer correctly when you lower it. The steering gets tighter when there's fluid in the box. I went through that countless times with mine. Good luck though. I hope you don't have problems like I did.

 

PS won't work now since I lowered it...going to undo the pressure hose lik you did a little and see what happens

 

i wonder if you could use a vacuum pump to bleed the gearbox, especially on trucks that are really rusty and frankly too scary to unbolt some things

 

I was just thinking the same thing!! But the air pocket will still be above the outlet port. So it might not come out.

 

All that work is NOT required to bleed the steering on these trucks....Do it the FORD way and it works everytime!!!

1- Hook everything up
2- Fill with fluid
3- Jack up front of truck off of ground (Both front wheels)
4- Disconnect or Disable coil (So Truck CANNOT start)
5- Turn Steering wheel lock to lock about 5 to 10 times
6- Top off Fluid
7- Repeat Step 5
8- Repeat Step 6
9- Crank engine over (Ignition Disabled) and turn steering lock to lock 5 to 10 times
10- Repeat Step 6
11- Repeat Step 9
12- Repeat Step 6
13- Enable Ignition
14- Start Truck and turn Lock to Lock 5-10 times
15- Turn off Truck
16- Repeat Step 6
17- Repeat Step 14
18- Repeat Step 15
19- Repeat Step 6
20- Let Truck Down off of Jacks or jack Stands
21- Repeat Step 14
22- Steering should work just fine, have all the air bled out and have a quiet pump to boot!!!

 

I got rid of my power assist steering and switched to integrated steering on my 77 highboy and now i cant get it bleed. It keeps pushing fluid out of the fill tube on the power steering pump. Im about to pull my hair out on this.

 

Yeah, I did it this exact way the first five times I tried it. No dice. Then I talked to the guy that rebuilds the boxes for Autozone. He told me to jack up the BACK of the truck and do the hokey pokey. That way gave me steering for a week, then it puked up all the fluid and I was back to square one.

All in all, I've tried every way imaginable to bleed the air out of my steering. NOTHING worked except this way. If your way works for you, FANTASTIC! More power to you. If you tried everything and it doesn't work, this way will. I've been getting paid to turn wrenches for over 25 years, I'm no stranger to this stuff. This is THE ONLY vehicle that has kicked my butt like this.

 

Quick thought, what if you park the truck on a steep hill, that way the hoses going into the PS gear box are the highest point? That should work, or am i just being silly?

 

its going to help me thankyou Alan.

 

Mines just sitting on the bench waiting for a new seal. Can't wait to put her back in and try this out. Power steering would be nice

 

I've been wrenching that long as well...and have yet to have one not work like that....one other tip....I NEVER rush it when I do it either...give it time to bleed the air out. When you did it...did you replace Gear Box, Pump and both hoses?

 

I'll vouch for him YES he did numerous times, and even a complete good working set up from another truck that I gave him.

Dangest thing we ever seen, it was like possessed and his latest route finally fixed it. He even modded a chebby pump on it for a bit with no long term luck.

At least there is a couple of ways that seem to work and that is what really matters.

 

Wow..That's crazy...never had a problem with air getting caught in em

 

Trucknut, I may have rushed it the first time, but I spent HOURS on it each time after that. As I said, it's only the '78 and '79 HALF TONS with this problem. The 3/4 and 1 tons don't have an issue.

Stephen, that was the thought about jacking up the rear of the truck. Letting air dribble out that way. I tried that too. I nosed my truck into the 3' ditch in front of my house, then jacked up the back as far as I could. It was better, but not right. After two days of driving it, it would belch out all the fluid and I'd be back to square one again. In order to jack the truck up far enough, you'd have to stand the truck straight up and down on the front bumper. Of course if you do that, it runs funny when you try to bleed it.

I'm right around two months now and the steering still works like new. Here's hoping it stays that way for a nice long time.

 

It would be interesting to see if Ford ever had a TSB out on this problem. For those not aware of what a TSB is...It stands for Technical Service Bulletin.