I have a doozy of a job ahead of me, and I thought I'd post to see if anyone has some answers for me. (much appreciated, in advance).

I have a 1977 F150 2wd v-8, with power steering (although the power steering motor hasn't worked for a while, so I just disconnected it, and have been driving it without... steering is no trouble if I keep the tires properly inflated).

Recently the steering went kablooey. When it happened, there was a terrible grinding sound while I turned the wheel. Looking under the hood, I can see the rag joint is broken, but in addition, the shaft below the rag joint into the gear box turns freely about 210 degrees, without moving the pitman arm.

My first question (although I suspect I know the answer...) is how trashed does it sound? Gear teeth gone, or something along those lines? Or could it be one of the magical problems with fords, where the real solution is just one little part that costs $10 and a lot of elbow grease?

I was able to drive it home, slowly, on backroads, so there is still some transfer happening in the gearbox.

Looking at the Chilton book, of course my gearbox isn't shown. I looked up the number on the top, numbers reading C6AR 3580-A2, and found a number of threads on this site talking about it. Number Dummy was incredibly informative, and unless I misunderstood, it's probably a ford/saginaw P/S gear box.

Which leads to my next question... Barring ordering one from Red-head, which seems to be the common wisdom on this site (sounds good), would I be chasing rainbows to look at f-100's from the 70's at u-pull style yards? None of them seem to have f150's older than '81, but plenty of older f-100s.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

There is a Red Head Steering Box group buy that runs from Mon-Wed this week .... https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-box-buy.html
Just food for thought.

 

'Searched Rockauto.com and it came up with this interchangeability for a 77 2WD F150 with a 351M and PS. You didn't specify which V8 ya got but it doesn't seem to matter.

Buyer's Guide: A-1 CARDONE 277504 Steering Gear
FORD F-100 (1968 - 1979)
FORD F-150 (1975 - 1979)
FORD F-250 (1968 - 1979)
FORD F-350 (1968 - 1979)

You can find out alot using various websites to see if part numbers can cross reference to other years and models. Try it sometime.

 

Pretty much all power steering boxes from the 2WD F100-350 interchange from 73-79.
Don't try to repair your old box. You can just about be sure that the ***** from the ball and screw (basic p/n 3647) have disintegrated. They weren't designed to take the full force of turning without the power assist.
These parts never were available separately, only as part of an assembly (p/n 3D517).
Here is the exploded diagram from the Ford parts catalog that shows you what's inside.

 

Wow, tbear... that looks like a great idea, except "i need it yesterday". The truck is my bread and butter, or gets me there and hauls the materials.

I'm going to go picking at salvage yards tomorrow, but come late spring, when it isn't a miserable wet mess, I may see if I can get in on a Red-head group order. They seem like they got a good thing going. Hopefully, there will be another.

 

HIO silver- I saw that particular box on eBay when i was scouring around for information. Do you have experience with cardone? If so, what do you think?

Mike- ahh. thanks for that tip. I was thinking of fixing the power steering pump, and getting it all together since I'm in there, but now I know I'd better.

 

I bought a Cardone unit from Rock Auto and so far so good. You should get a new pump and gearbox. Check your hoses too. Hardest part for me was getting the steering wheel straight. You're gonna need a big wrench 1 1/4" I believe for the pitman arm nut. A puller too. The gearbox sits on the frame so lift the new one up into place and rest it on the frame. Grab a bolt and get one started. That thing is heavy and akward.

 

Mike already pointed this out, but the power steering box is not meant to be used for extended periods of time without the pump. It's designed differently than a non-power-steering box. The only reason you can turn the wheels at all without the pump is for emergency backup in case you lose a belt or a power steering hose.

When you get your new box in, make sure to get the pump in working order too so that you have the entire system. Don't drive it until you do this; it's why it fell apart in the first place. That rag joint couldn't take the stress.

EDIT: never mind, looks like you already caught that

 

What I posted wasn't an endorsement of the Cardone PS gear per se. It was intended to answer your question about potential interchangeability and how to potentially go about finding out information using deductive reasoning from resources already on the web.

 

So, I listened to everyone's advice, but due to $ constraints, I went to a U-pull type yard, and found the same P/S gearbox I took out, from a '72 f-150. I might get p/s fluid leaks from it, but I'm willing to chance it, and willing to do the work again, if this one doesn't work so well. More time than money, atm.

So, thanks... so far. It's looking like it's together.

 

I thought I had every thing I needed to put mine on yesterday (brought a puller set home from AAP loaner tools Thursday), including the socket.
I have several sets up to 1-1/8, then I have a 1-1/4, 1-3/8, 1-1/2, and that nut on my 4X4 is ..... 1-5/16" (though a 34mm likely will do).
Trip to town ( 9 miles one way) to TSC solved it for $7.99 plus tax & gas, in 3/4' drive (I have adapters).

 

Yeah, I made a trip to the tool store to get a 1 5/16" socket, and extension and t-bar. I had no 3/4" socket tools before. Yikes they cost some money!

But not as much as that mechanic! And, now I have the power!

 

Atta boy....

You'll need a torque wrench for the pitman arm nut.. IIRC upwards of 175 ft.lbs. After torquing, I paint a yellow line across the output shaft and nut so I can visually tell if it has backed off any.