I would think about cause-and-effect here. It could be coincidental, but sounds like the steering problem was caused by the visit to the lube shop.

When you had the front lifted and turned the wheels easily, were you trying it with the engine running, or off? Also have you tried getting an assistant to turn the wheel to the right, with the tires off the ground, while trying to hold the wheels straiht, to see if there is some type of binding?

Also, if it binds under load and not while lifted, I would still suspect some mechanical damage.

That's just my opinion. I guess I'm too stubborn to buy new parts until I have exhausted all means of verifying the problem.

Good luck.

Winford

 

It may be that the lube shop added new PS fluid (or perhaps the wrong fluid) causing one of the valve seals to leak. I've seen this before. You flush out the old thick dirty fluid and then you develop a leak or something. If they added enough clean fluid it could have thinned the fluid enough to leak past a seal.
He is complaining of no power assist in one direction only, sounds like a valve seal has failed. But yes rule out mechanicals 1st, I think he did this.
Mark

 

I guess there's a couple of issues to deal with here. I had my son turn the wheels with the engine on and the front end off the ground while I looked underneath for anything unusual. The wheels turned smoothly both ways. I also did this with the wheels on the ground. Everything that I could watch move and visually inspect seemed OK. I did not try to hold the wheels when he turned the steering wheel with the front end in the air, however. On the ground, the problem returned. Another issue was that I was not particularly happy with the service at "Jiffy Lube". Whe I first looked into the fluid reservior, the fluid was just a tad low, even though they write on their paperwork that all fluids were checked and were OK. I siphoned out as much as I could and replaced it with fresh (and the appropriate) fluid. No change in the problem. I'm still gonna assume that it was coincidence that I was at the Jiffy Lube when a valve gave up. I'm not sure what else to check and/or look at... and the problem seems to be getting worse. It now starts sooner as I begin a right turn. I found a sweet source for my parts and will be able to pick up a remanufactured, heavy duty box for $105.00. Any other thoughts? Sorry for the long post! Thanks guys!

 

it might seem redundant but i (for the s+g factor) would turn the front axle 180 degrees. i am not doubting anyone in here but it is something to consider. and for that price i would go ahead and get the parts just so you know that it is new well thats my 2 cents and nothing more. good luck. (btw nice job keeping us updated)

 

Thanks for the info... But I'm a bit puzzled... "turn the axles 180 degrees"? Feeling a little uninformed... what does that mean?:-X11

 

roll the axle so that you are turning the other cups of the u-joints in front axle. and umm hehe maybe it is only 90 degrees oops sorry. turn it till you see the next u-joint cup. the joint might be binding. just a thought.

 

does any one know the procedure to change the power steering fluid and how many quarts of new one i need, somehow got some water in the system

thanks

 

There's a TSB about hard to turn to the right. It talks about "UNEQUAL NUMBER OF STEERING WHEEL TURNS FROM RIGHT-TO-LEFT TURNING RADIUS". "High steering efforts may be experienced in right hand turns only and/or there may be an unequal number of steering wheel turns (fewer to right) from right-to-left turning radius. This may occur because of limited Pitman arm angle tolerance." "Install a new Pitman arm with greater angle tolerance and, if necessary, adjust the left turn steering gear poppet."

I don't want to post the whole thing, I'm not sure how much I can put here. If you want me to give you more details, send me e-mail.

Basically, it sounds like something either got bent or like someone said, the valves got messed up in the box.

If you want to change the oil, here's what I did.

Pull the belt off.
Pull the return line, put a pan under it. Get another piece of hose to put on the hose fitting on the bottom of the reservoir and raise the other end of it over the level of the reservoir. This keeps fluid from running out.
Turn the pulley clockwise with your hand. It doesn't have to be fast. Don't ever let it go completely empty and start sucking air, not a big deal but it does get air into the system which isn't great for the pump.
Get the fluid toward the bottom of the reservoir and start putting clean fluid in.
Keep the fluid up and clean in the reservoir as you turn the pump until the return line runs clean red.
Put the return line and belt back on. The return line doesn't have to be clamped until you're done, it's not under any real pressure.
Make sure the fluid's up.
Start the truck and cycle the steering back and forth. The fluid will turn brown or nasty looking again as more comes out of the box.
Start over again, manually turn the pump and put fresh fluid in until the return runs clean again.
Put it back together, start the truck and cycle things back and forth again.
Just keep doing it until the fluid looks nice and clean and red in the reservoir after you've run the truck and cycled the steering.

I can't remember if I used 3 or 4 quarts. The system barely takes a quart if I can remember but it took a lot to flush out the dog**** that was in it.

This quieted my noisy pump a lot and the steering feels better. My fluid looked like mud.