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Hello to all and thank you for accepting me as a member of FTE. I have used many posts from this site in the past and today I decided to bite the bullet and join up.
My fellow has a 1979 Bronco. His father bought it new from the dealership and fellow bought it from his mother when his dad passed in ‘96. We are having issues with a busted rag joint. Situation is compounded by sparks flying somewhere near the steering column. I’m attaching two pics.
Any help will be appreciated - he loves that Bronco more than me. Given the history and all, I’m pretty much ok with that.
Hello to all and thank you for accepting me as a member of FTE. I have used many posts from this site in the past and today I decided to bite the bullet and join up.
My fellow has a 1979 Bronco. His father bought it new from the dealership and fellow bought it from his mother when his dad passed in ‘96. We are having issues with a busted rag joint. Situation is compounded by sparks flying somewhere near the steering column. I’m attaching two pics.
Any help will be appreciated - he loves that Bronco more than me. Given the history and all, I’m pretty much ok with that.
I really appreciate the warm welcomes and advice. So far we’ve diagnosed and eliminated the arcing. Notice I did not say repaired, lol. The horn was the arcing source, so for the time being we have removed the horn cover from the center of the steering wheel. I reckon we will inspect those wires in the very near future.
Regarding the steering issues, I think I need to give a little more back history. Bronco is supposed to have power steering but hasn’t for a couple of years, due to a steering fluid leak. I haven’t driven the Bronco without the power steering, other than just to put it in the garage, because I don’t think driving should EVER be that labor intensive. But my fella has driven it like that every day as it is his primary ride and honestly, I think he liked the challenge. As it turns out, all we needed was an o-ring to stop the leak, much to my embarrassment.
We are currently waiting on a used steering column to arrive so we can address the busted rag joint. We are fortunate enough to have a buddy who has one, and that buddy has loved the Bronco since he first saw it, so he is donating his column to our cause. We do plan to clean up some of the fuzzy, oily funk when we swap columns.
Again, thank you guys so much for making me fell so welcome and for the sensible advice!
For what it's worth, I've seen folks fabricate rudimentary shields over the rag joint . . . when a leak like that is going to take a while to fix. They are something that can be slid up the shaft while bolting stuff together then down over the joint when done.
Thanks so much!!! That’s what we have in mind. We still haven’t gotten the other shaft, and he is still driving someone else’s car (a d%@n Mazda Miata of all things).
I didn’t list this in the original question, but the Bronco steering has been doing what I’ll call the Ford Steering Pop for several years now. If you know what I mean you know how rough that pop sounds. We now understand where the wear is that makes that pop happen. I’m assuming swapping columns will fix the Pop, also??? I hate to assume so I’ll try to ask that specific question as soon as I can.
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