I know ya'll have probably seen these words a million times. Anyone with some ideas on a power assist steering leakage. It is in a 77 F-250 with a 460. 4-speed manual tranny (np435?) and the divorced 205 transfer case, Dana 44 front, 8 lug. The ram is leaking like a torpedoed battleship. I do have a 77 F-150 with the saginaw steering and a coil spring set up, I am thinking of takeing to a local 4X4 shop and see it they can swap out the Dana 44's, springs and steering all at once. Does anyone have suggestions on this possibly expensive alternative to a crappy steering design. The 3/4 ton would be a daily driver(ouch those darn kidneys) if I didn't leave an exxon valdez trail everywhere I drove.

 

Couple of links to stuff that may be of interest.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/articles/powerassist.php

https://www.ford-trucks.com/articles/2003/23.php

 

Thats funny--I was just reading those same articles just now. The 150 is a 1/2 ton and I don't know if it will work with my 3/4 ton--I guess I will hope the 4x4 shop will know(unfortunately I am not very mechanically adept.)--I will copy both of these articles and take them with me, when I go.


Thanks jeff

 

Also what is a highboy?

 

Do a search using the keyword "highboy". You should get a ton of info there.

 

If its just your cylinder your having problems with, then its not a very expensive fix. Most of the problems people have with there power assist setups are with the control valve. Your cylinder is "supposedly" unrebuildable, but they're just inconvenient to rebuild. They have no way to disassemble them to replace seals and wipers so they need to be cut apart at the weld near the ram end of the cylinder tube. Inside is a cheesy plastic wiper and a "o" ring for seals. Any machine shop would easily be able to cut it apart for you. The seals and wipers can be replaced for under $20, and realistically more like $10.00. I ditched the factory "0" rings in favor of the more durable polypak's and I still came out under $10.00. The only trick to doing this is having it welded back together (this is why I recommend you have a machine shop cut it apart for you) Your local machine shop can part the end off in a lathe nice and cleanly so that it can be welded back together easily. Your machine shop can also weld it back together for you. If you replace the cheesy "o" rings with more modern high temp seals then you run very little risk of damaging them when they weld it. Any decent welder capable of using a tig will be able to control the heat from there welds. I bet you can probably get the whole rebuild done for under $100 at the very most. Its really pretty easy as long as you have a few days to spare as most machine shops have a day or 2 lead time. I know this works because I am a machinist and I couldn't find parts for mine so I hit a junkyard to find another cylinder I could cut apart to see exactly how they are assembled. I parted the first one on the factory weld and it all fell into place and I never needed the second one. I did this 5 years ago and my cylinder hasn't leaked a drop since. Good luck

 

i thought the 77's had the good power steering on it. My neighbor just bought one and he has it on his, but it must have been added even though it looks factory.

 

convert to a 77.5 to 79 steerting box

 

Just an additional comment...(1) If, you decide to do the power steering conversion which most owners will do eventually if they keep their truck. You need to install the power steering BOX for a f250 , 4x4 , truck. It is a very heavy duty unit that was installed by Ford to effectively handle the heavy load on the front wheels. (2) Some folks have opted to utilize ps boxes from f150's etc., that ARE NOT rated nor designed to handle the work load of the the f250, 4x4's. The lighter ps box's will work, but for how long and how well is anybody's guess. As of this date I've Never seen a post by any individual who installed the lighter ps box come back and admit too US that he\they screwed up and now they will install the correct , heavy duty ps box for a f250, 4x4 , that they should have installed in the first place. .....s.kuteman

 

Thanks fellas- where is the control valve, is that the thing on the frame rail that the power steering pump has lines into. I like the low cost option with rebuilding the cylinder--I went to a hydraulic shop about 6 months ago and they suggested the same thing but then they were wouldn't do because of liability reasons.(figures)
Also the 250 has been re registered as a different vehicle, it may have been originally a 76 or older truck but has been retitled and new stickers on the doors.--No vin # so I am going by the title as to its appropriate age.
Also skuteman do you think that if I changed the whole frontend of the 150 into the 250 that it would work or not? I was thinking of changing axle, steering, suspension and all. The 150 has the straight six in it and I thought that it might be close to the same weight as the 460 considering that every thing else would be the same except for the engine weight being the biggest difference.