Hi
I have a 97' F-150, 4.6, Stepside. and I have had some problems with my Steering Assembly. For the 2nd time, my steeing yolk got all stripped out, cause the yolk is aluminun and the Spline gear on the power steering motor is steel. The first time it went, the truck had about 68,000 on it, and the warrenty covered it The 2nd yolk lasted about 7-8 thousand miles, and I drove almost 10 months with it like that. This time I'm fixin it myself. I pulled the yolk off the spline gear, and the steering shaft out. The yolk was almost compleatly stripped and the steering shaft is all seized up. I think I came real close to loosing control of the steering compleatly.I think the first time it went the spline gears were damaged the first time, and the dealer just threw a new Yolk onto the bad spline gears. I want to know if there is something I can do about that, and what. If you guys got any info for my let me know. Thanks

 

Possibly,

Ford had a recall for that particular device for that very same problem. During assembly, a very small number of 1997 F-150s were miss assambled in reguards to the steering shaft yolk. Report to a dealer to determine if you could be re-embersed and have them conduct an inspection as the recall calls for to see if they can identify any lingering problems. Ask nicely if they can also inspect the front linkage i.e. rod ends, ball joints, u joints, etc. to inspect and identify any other potentually wore out components further preventitive. Better safe than sorry.

 

I called Ford today and they told me that they won't cover the repair on that. So I'm shafted. If you Guys know how to remove the spline gear off of the power steering motor. Please let me know.