Hi, all! This is a great forum to hear others' solutions to problems my 87 BII has or had.

I have two questions. The steering is very loose, manageable by me the owner, but when I must have someone else drive my BroncoII, they usually have trouble with controlability. Is is usually worn linkage, or are there smaller independent parts that are prone to wear out? My mechanic said last year that he saw worn parts to replace, and plus labor, cost would be $500. Don't want to give him the $$.

Secondly, my Chilton manual has almost no detail in the steering section or many others. A co-worker suggested the Helms repair manual--where's the best place to find it? A Google search brought up lots of different, non-related sites for Helms.

Thanks for the help.

 

Your steering issue could be worn steering linkage parts or a worn out steering gear. One relatively easy part to check is the isolator between the steering wheel and steering gear. It is the thing that looks like a plastic can on the steering shaft under the hood. It has a large rubber ring inside it that can break down over time and can introudce alot of play into the steering. Probably the best way to tell if that's the problem is to locate the isolator and get someone to turn the wheel while you look at the lower shaft. If the upper part of the steering shaft turns a good deal without the wheels moving, you've found your problem. Otherwise you're probably looking at a worn out steering gear, which again isn't hard to fix if you have the proper tools.

It is a relatively simple fix and usually just involves removing the bolts at the steering gear that hold that shaft in place. Usually I've had to go junkyard diving for these things as nobody seems to sell replacements.

helminc.com is the site for Ford shop manuals. Unfortunately Helm may not have the 1987 shop manuals available any longer as they only actively print manuals for the past 15-16 years, then just sell what they have in stock. Usually with a little patience you can find them on E-bay fairly inexpensively. I purchased a set of manuals for my 95 Ranger for about $50 compared to a couple hundred dollars from Helm.

 

Welccome to FTE!!!

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll get a friend to help troubleshoot the Isolator this morning and hopefully, narrow down the problem. I try to use new, good quality parts because I plan to change the engine and keep this BII. My mom bought it new, and sold it to me for $2,000. It's in great shape with beautiful paint & interior.

 

well great... you ruined the idea i've had for a decade about my steering! i thought it was SUPPOSED to be loose! btw... it's a good thing when other people can't drive your truck


i'll check mine out as well..but man it would be weird if it were fixed!

 

Nobody else can drive my truck because they don't know how to work the brakes. I need to get that fixed.. not so other people can drive it though lol.

might also look at the tie rod ends, they're usually pretty cheap too. Sometime's that can be the problem, but Bart gave a lot of good info. My steering's kind of loose too, but I think it's because I still haven't put on my dropped pitman arm from the lift. Or it could be bc of allignment.

 

Thanks, again for the great tips. I checked out the isolator and everything worked well. Steering gear was a little over my head. Had to cave in and take it to the mx. Turned out the radius arm bushings and tie-rod ends were anywhere from well worn to disintegrated. Steering is much better now.

I also found the Helm site and ordered 2 manuals. Thanks for that info--there's very limited diagram and detail in Chilton.

Anyone have comment on good quality parts? A camping companion says that he's had multiple bad parts from Napa (my usual supplier).

 

NAPA is what I'd use if there were any around here. I think I'm going to be doing a switch to Advance Auto though, I might be working there in a couple weeks.

On edit: Why did you buy 2 manuals? Think it's gonna give you twice as much info?

 

Hey guys. I have a question about this thread. My steering went bad all of a sudden within a 4 month period. It's really loose especially on the highway. It's getting slightly looser every week. Do you think it is the gear box or the linkage thing. of course I will test it first, but I was wondering if the gearbox can go bad in that short of a time period? Should I just go ahead and buy a new one instead of rummage the junkyards? they are around 180$ new, which sucks but I don't want to get an old one and have it be bad also so I'm willing to spend for a new part. Also, is Autozone or Napa a good brand for these? I will probably get new hoses and power steering pump also, mine are rusted/ caked with old drippy PS fluid. I might get a PS rebuild seal kit, but I've never done a PS rebuild before. New hoses are needed for sure.

Thanks guys.

`TZ

 

You might take it to a place that does front end alignments and have them do an
estimate on it, and they should tell what it needs. I did the same on mine, did the
work myself, then had it aligned. it worked out well.

 

http://www.helminc.com/helm/Result.a...FLKKV6DSTB5XAB

Looks like they still have 'em available, and yeah, more than one type of literature, including the shop manual and other manuals. I may actually consider spending the $$$ this summer on some of this....